Antique Early 20th Century Fox Child Educational Board 1912-1917

This is an antique red, oval handheld spelling board. There are moveable letter tiles to show how to use letters to spell out words. Decorated with children engaged in play. This spelling board was manufactured by Fox Toys. The Fox trademark is featured in the upper center with Pats. Pending beneath. Item measures 12.75” wide x 9.5” from top to bottom. Educational Boards or Tables first appeared in the US in 1840 as teaching devices for students to move blocks with letters on tracks to assemble words or even sentences. These educational manipulative toys, like blocks have been popular learning tool in both schools and homes and can still be found in secondhand stores and online. In the 1880's, separate boards were created for spelling and for numbers to create simple math problems. From 1912 to 1917 childhood friends John H. Fox and Horatio G. Cress patented educational boards that combined letters on one side and numbers on the other side. Popularly called speller/number boards, letter/counting boards, and alphabet boards, they were made of fiberboard, metal, combinations of slate and wood, and later plywood, heavy cardboard, or plastic. This early speller is in good overall antique condition with evidence of wear consistent with use and age.