Reproduction and Real Jaques of London Chess Set

Shots of Official Staunton's Harrwitz set from its website...

A Harrwitz knight compared with other early Jaques knights from Prof. Fersht's site...

yes sure I can......at time of production this set (harrwitz) manufactured by AIW was supposed to be a cooke design but I wasnt too keen wth the end result so renamed it. We are infact selling this design at less than cost, so its a clearance. 

It is of course still a very fine ebony set to own! :)

Thanks for clarifying. It's a very nice set in its own right especially at the price.

A small detail among Jaques sets and their reproductions/imitations which is important to me is the height of the bases for the pieces.

On the old Jaques sets it seems the Bishop and the Knight usually have  a base which is about the same height.

Jon Crumiller's 1849 4.4" Jaques





















Alan Dewey's 1849 3.5" Jaques


















The reproductions from Official Staunton and Chess Bazaar have this correct.

On sets which are labeled the "Collector's Series" I have noticed the base of the Knight is usually higher than the base of the Bishop. 
The 4.0" Collector's Series from House of Staunton.
Official Staunton's version of this set shares the same design.
Possibly from the same source?

What do you guys think of the latest House of Staunton offerings?

I personally like the looks of their 1940 reproduction.  

They do offer quite a few offerings in the not too expensive range.  Of course they also have the "Holy cow, that's expensive" sets as well.  But what do you think of them?

Carl has apparently entered the fray of producing sets that are not true reproductions but still look good.  The House of Staunton also has some of these, in my opinion.

And what do you think of some of the Frank Camaratta designed Stauntons?  I like the looks of that Knight on his Craftsman set.

I think the best House of Staunton chess sets are hard to beat.  Some of the earliest sets are getting some age on them now and ought to be very collectible in their own right. 

I own set #243 of their "Championship Series Chessmen" which according to them they have sold "thousands and thousands" of, so I will be hanging on to that.  These are the pieces which were the standard for North American Chess tournaments in the past 20 years. 
The ubiquity of this set is well-earned.  It's the best playing set I own.

over the past few months there has been some debate on the rooks from our repro sets being a little bulbous for some  ....here below is an image of an original cooke 1849 ..as shown the rooks are quite bulbous and I think it safe to say that both our 1870 set and 1851 are very close.

and here in the same sequence set up is our 1851 set. The next production run ( March/April) I will instruct the artisans to shorten the ears. 

Jack, I agree about the bases. I think this error springs from some makers looking at later Jaques sets where the knights did tend to have taller bases.

The knight you show as the1849 3.5"  is the only Leuchars overstamped wood set known AFAIK the knights on that set are particulally interesting as not only were the 4 knights made by two different carvers but they are clearly an attempt to reproduce very closely the Selene horse and also they closely follow the drawing of the knights heads in the 1849 registration document signed by Nathaniel cook(e)

Carl, your tubby rooks won me over some time ago.

modelled on me of course haha!! 

Thanks for making the best reproduction Jaques sets in the markert place. Your  reproduction sets have greatly enhanced my collection. Like no other company, you listen to feeback from collectors like myself and give collectors what they want. Kudos to The Official Staunton Chess Company!

Please give me your opinion on this set I happened to find online.

It seems relatively inexpensive all things considered.

Hi ron, (Eyechess)

I particulally dislike the undercut bases on these sets. This (to my mind) completely invalidates the reason for the wide bases on the Staunton design proper which along with the weights makes the pieces more stable. These undercut sets look 'tippy' to my eye. I do not know if they are but it is the look of such things which is important when one is dealing with esthetics.

Thank you so much, means a lot !! :)

Alan, I see what you mean.  Thank you.

EinMal - do be careful - I too have been burned buying Jaques online.

I am a fan of the historic Jaques sets and the place they serve in Chess history.

The modern Jaques sets cost more than the competitors and provide an overall inferior product.  For the price of $795 there are many other Chess sets you could purchase (including a restored older Jaques) which are of higher quality, and likely of higher provenance. 

I'll also agree with Alan in I prefer the bases on a chess set to be the same width as the felt.