Unique Chess Set Rescued from Rubbish Heap

Story from the BBC Online £5k hope for 'rubbish' chess set Friday, 8 May 2009 A chess set thrown out as rubbish by one of north Wales's biggest landowners could fetch £5,000 for relatives of the butler who saved it from the bonfire. The French carved ivory figures which once belonged to Lord Mostyn are due to be auctioned by Christie's in London. They are being sold by the great grandchildren of James Baxter, who served the third Baron Mostyn at Mostyn Hall, Flintshire, in the late 1800s. The auction house said chess sets from the era are "rarely" found complete. Through Mostyn Estates Ltd, the Mostyn family own large areas of Llandudno, Conwy, and their connection with the resort and its development dates back 500 years. The chess set, made in Dieppe in the late 18th to early 19th Century, is estimated to fetch between £3,000 to £5,000 when it is auctioned on Tuesday. According to Christie's, James Baxter was the butler at Mostyn Hall around the 1880s-1890s. During his time at Mostyn Hall, Lord Mostyn gave his butler a cardboard box and asked him to dispose of the contents. On closer examination he discovered amongst the debris that the box contained a chess set and being particularly taken with the game, asked his employer if he might keep it. Lord Mostyn agreed and so began the succession of this distinctive game set to its current owner James Baxter's great grandson, Christopher Baxter Jones, who is selling the heirloom with his brother Nicholas and sister Ann. The auction house said the "intricately carved" chess set was modelled to represent the French versus the Moors, showing "incredible attention to detail". The kings are depicted carrying sceptres, the bishops in wide brimmed hats, the knights as cavalry men, and the rooks as turrets. Sets carved to depict the battles between the French and their colonial possessions became a popular theme among the Dieppe carvers during the late 18th Century and 19th Century as the ivory carving industry thrived. A spokesman for Christie's said: "Chess sets from this period are rarely complete, and most surviving examples date from circa 1820, making it no wonder that this striking chess set caught the curious eye of James Baxter some 60 years later. "A curious eye which allows us to indulge in today what might have been lost forever."

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Whoa! According to Christie's website, the set ultimately sold for £10,625 on May 12, 2009, Lot 146, Sale 5923.

Auction Results: Antique Chess Sets

Christie's Auction, Amsterdam, December 15 - 16, 2008: Lot 588/Sale 2808 A TURNED IVORY CHESS SET LATE 19TH CENTURY Price Realized: €3,500 ($4,798) Price includes buyer's premium Estimate: €1,500 - €2,000 ($2,020 - $2,694) Sale Information Sale 2808 furniture and works of art 15 - 16 December 2008 Amsterdam Lot Description A TURNED IVORY CHESS SET LATE 19TH CENTURY The opposing sides carved as busts on baluster-turned supports and on ring-turned moulded feet, the whites modelled as Europeans, the blacks modelled as Africans and orientals -of which two bishops European; associated-white king 8.3 cm. high; black king 8.7 cm. high Special Notice Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €20,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €20,001 and €800.000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €800.000. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually. Wow! Those are gigantic buyer's premiums! Let Christie's sell your lot that fetches less than 20,000 Euros and pay them a whopping 29.75% of your purchase price right off the top. Ha! I don't even own anything transportable that is worth 20,000 Euros! That old saying is right: The rich are different...

Antique Chess Table and Set Stolen

Hmmm, this all sounds rather suspicious to me. It has to be someone knowledgeable about antiques, not your run of the mill English burglar just rummaging around! From BBC News January 3, 2009 Antiques stolen in house burglary Hand painted pictures and candle snuffers were among a haul of antiques stolen from a Northamptonshire house. Burglars broke in through patio doors at the back of the property in High Street, Gretton, police said. Among the items stolen in the raid on Friday morning were a mahogany table with in-laid chess table with hand carved pieces in red and white. Northamptonshire police have appealed for anyone with information about the raid to contact them. Also stolen was a black writing box with a mother of pearl top and blue velvet interior with a silver and glass inkpot, various silver antique match boxes and a pair of flint lock pistols, one of which had a male's head in brass on the bottom of the handle.

Antique Chess Set Stolen

Some questions: Were the thieve really after the set and just took the other stuff to cover their tracks? Are the thieves chessplayer? Would your run of the mill thieves (ahem) understand the value of a hand-carved 17th century ivory chess set??? Is this actually some insidious plot to gather some pieces of the legendary Montglane Chess Service in an attempt to recreate the Elixir of Eternal Life? Story from The Australian.news.com Thieves steal 17th century chess set October 25, 2008 BRAZEN thieves have made off with an antique hand-carved chess set after breaking into a Brisbane home. Police say the home on Franklin Way, Wakerley, in Brisbane's east, was robbed on October 13. "Thieves brazenly removed palings from the front wooden fence of the ... home to gain access to the yard,'' Queensland Police said. "They then broke into the house and stole a quantity of personal items, including jewellery, a laptop computer and the antique chess set.'' Police said the 17th century chess set was a much-loved family treasure and its 32 black and white pieces were made from hand-carved ivory. The chess pieces are also distinctive because they are each made up of eight individual sections of ivory.