] "Curricle-hung, you see; seat, trunk, sword-case, splashing-board, lamps, silver moulding, all you see complete; the iron-work as good as new, or better. He asked fifty guineas; I closed with him directly, threw down the money, and the carriage was mine."

] Just how common were such accoutrements on a gig? How many of these were the equivalent of furry dice, and how many were necessities, do you think?

from my Dictionary of Horse-Drawn Vehicles

under Gig
At first a roughly made chaise or driving cart- cheap to make and not taxed very high-but later improved with various types of cross-seating, height of wheels, and forms of suspension.

It goes on to list different types of gigs including one called a "suicide gig" (popular in Ireland)!

Curricle is taken from Curriculum which was a "type of racing chariot popular in Ancient Rome." To call it curricle hung means the suspension was hung on cee-springs.

Under Cee-spring gig we have
"Sporting gig of the early 19th century, hung on cee-springs. considered to be more comfortable than earlier types."

There are many different types of springs and suspension was continually being improved on (does one need to wonder why?). Also Cee-springs, so called because they are shaped like a "C" (clever huh?) were used under coaches and carriages. I will speculate that they were used on fancier vehichles first and were just coming into use in "cheaper" models of conveyance. Just like today when most innovations in comfort are first introduced in the highest priced cars and eventually filter down to economy types.

As for the trunk all it says under Gigs is that they all had ample luggage space below the cross-seat so having a trunk may be considered an extra. I couldn't find anything about a sword case. I would say that a splashing board is a neccesity for any lady in a clean gown who wishes to keep it that way, the horses kick up a lot of dirt and (ahem) other things laying in the road, especially when they are travelling at speed. Lamps would be a necesity a night but not necessarily come with the base price of a carriage so to have them included in the price sounds like he made a good bargain. I would say silver moulding is the only equivialnt to furry dice as it adds only to the look and not the function.

Gig is the shortened version of Whirlagig.