Hey jarlah.
I have one similar that I picked up a few years ago. Hinged on the back, wood surround except the felt on the inside on my one is a dark wine. I'm pretty sure the top is marble but not the pieces themselves. They are some kind of stone though. Each one individually carved. Im almost certain it's Indian in origin. Have no idea age wise though. Real nice weighty set. Hope you get great enjoyment from it. That's about all I can say on it, maybe someone else knows more.
Looks like a really nice set. I'm wondering if the white pieces are alabaster or something. It would make a nice addition to any chess set collection.
Thanks for the comments. I think its a very valuable chess set personally. When I setup positions its a bit difficult from time to time to understand whats the King, but when measuring height the King is always higher and he has a round crown. Am I right? In normal chess sets its not that difficult. I am a computer dude but physical chess sets brings another mental dimension to the game.
Soap stone?
Yes, kings should be the tallest pieces on the board, and usually have a rounded crown with cross on top. The queen will usually have a spiky crown.
I think the white pieces is Jade, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade. The black pieces I dont know, but Jade comes in many colors. The white pieces have small points of green and red, so they are not completely white. The white squares on the board is definitely marble, but the black squares must something else or tinted.
Jade is about as hard as quartz, which is pretty hard. Try a scratch test on the underside with a piece of glass?
Found this online. Says the pieces are carved from soap stone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXOZaHg_j5A
Thanks for all the comments and links! In the end the word Jade seens to be used for soapstone in some eastern countries so its not that easy to know what your buying over there without extensive analysis. The type of pieces I have can be called jade imitation. And its really well made pieces. Did a scrape test on the bottom of one of the pieces and it showed me that it either was soapstone or that it was waxed. Or both. Its a really nice set and now i know a bit more :-)
Got it from my grandmother after she died. Its really solid pieces, reminds me of marble but I do not bet much on it. It looks really exclusive and maybe handmade. I dont mind attaching an image of the inside buts its green silk/cloth that the pices can be placed into.