Good days and Good Knights

GNM - I usually go for more standard Staunton designs, but I took one look at these knights as was smitten. I figured my collection should include at least one ornate set.

Here's a picture of his stablemate in African Padauk.

And some snapshots of the warring tribes. To give you a sense of scale, the king is 4.5" tall and weighs in at a hefty 4.8 oz. Entire set is 74 oz.

Gomer - I agree, I think the Camaratta comes the closest. But of all the knights from my original posting in this thread, I think the snub-nosed New Cooke is the least Elgin-like. Don't you?

Frank, those are some classic looking knights. How vintage are they?

  I think the New Cooke is as accurate (or inaccurate) as those in the picture of Jaques knights. The Elgin gets the nose and ears pretty good but falls short on most everything else. Most of the Jaques knights I've seen aren't very good copies either. Most get the ears, mouth, and cheeks wrong and all of them get the mane wrong. I guess I need to remember that reproduction sets don't need to look like the Elgin Marble horse but like the original Jaques knights.
  I'm not a big fan of fancy manes on knights. Maybe because I think I'd break it or have it split from the wildly fluctuating humidity levels around here.

Hmmm...I wrote this post in three or four sessions because I've been a little busy. It seems to sound a little snobbish. That's not intended, I'm just rushed. Like I said, I'm no expert but about a year ago I decided to buy the best reproduction I could find. I spent a lot of time studying pictures on the internet but I have no hands on or close up experience. Oh, I bought the Original Staunton set from thechesspiece.com. It's a very nice set whether it's a good copy or not .

Not to hijack the thread but since we are on topic of Jacques somewhat I saw a Jacques set repro 3 3/4" King brand new in box sell for 151.50 on eBay   http://www.ebay.com/itm/251677663934?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Price on their web site is 249.99 bristish pounds x 1.60 convert = $399.98 with out shipping. The $151.50 included Priority shipping, not a bad buy for whoever got it.  Way less than 1/2 price.

the Jaques knights are between 100 and 160 years old. The Chavet is about 25 years old. And the ebony knight is a HOS Leuchars replica, ie not old at all...

it is, isn't it...

Congrats! I've seen the pictures on the website. Looks like an excellent Jaques repro. It's on my short list of choices for a similar set - down the road. I currently have three sets from TCP. I enjoy doing business with Steve, he's knowledgeable and forthright, even about his own products, which is rare in any business. He's a dealer with a collector's sensibilities.

That last picture looks like a line of hopefuls queuing up for a Dubrovnik look-alike contest!

Just like these hopefuls at a Charlie Chaplin look alike contest...