im new to the site and dont play chess myself but now have this asian chess set left to me from my husband. he was in the navy in the 70's but im not sure if he brought this over from japan. all the pieces are similiar in color but half the pieces have a little orange in the crevices
Hello grandmashannon:
First, I would recommend removing the foam from the head of each king and posting new photos. While you're at it, take one photo each of the queen, bishop, knight, rook (i.e. castle) and pawn, a total of five photos, and post them too. A guess at the material -- ivory, bone, ceramic, porcelain, plaster casted -- would be helpful as would the height and width of the king.
I may still not be able to identity the set because I'm not that familiar with figurine pieces, but it's a good bet that one of the two men listed below may be able to do so.
Not that Mr. Lanier does not do valuations; I'm not sure about Mr. Crumiller. When you write be sure to include the link to this page that I've posted below.
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/question-about-antique-chess-set?newCommentCount=1&page=2
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Bob
thats not foam on the pieces heads, thats how they were made. i will check them out
thank you
Not foam? Interesting. I wonder what culture these pieces are supposed to represent. If you find out, I'd appreciate you posting the answer on this thread.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Bob
my husband was in stationed in japan when he was in the navy but i cant say thats where these are from for sure
Yes, I know, I read that in your original post, but the first thing I did was poke around the internet looking at ancient Japanese dress and could find nothing like this. Not being an expert on Japan's history, perhaps it's from a period I'm unfamiliar with.
i cant find anything like it either. im soaking the bottom to get the glue off and to see if there is any shreger. if there is shreger they could be ivory.
This applies to so called "mammoth ivory" as well.
Why? Mammoth ivory is from wooly mammoths. It can be distinguished from ivory from African elephants, and so it doesn't endanger them any more than plastic or wood.
In any case, while it's commendable to be concerned about protecting wildlife, I think the world's governments made a mistake placing restrictions on ivory to the extent that they have.
Botswana was about to start raising elephants on farms to produce ivory without hunting, so the elephant would have been in no more danger of extinction than the sheep or the cow. Botswana is the one country in Africa with free elections and a free press.
The ivory ban is really about protecting the government of Kenya - which, unlike the government of Botswana, is not a democracy - from rebels who supported themselves by poaching. Why should free countries trample on the property rights of their citizens in order to support a dictatorship?
I figured out how to insert the picture.
thanks
tom