Determine origin of chess set

Hey all.

A few years ago I inherited this chess set which was my grandfathers.. he died in the 90s and all I know is he had this set for a few decades.  The story is that it’s ivory.. as a kid only saw if a couple times and of course was not allowed to touch it.

id like to know if it is actually ivory and where it came from (how old)..

it is pretty..

thanks - let’s keep things civil as I’m sure some people may not agree with others opinions..

thanks

Moved categories. You might get better results here 

Hi, I found a similar pattern here; scroll down to China flag then 5th set...

Hope this helps!

That is an ivory chess set from Hong Kong, presumably made in the 1960s or 1970s. The pawns are depictions of the Eight Immortals, a group of legendary characters in Chinese mythology.

These sets occasionally did pop up at auctions in the past, not so much any more following the various international ivory trade bans. Check here for example:

https://www.artfoxlive.com/product/715225.html

https://www.weschlers.com/auction-lot/chinese-export-ivory-chess-set-20th-century_85100B9A88

https://www.thecobbs.com/auction-2016-04-30-lot-126.html

seems your people are completely on point!

the story in the family was it was too recent to be sold as ivory has to be a certain age @kiwimotard - that is very similar in design for sure...

the translation says "Classic Chinese game from the 19th century, mounted on dragon balls."

I don't see any markings on my set at all so i'n not sure how it could be dated.

@efimLG47 - those are really close if not exact!

seems they do still sell... looks like anywhere from a couple hundred to 700...

very cool, thanks!

@DMANSKI - This is 20th century for sure. The set @kiwimotard was pointing at is a Chinese puzzleball set as well, but these are older and their pawns do not depict the Eight Immortals but are usually either foot soldiers or mounted soldiers. The 19th century sets are all stained in cochenille red. The 20th century sets are tea stained in brown. Believe me, not older than 1950s, more likely 1960s or 1970s.

I have both, 19th century sets and 20th century Chinese sets in my collection, even though they are different in detail. Here is a 19th century set (a so called King George III set, in which the white side is not Chinese but English).

And here is a large (6.3" king size) early to mid 20th century tea stained Eight Immortals set.

That’s very cool. I do not doubt it one bit..

thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge..

I might as well use it as it’s not going to be worth a fortune anytime in future and it is very cool!

@DMANSKI check this one! Hang On Ivory Factory in Hong Kong, 1950s/1960s.

I wonder what distinguishes that one from mine making it so allegedly valuable.. maybe they are just pricing it high and hoping.. 

I guess they can still be bought and sold as there likely isn’t anything to govern it…

I would say that my set is from the same place.. the board latch is identical..

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/397864948309162507/

that is it!