Closer look at 3.75" Jaques of London

Taking a closer look at the current offering from Jaques of London, the gold standard.

http://www.bestchessmenever.com/blog/files/jaques-of-london-chessmen.html

-Izmet

I'm kind of surprised at the knights that come with such expensive chessmen.  They resemble the knights in my entry level House of Staunton "Classic" set that cost me a good bit less than $100 USD.

That's why they call it "Classic".

Wow..! I have an almost exact copy of the Jaques. I got mine from Legend Products for around $150.00 years ago with 3 1/2 inch King. Its no longer offered, maybe copyright problem? Its a great set with pure black Ebony for the dark pieces. At first, I thought the Knights were not an original copy but, after seeing the video they seem to be or at least very close. Its a shame Legend went over to almost high dollar sets as they used to offer real nice sets at a reasonable price. I agree that the Jaques Knight should have been a little bit fancier for the money of the Original Jaques.

Apparently you won't get fancy Knights or exotic wood from Jaques, but hopefully perfect craftsmanship.

Sred... Jaques pieces are made in India now & so is my Legend copy in case you didn't know. My copy has perfect craftsmanship as well. The original Jaques craftsman have either retired or passed on & may God bless their souls.

Maybe they produce in India. Who cares?

Except for the most expensive sets (and in my opinion not even then), the current Jaques knights are not a patch on those in their antique sets. Just check out the ones at http://www.britishchesssets.com/chess/index.html. It's said that the quality of the carving was at its best prior to about 1890.

Nice video, Izmet, but for the record "Jaques" is pronounced "Jakes".