12.5cm (5in) x 7cm (2.7in) x 4cm x (1.5in)
Sterling silver. Modelled as a billiard table of eight legs, the top engraved with the king cobra crest of the Bengal Club and the inscription ‘“Roly Bowly” / September 1958 / Winners / F.W. Hindmarsh Esq / H,N, Nicholls Esq. Maker’s mark of KPD.Contained it its original case of the maker Kali Pada Das, 21a Sambhu Nath Pundit Street, Bhowanipur, Calcutta.
The Bengal Club, founded in 1827, was originally created for civil and military officers and senior membersof the judiciary. Membership was extended to merchants in the latter half of the 19th century; to Indians in 1959, and finally to women in 1988. The Club has featured, both charitably and uncharitably, in the writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rudyard Kipling and W. Somerset Maugham, among others.