100 unusual antique chess sets
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#56 looks very elegant.
#60, I saw a similar double headed knight from a Staunton Set and it does not work quite as well as #60.
I have been looking for the set from post 61 at a price that I can manage, the original makers sell them for about USD7000, one sold in Sydney last year for about AUD700, one sold on eBay a month or so ago for something like USD3000, the prices are all over the place
TheJackalC4 wrote:
The knights in post #55 are Amazing.
Hi Paul,
Yes, I agree, they are particularly well observed and carved. The furled flags are also interesting. I have only seen this type of pawn in French sets. They came to my attention due to Bertram Jones using them as pawns in his fake 'sand sets'. More on that scandal later.
greghunt wrote:
I have been looking for the set from post 61 at a price that I can manage, the original makers sell them for about USD7000, one sold in Sydney last year for about AUD700, one sold on eBay a month or so ago for something like USD3000, the prices are all over the place
Hi Greg,
These red v whites ceramic sets are much copied and originals hard to find undamaged and cost a lot.
The cheaper ones are poor copies made in quantity in Yugoslavia I think. However, there are and were many other copyists of these desirable sets. Not the least many sets made in Moscow from the original moulds in the 1970s (I think, from memory) Also an Israeli ceramicist made 8 copies from a picture and made a fairly credible job except hers were a little small and she had to guess what the backs looked like.
So the differences in price may well be due to buyers who know all about this, and there are a few very astute collectors of ceramic chess sets who know this stuff inside out. I was never very interested in ceramic sets as I didn't restore ceramic although on the odd occasion when I did buy I was lucky enough to make a lot of money.
liml wrote:
#56 looks very elegant.
#60, I saw a similar double headed knight from a Staunton Set and it does not work quite as well as #60.
Hi Lawrence,
#56 is a Danish set, I had the pleasure of restoring it. Hardly meant for play though.
#60 with the double-headed knights is in the German Selenus manner and may be from the Edel family. The pierced rook bodies would have hidden a small bell (Something like a budgie bell) which tinkled when it was moved (Do note that there is a bell in the tower above). I made several sets of this style over the years and often put bells in the rooks (which have to be pierced or the sound cannot escape... ask me how I know 
)
