WWI era poker dice set attributed to A.I.F. serviceman, Reginald Alexander Cormack

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c. 1917

Overview

World War One set of five butterscotch Bakelite poker dice in a drawstring cotton bag attributed to A.I.F. serviceman, Reginald Alexander Cormack.
They are specialised gambling dice used to play poker-style games without using playing cards.
Instead of standard numerical pips, each face of the dice features traditional card suit symbols and playing card face markings. In this case, there are two faces with the number 6, Jack, Queen and King graphics, and a spade symbol depicting the Ace.
The faces are scratched and well worn, showing significant signs of use.
The dice are held within a finely woven drawstring cotton bag which also shows signs of age.

Historical information

Reginald Alexander Cormack was born on 11 June 1899 in Bendigo, Victoria.
He was an electrician when he enlisted as a Private with the 27th Reinforcements, 2nd Australian Light Horse Regiment on 1 August 1916. His service number was 3320. His enlistment papers state that he was aged 18 years and 1 month, but he was in fact only 17 years and 1 month.
He embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A15 Port Sydney on 9 May 1917.
He served in the Middle East before returning to Australia per HMAT A14 Euripides on 10 March 1919.
Post-war he worked in the Townsville Railway Workshops for many years.

Gambling was a popular leisure pastime of Australian servicemen. Portable games like poker dice were highly popular among soldiers. They provided a compact, durable, and weather-resistant entertainment option that could easily be played in trenches, camps, or transport ships to pass the time. Games including two-up, Housey-housey, Crown and Anchor, poker, dominoes and roulette were all played and examples of each are found in the collection.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00992

Item type

Collectibles

Ephemera

Personal Effects

Themes