Reproduced Knight of the Lewis Chessmen

Hey Friends, Aloha! This morning I read with delight the news of the Lewis chess piece that recently surfaced after having been kept in a drawer for fifty years. What was a five pound investment fifty years ago turned into a million pound surprise at the appraiser's.

Later in the day my delight turned into glee when my Red Knight arrived in the mail. The Knight is based on one of the Lewis Chessmen housed at the British Museum (BM 105). It stands at 8cm and I am surprised at how heavy it feels. It was carved by Mikhail Sokolov and is the first piece of what will be an entire set. Although Mikhail specializes in walrus tusk, I chose the more humble elk antler.

More of Mikhail's work can be seen at his facebook page, Megrina.

https://www.facebook.com/megrina/

(In case you are wondering, I paid for the Red Knight with my own money and am posting this out of sheer happiness at its arrival.)

Thanks!

Very nice work.

It amazes me people are still taken in by this hoax 200 years later. These crudely carved figures were never chess men. It was a marketing ploy. In France we have a saying. Fools and their gold are easily parted.

It is, notmtwain. Thanks.

Haverumwilltravel, it'll be awhile before the set is complete and, yes, that is part of the fun. It'll also give me time to think about the board. I didn't really think about that one yet.

Thanks for your words of wisdom, Nausea-Sartre. I'm looking forward to reading your book on the matter.

We all know, Haverumwilltravel, that fools cannot help themselves.

This looks to be  very iconic set.  I particularly like the workmanship and coloring of that Knight.

Thanks, Eyechess. Mikhail's ability to replicate the original carvings is remarkable. I don't know his process of coloring pieces but I like the final result.

That is really, really nice - a work of art!

Thanks, Crappov. I think so too. Although it may take some time, I'm looking forward to the completion of my set.

Actually I read in a New York paper today that a piece(Rook) that a guy paid $7,50 for has been dated at 900 years old and will auction for between $600,000 and $1.3 million dollars.It was reported to be from the Viking era.....Cool!

Imagine the owners when they found out what they had and its potential worth. 

Very nice!

But didn't the original "Isle of Lewis Chess Set" have all pieces the same colour?

LOL!

zugzwanger99, that has been the appeal to me. I am constantly amazed.

Thanks, IpswichMatt! As for the color, the British Museum states that when they first acquired the chessmen, many of the original pieces were red - actually a beet red. But since then the color has faded and disappeared. They cannot understand why and are unable to find traces of the original red color in the cracks of the pieces.

My understanding was that they were all the same color when they were found, but there were traces of beet juice so that one could deduce that the dark pieces were colored red.  Beet juice would degrade and be consumed by microbes, so it is not surprising that there are no longer traces of color, even in the cracks.  It is more surprising that they found evidence of beet juice in the first place.  

To the OP, are the white pieces in the background of your photos, a cast set?