2023-3-31
中華民族的歷史源遠流長,號稱有上下五千年的文明,其中有兩千五百多年的時間,都在孫子兵法的指導下。與天斗,其樂無窮,與地斗,其樂無窮,與人斗,其樂無窮。這種斗的本質,就是賭,而賭的始作俑者,就是田忌和齊威王,司馬遷在《史記》中說:

大英博物館藏東漢六博釉陶俑
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四川新津東漢畫像殘石上的仙人六博圖 |
於是乎,國人就發明了賭戲和賭博的道具,叫作六博、象棋、牌九、骰子和麻將等等,歷年壯大,不斷推陳出新,成了大國國粹。材質從泥巴的,到竹子的,到木頭的,到骨頭的,再到象牙的,在英國倫敦的一家叫霍尼曼(horniman museum and gardens)的博物館里,都有完整的收藏和介紹。
有了賭具了,計算輸贏的賭票也要跟得上。霍尼曼博物館收藏了九枚圓形的賭票,是象牙做成的,另外的118枚長條狀的,是獸骨做成的。

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Nine round ivory gambling counters, eight of which are marked with Chinese numerals (2-7 & 9-10) in green, the other a large croupier's token marked in green with the 'zhuang' character, meaning 'banker' in a gambling game.
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118 Chinese dominoes of long, narrow rectangular tiles made of bone, marked with red or black dots on each end and on both obverse and reverse, contained in wooden box without lid.
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另外有叄枚最高級的賭票,是用青花瓷做的,兩枚是圓的,一枚是六邊形的:

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Three gambling tokens made of porcelain. Two of them are round, one is hexagonal. All are inscribed with Chinese characters in underglaze cobalt blue pigment on the reverse, either 'qian' (money) or 'He He' (name of the twin gods of riches). On the obverse, one token is embossed with Chinese inscriptions in seal script, one in regular script with 'li lu heng tong' (path to good fortune is smooth and prosperous), and one with a seated immortal.
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家裡還正好就有那麽五枚青花瓷的賭票,兩枚圓形的,兩枚六角形的,一枚長方形但又折角的,是成發和江財公司發行的,都有釉下青花書寫的漢字。拿來放在一起,就可以成群了。其中的一枚,直徑不足一厘米,應該是世界上最小的青花瓷賭票了。
另外還有幾十枚珍珠母做成的賭票,形態各異,上面也刻有不同的花紋,分放在幾個精美的大漆盒內,也非常的漂亮。

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