My Commission From Oleg Raikis: "The Ideal Staunton" - A Jaques 1849 Reproduction

Thanks! You know we always have you on the short list.

Thank you for the compliment and yes, the set is very expensive, however, you must understand what goes into it. I have seen the costs and can tell you the wood alone can be over 50% of the price; it takes 2-3 months to produce just one copy of this set, especially given the fact that the knights are being carved from single blocks of wood to an extreme level of detail/consistency/etc.

Oleg does not make much money on sets like this; his real business is figural chess work, which he sells for 20K USD and up. As I mentioned in a prior post, sets like this are primarily a promotional tool for Oleg's figural set business, and we did everything we could to bring the price down as low as possible (originally, we thought the set (in wood) would have to be sold for 3-5K USD); we were able to bring it down to $1500/$2000 USD, but were recently forced to raise it to $1700/$2200 due to inflation and etc. which have resulted in higher material etc. costs. There are a number of sets on offer right now from HoS, for example, that are in the $1500-$2500 range; I don't think our price is really that far out of there.

As I mentioned, Oleg can only produce 4-5 of these sets per year, at the most.

@MGT88  Congratulations to you and Oleg! A stunning achievement. There are Toyotas and then there are Maseratis. Different products for different people. 

Although I have three rare sets on my radar before considering adding another Raikis,  just out of curiosity, has the Anderssen 1863-1865 style been considered for the "Ideal Staunton" treatment? It has a distinctive look that sets it apart. Especially the squat King crown, the almost complete spherical bishop finial, and the lean horse with, tall hair and full extension lower jaw. I know it's splitting hairs with tiny details at a certain point. 

Photo courtesy of @Nakamura-Bezwinger

Thanks! The Jaques "Anderssen" pattern is indeed beautiful (and one of my favorites), however, I own one, so someone else will need to finance the commission of that reproduction!

The set we reproduced bears a "J. Jaques" stamp, which means it is very expensive/rare; because it is impossible to get my hands on one, I went the reproduction route; Jaques "Anderssen" sets, on the other hand, are quite accessible, both in price/availability, so I'm not sure it would be the best set to reproduce, although I have seen some demand for it.

Oleg and I are considering another "J. Jaques" reproduction, however, I don't think we will do it unless we can get our hands on the physical antique set for examination this time; working from photos is difficult.

Congrats, this is a great set!

I own a few figural sets made by Oleg, they are real piece of art.

@Kimk10 I love that dinosaur set.

I can't even believe someone can carve these... just mind blowing!

I have seen @kimk10 's collection in person; it is quite amazing.

Thanks @felonet and @Powderdigit ; I do share these comments with Oleg, and he greatly appreciates them!

The "reference set" shown in the top photo is not a 3.5 " set belonging to Jon Crumiller but a photo of 4.4 " set, No. 8, as shown in the link https://www.britishchesssets.com/chess/No8/ and  reproduced here.

Thank you!

One smart collector told me a while ago that it's better to buy fewer great things than many ok things. Since then I focus on quality rather than quantity. I was very fortunate to commissions 6 figural sets from Oleg, another one is in progress. They are not cheap, but well worth it, and I'm sure they will also keep their value better than cheaper alternatives.

Thanks for the clarification Alan; I see that I misread your description of the set in regards to the fact that Jon Crumiller owns the #9, not the #8; do you own the #8? I will update my original post.

Regarding the size, yes, the reference set is club size (4.4"), however, we decided to reproduce it in tournament size (3.5").

From what I know, most Jaques sets (from the 1849-75 period, at least) were either tournament size (9cm/3.5" king) or club size (11 cm/4.4" king); I don't think I've ever seen a 4" Jaques from this time period (I've seen an "Anderssen" that was 3.75", but it looked fake to me). We opted to go 3.5" because this size is true to the original 1849-75 Jaques sets and more functional than a 4.4" set, for most people. All of my sets are between 3.5" and 4" king (the tournament size range); while I prefer 3.75" the best, I like all three sizes and think they're fairly interchangeable.

Regarding producing a 3.75"-4" version, that would require some financing because it means we would have to scale up the entire set design/master models/etc. If that's something you're interested in, we can discuss it.

No. 8 is mine. The Club-size sets are wonderful to play with. I loaned it for an exhibition game between Garry Kasparov partnered by Jon Crumiller vs Nigel Short plus partner. So, one of the very earliest 1849 Jaques, one of the greatest sets of all time,  has been handled by one of the greatest players!

Yes, I saw your post about that exhibition game on Facebook; awesome! I've corrected my original post to identify you as the owner.

As I mention in my original post, I think your set is, in my opinion, one of the best Staunton designs/sets ever created; you're very fortunate to own such a masterpiece!

The 2000 WCC between Kasparov and Kramnik was played with Chavet size 5, which was 9cm.

Me personally, I can't play with 4.4" set. I've tried. For me 4.4 is more of display set than playing set. I prefer way more 3.5 set than 4.4" but that's my preferences.

I agree with MGT88. It can’t be a 4” set if you want to be true to early Jaques sets. It has to be 3.5 or 4.4. I also prefer a 3.5” if there is a choice between 3.5 and 4.4. And Michael is right. The Kramnik WCC in 2000 was a size 5 with a fine knight. Although at one time I thought it was a simple knight. I was wrong.

Small club size , Yes , 4.4 way to big , even my 4 inch  FH Ayres king I find to big , Look's nice on display , 

Let's face it , people that brought a 4.4 Jaques sets from 1849-75 back then had lot's of money & lived in a big house with servant's  or Played in a Gentleman s club  etc , Now the market is flooded with KO / Repro Jaques sets  4.4 sets which for years had been very rare . Thanks to HOS & others

The 4 " sets were introduced by Jaques at the end of 1867.