These vintage Monopoly game pieces were flimsy and fragile, so they weren’t as popular as the wooden ones. Some games were produced with composite pieces, made from a mix of paper and sawdust. When Parker Brothers began to license the game around the world they included the same pieces with the game. The first playing pieces were made by Dowst Manufacturing Company. These were replaced later in the 1930s by the traditional tokens made from a mix of lead and tin, which didn’t oxidize and turn black in the same way as the Zamak tokens sometimes did.
Old Monopoly pieces were made from a zinc alloy known as Zamak. It’s worth noting that there’s some contention over the exact dates for when tokens were introduced, so I’ve used the best estimates. Over the next 12 months, two more pieces were added: the lantern and the rocking horse to make what is considered to be the ten classic Monopoly pieces. Later in 1935, the race car was added to the game to make seven Monopoly tokens, and shortly afterward, the purse was added to make eight. The six original Monopoly pieces in 1935:
