100 unusual antique chess sets

I plan to post a lot of antique chess sets here. To start with below, a set design from the 18th c.  a drawing of which I discovered in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is quite possible this set was never produced at the time.

The Staunton pattern set design which is used all over the world now was introduced by Jaques of London in 1849 and was adopted by FIDE in about 1942 but before that many other designs were popular in clubs and homes, many in exotic materials which are unavailable to modern makers. 

A lot of the sets I will post are not really playable but all are interesting for one reason or another, some with a lot of history attached like the Reds v Whites ceramic set posted in this forum further down. Please feel free to ask any questions about them or post any interesting sets you may have or have pictures of.

I will endeavour to reply to any query or comment posted.

Knight from a Jaques set which had the stamp partially scrubbed and Leuchars (A London fancy goods retailer) substituted. This is the only known wood set so treated although there are several sets with Leuchars stamps known in ivory some of which have Cantonese knights heads substituted in, whether this was done at the time or later by an unscrupulous chess set dealer is at the moment not clear but will no doubt become known in the fullness of time.

Cannons (sometimes bombards) appear in several of the old set designs, usually substituted for rooks. This 18th century German wood set below is one example. 

A set made by either Bill or Bertram Jones sometime between about 1940 and 1980. These were sold as antique sets by both Alex Hammond and Mackett-Beeson in London. They occasionally pop up in chess sales in the London salerooms such as Christies and Bonhams etc.

This set was made by Hallett of High Holborn this design the first of several registered by them very much in this Staunton-esque manner was dated on the base of each piece, by an impressed large Victorian reg-doc stamp to 1851 3 years almost to the day after Jaques registered the Staunton pattern design. This perhaps in one of the indicators that the (then) 'new' design was already attracting attention from players, which is not surprising as the book icons which match the Staunton 'piece identifiers' (The bit on the tops of the pieces) had been standard in chess books of the day for 30 years. I find it very interesting that the pawn used in books does not match the Staunton pawn but that type is already used in a book published in 1818.

This set below may well have been made in Archangel by the Decemberist revolutionaries.  

This 18century Italian set has some similarities to the icons used in The book, “De Ludo Scachorum,” or “The Game of Chess,” is by Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan friar and Renaissance mathematician who was a friend and collaborator of Leonardo. One of the earliest chess books, it contains 114 diagrams of chess problems drawn in red and black. (according to NY times) There has been speculation that the diagrams were drawn by Leonardo da Vinci based mostly on the idea that they knew each other. This kind of speculation is fun but doesn't move us far along in the knowledge stakes. It is far more likely that the iconography in Pacioli's book followed what was a common type of playing set of the time. Consider this, The book was intended for players to use. The iconography and diagrams would have to be understandable by most readers. The idea that Leonardo might have been involved is based on a fancy that the 'golden mean' is used in the construction of some of the shapes and that Leonardo had helped Pacioli with other complex diagrams, well, maybe, I would like to see proof that one follows from the other.

No, the icons used in the book are most likely to be of a predecessor of the set below. This can be verified by direct comparison. Pages of Pacioli's book are to be found online.

 “De Ludo Scachorum,” 

Another very good 18th-century set. Although it is not shown here the undersides of the pieces indicated that this set was made on a pole lathe which leaves distinctive groups of cut lines as the workpiece is rotated back and forth. 

Nice!  Thanks for sharing.