Reproduction and Real Jaques of London Chess Set

They tell me Diss has nice people...(thinking...)

 Regarding the 3.5" set above without rook stamps.

I agree this normally indicates some substitutions but a good look at the felts on those pieces will usually tell the tale.

I have seen various 'faults' on Jaques sets on very rare occasions (JAQUES JAQUES, stamped on the king instead of JAQUES LONDON so a miss on a rook stamp seems possible. However, missing the crown stamp on one white rook AND one black rook in the same set seems taking coincidence too far.

It sounds like the same logic as carrying a bomb onto a plane to keep you safe. 

The chances of being on an aeroplane with a bomb on it are millions to one against.

The chances of getting on a plane with two bombs are so small that it is negligible.  Therefore you are far safer carrying a bomb with you when you fly.

Also, apart from sellers making up sets from spares, remember Jaques sold aggressively to chess clubs and as the sets were used in competitions where the taken pieces could be mixed up after games it is also possible this set above is an old club set, one of several bought at one time and used for many years.

Does anyone know anything about sets that use "blobs" (I can't think of a better word) to mark the King-side Rook and Knight? I'm sure I've seen this somewhere but cannot remember where. See picture below:

Commonly found in sets attributed to Whitty. See here for an example from Crumiller's collection:

http://www.crumiller.com/chess/chess_pages/staunton/WhittyWoodenChessSet.htm

I believe ChessBazaar is selling a repro.

Thanks Frank. So I'd expect one Black Knight and one Rook to have a White blob, judging by that link.

I have restored and bought several of these over the years. Yes as above the 'blobs' denote the kings knights and rooks (just in case there are any tyros reading this, the marking of the kingside pieces was because in the old English notation (1, Pk4 - Pk4 etc) sometimes one needed to know which piece (kingside origin or queenside) had moved to a certain square. Clearly, this does not happen with full algebraic notation as the start and stop squares are written).

I think they are mostly early 20th c. Although I have seen this on St George style pieces also.

The 'blobs' are made in ebony and bone as far as I remember. 

Thanks Alan. From the picture it looks like quite a high quality set. No idea whether the box is original, it's a strange looking box. The condition report says there are a number of replaced piece so I don't think I'll bid much, since I guess it's not super rare. The black pawns shown appear to be about twice the size of the White pawns, which isn't mentioned in the condition report

Hi Matt,

Yes, clearly a 'harlequin set' as we used to call them in Portobello.

This sort of thing aggravates me, as there may well be several of the other correct pawns (and bishops too as they also seem to be mismatched) and getting the seller to admit they also have the other correct pieces is usually impossible for some reason. The script usually goes something like this.

Me, Some of the pieces seem to be from a different set.

Seller, Oh I don't know, (didn't notice that) I don.t know much about chess. This is how it was when I bought it.

So now I am in the position of calling him a liar if I suggest he has the other pieces, so he will never admit to swapping pieces out, and I will never get them.

There was a dealer in Portobello who was an outright crook, his mother had run a stall for many years and dabbled in chess sets, usually lower end, but occasionally got a nice set. She died eventually and her son took the stall over. He was smart but crooked as a bent nail. He went to a trade fair once and purloined an ivory knight from a valuable Lund set, thinking it would not sell and he would pick it up later for a good price. Anyway, the seller was very upset and had his suspicions about who had palmed the knight but couldn't prove anything so he sold the set to another Portobello dealer who asked me to make a knight, which I did. The thief, realising he would never get the set offered the new owner the original knight saying it was from his spares. (a perfect match) He wanted 300GBP. I made the knight but the new owner eventually bought the correct knight for 50gbp. preferring the original of course. We compared the knights in a lineup and the replacement could not be reliably picked out. I eventually gave the knight to Tom Thompson the well known German collector. 

Hi Alan, that sounds like something out of "Lovejoy".

What annoys me is when I tell eBayers that their "Jaques Set" isn't a Jaques - and they thank me for the info, but then don't change the description

All the world is the same it seems.

