Reproduction and Real Jaques of London Chess Set

The rooks are very un-jaques and are more like some BCC 'popular' sets.

It does look very Jaques like.

I looked closely at the white kings footrim trying to convince myself I could detect some marking but I don't think so. Even the box looks 'right' for Jaques.

Is it worth a punt just to get a look at the weights?

I have my own reservations about this set. There are places on some of the pieces that look shiny, and others that look like they have been through the war. I wish the person selling the set would have given us a picture of the bottom of the pieces. While the set *looks* very old, it could be a very clever forgery that was "antiqued" -- even some cracked and broken pieces. Note the pictures of the four knights. The two black knights still have their jaws, then in the last picture the black knight is missing its lower jaw. A clever forgery thrown in a genuine old box. There are a very problems: 1) It is missing the stamps which would be a pain to cast. 2) The weights, we have no idea what the weights look like. Without being able to see or handle the set or determine who had the set via chain of custody, one should consider that is *might* be a modern set that was "antiqued".

I'm not so sure Mr Bobcat - there isn't a picture of all 4 Knights, there are 2 pictures of 2 Knights - presumably the same Black Knight is in both of these pics. Admittedly this is a bit mis-leading! As for being a forgery, would anyone make a forgery without at least putting the crown marks on the Rooks and Knights? I agree adding these marks would be difficult - I don't know how they were made in the first place?

If this was a Jaques, I'd expect it to sell for at least £800, but not being a Jaques I'd expect about £300

Good point about the baize - I'll message the seller and ask if they can add a picture of the bases

Matt, If you are contacting the seller could you ask him to lift a felt and show the weight? (please).

Alan, I've already sent the seller a message, asking to see a pic of the bases and if the baize is loose on any of them to post a picture of the weight. I will see what they come back with first before sending any more messages (or they'll think I'm stalking them)

 Yes I get that

Hehehehehehe. I would love to see what comes back.

Alan, just as a trivia question (and because I am curious -- like most cats) were this to turn out to be a genuine Jaques set, would you actually be able to repair it?? The jaw on the knight would seem to be next to impossible. Depending on the amount of damage to the remaining pieces would this set be worth salvaging and restoring? Enquiring minds want to know!

The jaw on the Knight is actually not that difficult. What you'd need to do is sand the bit where it broke so that you've got a flat area, then glue a small piece of ebony in onto the flat area. You can then shape the ebony into a new jaw using the sanding wheel on a dremel (or similar rotary tool). Once you've got the shape right you sand using finer and finer sand-paper and then buff with a polishing compound to get the finish that matches the rest of the Knight

^^^ correct.

As to whether or not it is worth fixing, that depends on the level of damage and how many replacements.

There looks to be very little damage to this set - the jawless Knight also has a crack, one pawn has a chipped collar and the White King is chipped. The box has some big cracks in the lid which you often see on the bigger boxes.

I'm planning on bidding on this one though which means the idiot-with-infinite-cash who always bids against me will drive the price into the stratosphere. As usual.

Good luck Matt

I think this seller wins the 'worst Jaques knight replacement of all time' award:




https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANTIQUE-CHESS-SET-BY-JAQUES-SON-LONDON/401580857700?hash=item5d80159964:g:mw8AAOSwhXhbcJOL

The king's finial looks odd too. 

That is an absolute shocker!

The knight on the right looks ok though.

I think the kings cross is/was ok when it was whole. Do we think this set post dates about 1930?

^^^ F.H.Ayres called they want their knight head back.

3272 knight's head might fit the other earlier (posted) set.

I agree it look like (probably) an Ayres knight head.