Chess Sets
Most people think of the classic Staunton chess set first introduced by John Jaques and Son back in the early 1840s and popularised by the English champion of that name. Made in ebony and ivory in either red and white or more likely as the years passed, in black and white, this design has stood the test of time and while ivory has long since been superseded by boxwood or rosewood other materials are now used as well, metals like copper and zinc and steel, glass in various colours, marble and, because it can be cold cast into moulds of various shapes and designs, resin, with or without powdered marble or stone as a constituent.
You can have a Staunton style chess set in virtually any size from Travel Chess Sets with a King measuring just half an inch in height, and with a folding board cum case from five to eight or twelve inches square, to the largest sets with a four and a half inch King requiring a board of around two foot square. We stock the whole range of Jaques Chess Sets costing up to a thousand pounds plus and made in boxwood or ebony with mahogany cases. Gibson chess sets made of Rosewood and Boxwood. Plastic chess sets with roll up boards for schools. Marble chess sets in vivid primary colours from Chiellini of Italy. Hand made metal chess sets in copper and zinc from Zimbabwe. Glass chess sets from France. Fine Staunton chess sets from Dal Negro of Italy featuring compartmentalised bases with chess board tops made in walnut and veneer inlaid.
Themed chess sets have become very big business in recent decades and we make our own versions in an antique mahogany and ivory finish or hand painted versions such as Alice in Wonderland, King Arthur, Napoleon, Medieval, Isle of Lewis, Lord of the Rings, and many more. We also stock the range by Studio Ann Carlton and Dal Negro.
For electronic chess we stock the entire range of hand-helds and table-tops from Saiteck and endorsed by Gary Kasparov. |
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