The objects below are listed in chronological order. Click thumbnail image to enlarge:


Earliest known musical bones on historical record.
Left: Chinese 12th Dynasty, 1938 - 1789 B.C. (Rhythm Bones Player, Vol 7, No 2, 2005)
Right: Egyptian around 1500 B.C. (Horniman Public Museum and Public Park Trust, London)


The Bone Player (1856). Oil painting on canvas by William Sidney Mount.



Civil War era bones from Gettysburg Military Park



Duke's Cigarettes tobacco card: Bones (circa 1880's)


  
Ted Goon was a legendary bones player who had seven hit records between 1949 and 1952. He sold 20,000 sets of black-stained maple 'Goon Bones' across the U.S. His son, Bob served as shipping clerk and filled bones orders during "the late 50's and early 60's." Ted died in 2003 at the age of 92.