Castle Money Box

King of the Castle

Summer at Berkeley – Lecture 3

“King of the Castle”

Castle Money Boxes by John Berkeley for Donay

Treen Castle is not a castle, it’s a jagged rocky promontory of cliffs that sit on the edge of Cornwall, England in the town of Treen. Castle Treryn, as it is properly called, is home to an ancient fort dating from the iron age. But its most famous feature is Logan Rock, an 80 ton granite boulder that sits atop the cliff in a way that allows it to mysteriously rock back and forth with the “gentlest of touch” without ever falling off. Of course, this was too tempting for Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith and his men of the HMS Nimble, who in 1824 decided to topple the great stone down onto the beach below once and for all with some levers and bars. The outraged town made them put the boulder back on its perch, which was no easy feat in 1824.

Original Castle Money Box in Spalted Boxwood

Wood turned “treen” castles were also common household objects in the latter 1800’s. As mentioned, these little objects, made from boxwood, were typically containers for various items, such as dice, or string. A treen castle was not an entire castle, but rather a single, crenelated turret. Turrets had become popular architectural design elements again in Victorian England, thanks to the “Queen Ann Revival” style that is most commonly associated with the era now. The common household “castle” container had a lid that popped right off. Not so with Hoffman’s classic, puzzling version, which featured a coin slot on top, and was called the “Castle Money Box”. In went a coin, and the little puzzle was passed around to tempt friends and fools into retrieving it. I imagine that the puzzle played with people’s assumptions, who presumably were familiar with the more common containers that looked the same but behaved in a much more straightforward manner.

New Castle Money Box in Santos Rosewood

John Berkeley reproduced the Victorian era “Castle Money Box” puzzle in many beautiful wood varieties. He made his larger than the nineteenth century versions, to accommodate more modern coins. There is also a second version of this puzzle from that period, which employs a different trick for opening, and is appropriately known as the “New Castle Money Box” puzzle. The originals employ a mechanism with a small piece that is easily and lost. Like many things, John improved this in his version, crafting the mechanism to remain "captive" and thus rendering it safe from loss. Donald Goddard requested that these handsome reproductions be of “museum” quality. John Berkeley responded in kind by using beautiful, exotic hardwoods, but also by elevating the form and design of these old puzzles. Copying the Victorian era puzzles, he stuck to the straight or sloping columns and traditional crenelated turrets (also known as bartizans) of the Scottish baronial style. But he made his versions more elegant, styled after the classic Staunton chess piece rook. These chess pieces were originally designed by a journalist named Nathaniel Cooke, named after chess master Howard Staunton, and produced in 1849 by Jacques of London. They became the de facto style for chess pieces ever since. John Berkeley would have been familiar with the design, having produced vintage style chess pieces for Donald Goddard’s shop.

Donay Castle Money Box "Mk 2" in African Blackwood

But perhaps the most interesting Castle Money Box is the one that John came up with himself, for Donay’s own unique line of Hoffman era puzzles. Their “New, New Castle Money Box” was officially dubbed the “Donay Castle Money Box - Mk 2”. It was only ever crafted in African Blackwood and looked quite similar to the original Castle, with its classic turret architecture, crenellations, and coin slot on top. So similar, one might be tempted to solve it in the same fashion. The puzzle uses the same principles of playing with expectations that the original Victorians must have been susceptible to, and assumes that you already know how to solve the classic version. It employs a brilliant misdirection that requires tremendous skill to create, another testament to Berkeley’s mastery of the art.

The Full Windsor by Erick Castro

Let’s retire to the castle salon now and sit by the fireside while we enjoy a fitting toast to these fine castles. This drink is from Erick Castro, proprietor of one of my favorite bars in the world, San Diego’s Polite Provisions. It’s named after one of the most iconic necktie knots, the “Full Windsor”, which is itself named after the Duke of Windsor, whose title refers to the Castle itself (also no stranger to turrets). The drink is Castro’s delicious riff on the New Orleans classic Vieux Carre, a cocktail that features rye, cognac, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, and both Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters. 

An incredible Vieux

Interestingly, the drink was invented in 1930, the same year the Duke of Windsor brought his sartorial sensibilities to American collared shirts. Castro swaps the rye for a lightly peated Scotch, and the cognac for applejack, a classic American elixir made from apples and originally distilled by process of “jacking” – freezing fermented apple cider and then removing the ice, thereby increasing the final alcohol content. The drink is a beautiful adaptation full of crisp fruit flavors and a pleasing hint of smokiness. Try one next time you entertain the Duke. Class dismissed – cheers!

Windsor Castle

The Full Windsor by Erick Castle

1 oz Scotch

1 oz applejack

¾ oz sweet vermouth

¼ oz Bénédictine

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir ingredient with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Orange twist garnish.

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