I spent 25 years in Portobello market and soon learnt the ropes, so to speak.

I eventually stopped telling dealers anything. First, they weren't interested, (buy or go away) and second, why educate them? 

The little old ladies in Chelsea were the best, (I also cruised the antique places on the Kings Road) There were regular antique fairs in the Library there at the bottom of Sydney St and King's road junction. I bought my first good buy there one morning on my way to Antiquarious (the big antique centre, now a department store I think)  

I was walking through the library hall looking for chess sets and saw a large handsome bone set with a few pawns and other pieces unscrewed. The (young) lady minding the stall was not sure of the prices, her mother, (the stall holder) had gone to feed the parking meter (against the law but they don't care) and would be back momentarily.

I spent the time putting the pieces back together checking the set was undamaged (it was complete) 

I had a sudden thought that the seller might not realise it was just unscrewed so I put it back as it was. There was also a good wood set with a couple of pieces chipped. The older lady returned and a deal was done, and yes, the bone set was cheap because of the damage as was the wood set, I got both for 40 GBP total

I put the bone set back to rights on my way to Antiquarious (5 mins walk) and sold it there for 200gbp

The dealer had a Jaques set to sell which I bought for about 40gbp (damaged but fixable).

I went back to Portobello and sold the Jaques set on to a dealer there. 

I made a week's wages that morning and decided then and there to start restoring sets and buying and selling in the market. I was getting older and bricklaying is a young man's job.

When the lease ran out on my flat in Putney I had enough to buy a place in Kent for cash and went into restoration full time.

I now restore sets from my house in West Asheville for any readers who do not already know. The bulk of our income, however, is generated by my wife, we restore antique fibre arts equipment, (spinning wheels and looms mostly) making bobbins and other consumables for these venerable old machines.

Since the outlawing of antique ivories, the chess repairs are only bone and wood which makes it a bit of a sideline sadly.

Great story Alan. And note where you live in the Smokies is one of the most beautiful places in the country.  I am guessing that is where your wife is from.  Great retirement country and place to live period.

 Hi Mike,

Yes, and west Asheville suits me just right. A bit hippy, a bit lefty. and a bit weird.

We have a cycling nun downtown who squirts tourists with holy water from a water pistol

Take the blessings any way you can get them, Alan.  

Are you sure it's only water? That's not very Tour de France...

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/fan-throws-urine-on-chris-froome-and-calls-him-doper-at-tour-de-france-183208

Hi all ,

Just came across this set on ebay Jaques style . Never seen this with black oak wood chess men etc ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antique-Chess-Set-Jaques-style-1855-Anderseen-Knights-Oak-Side-Original-Casket/142885267647?hash=item2144a028bf%3Ag%3AEpkAAOSw7U9bW5Fz&_nkw=antique+chess+sets&rt=nc

I have never seen a mixed wood and ivory set by Jaques. I have never seen an oak set by Jaques. I have only seen several hundreds of Jaques sets so it is possible that this was a rare trial set.

The box looks genuine for an ivory set of that period (1855) 

The rule I used to go by was, If it ain't stamped, it ain't Jaques. However the pieces do look like Jaques and the only people I knew of who were faking up ivory Staunton sets were Bertram and Bill Jones and their sets were easily identified.

I saw that and wondered.  I would have thought that oak was not the best material for detailed turning and  carving because the grain is so coarse.  

^^^^ Right

I make weavers pick up sticks out of white oak but am not happy about the grain and am thinking of using something else.

The ad says it's "jaques style" and that the King is not stamped, so he's not advertising the set as a Jaques. The casket - which is Jaques - looks to be in spectacularly good condition, and the set looks like it was made yesterday - maybe it's just the photography but the ivory pieces look very white to me.  Weirdly, in one of the photos it shows the weight and the four indentations are visible - I thought this is indicative of it being a Jaques weight, so I'm a bit confused.

Is it unusual for ivory pieces to be felted/beized?