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1936

Standard set (7’6) with Mini box, with board (1) Trade Mark - Pat.app. for No 3796-36

Publisher: John Waddington Ltd. - 1936

Dimensions of the box: 16.1 x 19.2 x 3.3 cm / Dimensions of the board: 49 x 49 cm

Outside America England was the first country who issued Monopoly in the thirties as well. Like in the country of origin the first English editions came out as a separate game board with a mini box for the attributes. (This edition was sold before W.W. II in the Netherlands as well.)

The small box has the red illustration with 2 black engines, 2 houses and the £ sign through the middle O, with the "precursor of Uncle Pennybags" on top. Especially interesting with these early editions is what is written under the second locomotive. That is Pat.app.for No. 3796-36 on the very first sets. That means that it concerns an application for a patent of 1936. 

The banknotes (54 x 102 mm) are recognisable as being Monopoly money with an ellipse in the middle with a large number being repeated twice in a small space. Underneath the number it says "pat.app.for no.3796-36". Further is an engine and a house in a little rectangular space. The various denominations are printed in black on colored paper. The property deeds (63 x 80 mm) are rectangular. It is striking that the rent for an unimproved street is the same for all 3 yellow streets, namely £22. Both small dice (11 mm) are white with black pips. The Rules also show "Trade Mark - Pat.App.for No. 3796-36" only.

Features of this edition are:
• The height of the box is 33 mm.
• The stations are L.N.E.R.
• The Chance cards are entirely red, the Community Chest cards are entirely yellow.
• For an answer on questions to the works "Please enclose 1½d. stamp".
• In the circle on the banknotes is under the large number mentioned "pat.app.for no.3796-36".
• The banknotes are in the denominations of : 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 - 100 and 500.
• The 6 tokens are of metal and are resp.: hat - iron - car - boat - shoe and thimble.
• The houses and hotels are of dull wood.

So this is the Standard Set at the price of 7’6 as mentioned in the red (1937:cream and 1940: pink sheet) pricelist shown above.

Monopoly Note Holders Add-On

Publisher: John Waddington Ltd.

This was an extra add-on you could purchase separatly.

Harold Lee wrote: "I suspected, these money note holders were issued up to say 1942, from stock that were produced back in 1937 and had remained in Waddingtons stockroom due to poor sales. The original price for these holders, as printed on a box label was 2/6 which includes tax. I believe that by around 1942, the retail price including tax had gone up to 3/6. I actually have an example with this price written over the old price, presumably by the shop owner or by Waddington".

The other components of this edition are exactly identical to those of the earlier described box.

Standard set (10'6) with board inside long box Trade Mark - Pat.app. for No 3796-36

Publisher: John Waddington Ltd.

Dimensions of the box: 26.6 x 50.8 x 4.5 cm

The somewhat high box has a black lid with the red illustration with 2 black engines, 2 houses and the £ sign through the middle O, with the "precursor of Uncle Pennybags" on top. This set also says "Pat. App. For No. 3796-36" meaning that the patent was not yet granted.

The innerbox contains 2 platform/spacer with an orange tray/container inbetween. In this are some smaller compartments to store the attributes.

Some of them also came with a yellow tray in 1937 but are very rare.

The larger black platform/spacer has a sticker with the useful text "This platform may be used as a lid for the centre section containing money, tokens, etc.". This platform changed from black to white from 1938 onwards. The bottom of this innerbox is untreated.

The striking heavy game board weighs 685g, that of the European editions with ref.# 14535 of about 1996/97 only 352 g, so about half. The banknotes are in the 7 denominations of: £ 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 - 100 and 500.

The entirely red Chance and yellow Community Chest cards have the strange dimensions of 47 x 90 mm. They have no rounded corners, nor are they numbered. With the properties the rent of the last (unimproved) street is always somewhat higher than the others, except for the yellow streets. The rent on Piccadilly is the same as on the other streets, £ 22. (From about 1961 this is changed into £24).

The 6 metal tokens are the well-known thimble - car - shoe - boat - iron and hat and the houses and hotels are of dull wood. The dice present in this set are both of transparant red bakelite, which is a plastic from before W.W. II, with white pips.