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house of staunton chess set

This did help preserve the labels since they were not placed directly on a wear surface. First, having been a serious tournament chess player, my interest was in practical playing sets—the Staunton design in particular. What I had discovered very early in my collecting career was that there was woefully little information on the Staunton chessmen and what did exist was mostly incorrect. So, I decided to pull together as much information on the Staunton pattern as I could. One of the early highlights in Saint Louis’ chess history was also a landmark event in United States and global chess history.

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This praxis was later changed to affix the label to the underside of the lid of the mahogany boxes. The earliest labels were white with a decorative black fleur-de-lis. A slightly different label was designed for sets numbered 600 or so to 999.

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Though adorned with decorative surface textures, this set maintains the essential qualities of the Staunton pattern’s forms. This trophy or gift set is named for the man who presented it, a member of the British Parliament named Lord Vernon. An inscription on the base of the box that accompanies this set indicated that he presented it as a gift at his residence, Sudbury Hall, in October 1857.

Folding Unique Staunton Ringy Rosewood 3.75" Chess Set - Chess Board with Engraved Algebraic Notation - 2 Extra Queens

All chessmen were crafted from Japanese Tsuge wood in natural and either red or black lacquered finishes, depending on the design. It took quite a while for the new design to become popular. Initial sales were slow, in spite of Staunton’s frequent assertions to the contrary in his weekly column. A portrait of Howard Staunton posing with other leading chess players in the July 14, 1855, issue of the Illustrated London News includes a Barleycorn set, not a Staunton set, on the table! But slowly, surely, the advantages of the Staunton standard won out over all others, and by the end of the 19th century it had become the prevalent chess set pattern.

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In addition, two of the pawns had misshapen bottoms such that they did not sit flat on the board. Lastly, the board itself was slightly warped and did not sit flat. After sending photos by email they sent a new board, replacement pawns, and one extra leather pad to replace the worst of the pads that had peeled off. The one thing they couldn't fix without replacing the entire set was the fact that most of the leather pads were not centered on the piece bottoms. All of this suggests shoddy finishing work on their sets, even special limited edition commemorative sets like mine. The Victorian Ornament Staunton Set represents a decorative variation of the Staunton style chess set.

Portions of Crumiller’s collections have been highlighted in two previous WCHOF exhibitions. Not only interested in acquiring artifacts but also learning about their origins and histories, Jon conducts research on the evolution of chess set styles, usage, and manufacturing. He shares this information with the global community of collectors, including his fellow enthusiasts in Chess Collectors International. Jon provides curious chess devotees from around the world with beautiful photos of his stunning collection as well as some of the fruits of his meticulous research through his website

house of staunton chess set

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Many of the changes were made to improve the robustness of the chessmen. Among the other changes made were the relative proportions of the chessmen. Boxes housing sets produced after 1895 or so were fitted with a partition which separated the white pieces from the black. A longtime chess fan and competitor, Jon Crumiller purchased his first antique chess set online in 2002. This acquisition quickly sparked a passion, and Jon’s collection of antique sets now numbers over 600.

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The pieces were tournament size, and I made good use of them in the years that followed. Thanks everyone for posting good info about buying chess sets. My chess set from chessbazaar and they did a pretty neat job of packing and dispatching the set. Ordered the items on Monday morning and the set was with me on Wednesday evening. The cardboard box in which the board came was torn and crushed but thankfully my board was safe. The pieces were individually wrapped with due care and I had to spend quite a lot of time unwrapping the pieces.

Howard Staunton never claimed to be the designer/creator of the chess piece pattern that bears his name. The Staunton chess pattern was patented in March 1849 by Nathaniel Cooke (misspelled as “Cook” on the patent document). Cooke was the business partner and brother-in-law of Herbert Ingram, the primary founder of the ILN.

To accommodate this new development, Jaques and other game equipment firms began to market the two-faced chess clock. These early labels were numbered sequentially, so set #120 could be an 8.9 cm wooden set in a small mahogany box, while set #121 might be a large ivory set in a large Carton Pierre casket. Little known is the fact that the earliest labels also have the Jaques London imprint invisibly embossed into the label. The same tool used to mark the bases of their kings was used to make this imprint. This little-known fact alone should be worth the time you have taken to read this article.

I liked the style of the Grandmaster pieces for the price, and considered it to be the cheapest, decent looking set (including the knight carvings). The website really talks these sets up and sells them as being "Exceptional" pieces of craftsmanship. I chose to upgrade the set to the Boxwood/Rosewood combination (I like the look of Rosewood, opposed to Ebonized boxwood). It was more expensive, but I wanted to get the best I could for my budget. The board it came with was their standard "Tournamet" style board made of Maple/Mahogany. I could'nt believe a board made of those woods would be so cheap.

These included chess sets like this one, as well as mirrors, brushes, glove stretchers, paper knives, and watch stands. This early set of Jaques Staunton chessmen is paired with a beautiful Leuchars board, which has decorative elements that refer to chess pieces on its corners. The back of the board has paper maché decorations that complement those on the casket, or box, containing the chess pieces. Leuchars was the first retailer of Staunton chessmen, which it began selling in September 1849.

This is a bit long, as it is a complete recap of my experience with them over 2 weeks. The Staunton chessmen debuted in mid-19th century London, a center of chess activity as well as manufacturing and trade. One of the Staunton patterns’ influences as well as sets by many of Jaques’ competitors are on view in this case.

I recently became interested in chess, and decided I wanted to buy a decent wooden chess set. I shopped around, and looked on these forums for suggestions. I came accross House of Staunton (google for their website if you are unfamiliar with them) and fell in love with their sets.

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