Reproduction and Real Jaques of London Chess Set

Thanks! I just got this 2 weeks ago and have attempted to look it up….but there are so many small details I don’t know abojt. needless to say I’ve learned a great deal from this thread. I  have never even heard of Jacques of London . Crazy, right?..I’m having trouble finding details/ listings that include the original leather board by LEUCHARS -Piccadilly. The original board although is in rough condition, would have to add to the value of the set, Right? I can’t find anything on eBay with the 4.4 inch ivory set/board. Does anyone have a suggestion on who to contact?

Think of it like fine art & History in your hands , Email Tim at https://www.antiquechessshop.com/ 

Jaques, minus the c

Jaques, minus the c

Thanks, spelling was never my strong point! Or chess for that matter!

Thanks! I just got this 2 weeks ago and have attempted to look it up….but there “

does anyone have any idea of a ball park price a set like this would be worth? 4.4” jaques ivory club set w/ leuchars board and carton-Pierre casket(damaged)? Thanks I’m advance!!

Jacques- Yves Cousteau  the Famous Oceanographer is spelt correctly  with a "c"

Whereas Jaques of London -- without a "c" seems to also be spelt correctly. I suspect that spelling of Ja(c)ques varies upon if you have English or French as your basic language as both spellings translate in English to "Jack" --- with a "c" shows an English influence; without a "c" a French influence. 

Any sets as of late (2022) that come close to the 1849 Cooke set?

House of Staunton's Imperial Collector, currently used in St Louis at the US Championship, is pretty good.

Have you been following the US Championships? Those sets are nice! Weirdly though, they're not being used for all games - I wonder if they don't have enough of them or something.

Instead, some games are being played on an absolute horror of a chess set, like this one shown here with rising star Alice Lee ...

That board in post 4845!....OH! That board!

I have the “cooke series luxury chess pieces”, with a large base 3.625” king. While it seems well made, neither the king nor the bishops seem accurate to me. Here it is:

ceferistul, the K and B look pretty good to me

Camaratta has captured the spirit of the 19th Century English woodturners at Jaques, and, as previously discussed by the collectors here, there's no such thing as a single perfect reproduction design.  I have both a Jaques circa 1895-1900 and a Jaques 1900 reproduction, and they are both fine, but have differences.

I gather that antique Jaques boards were inlaid squares and framed, so the playing surface recessed inside the frame.  Whether the pyramid style boards were made in antiquity, perhaps someone else can say.

If they were they must be rare, because I've never seen one. I've seen and owned a number of antique boards, all of the inlaid type as you said in your post.

Very nice. Do you know what finish has been applied to the pieces? It says they're "black and natural lacquered" but I'm not sure what that means.

Looks to be a really nice set anyway.

I wouldn't know, but my set is ebony and boxwood, I'm thinking no more than varnish was used, since the colour is natural

I discovered that the knight is attached to the base via a threaded bar. The threaded bar is part of the base, while the body has a threaded sleeve inside

Yes it looks like it might be varnish. The old sets are coated with French Polish, i.e. shellac. I don't know if modern sets are ever coated in shellac.

I applied shellac to crafts back in the 1960's as a kid   Piano finishes have up to 50 coats of some kind of polish.  We have a lot more polymers today; does anyone know the advantages?

Well,from my collecting acoustic guitars days....Polymers are more durable.However,don't sound as good as other finishes.....It's the durability thing,I'd assume,with a chess set.

Good luck.

Shellac over tissue paper making model airplanes? That was in the late 1970s for me!