James Monroe chess pieces

This picture came from the James Monroe Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The chess set was a gift from Thomas Jefferson to Monroe. The two played chess often, and carried on correspondence games when they were apart.

The museum staff were not sure where the rest of the set is located. 

Interesting.

Very Nice! I wonder if that's ivory or bone.

Unfortunately, the only information the museum had on the set is the bit I wrote above the picture. It's fascinating to see chess pieces that were handled by two early presidents and were actually used in games between them.

 The museum also has Monroe's desk, on which he wrote the famous Monroe Doctrine. I didn't bother to take a picture of it, which clearly indicates the relative value I place on chess and politics.

But, clearly, chess played a certain role in the minds of these Founding Fathers.  That's nice to know. Thanks for this, OldPatzerMike 

They're bone. This is not an uncommon set. The first pic of another one I found if from an archive of Guy Lyons' collection: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/108759751128274390004/album/AF1QipPRhIwAdiQS8P3YRGmAnqHLWEq0cNF8UURFVMF0/AF1QipPhhUzFVcjfk-gFA0S173B19CEZcCyGYeSTxNPH 

Here's a clearer pic from a dealer's website: http://dorland-chess.com/344-bone-upright.html