Mammoth Ivory Chess Set - Redux

That $10,000 chess set carved out of mammoth ivory for $10,000 is back in the news - at a different website.

Checking out the photograph of the set, while certainly lovely, I don't think it's worth $10,000. I think the workmanship leaves something to be desired. For that kind of money, I would want the bases of the pieces to be of uniform height and depth but, even allowing for perspective and shadowing, you can see in the photograph that the bases of the white pieces (which are at the front of the photograph) are of differing heights and the base height also appears to vary on each individual piece from left side to right side (right side appears somewhat thicker, for instance, on the bases of the king, queen and particularly the knight). Perhaps the maker needs to check the calibrations on his lathe (or get a new one, more finely balanced).

$10,000 Will Buy...

From uberview.com [ February 8th, 2008 @ 8:42 pm ] ... [ C. S. Magor ] Mammoth Ivory Chess Set will make you King of the Chess Club I was never in the chess club at school. At times, though I was tempted to join, it and the people in it; were never quite my flavor. That is not to say I do not enjoy a game of chess, on the contrary, I love the occasional game. I cannot think of any better way to spend an evening than with a fine cigar, a nip of Bowmore Mariner Single Malt Scotch Whiskey and a Mammoth Ivory Collector Series Signature Chess Set with pieces made from 40,000-year-old mammoth ivory. This is no ebony and ivory board, it is all ivory. The white pieces retain their original color, while the black pieces are stained black. As you might imagine it has a price tag to match its rarity. But hey, it comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and they throw in the leather base pads for free. The board materials they use are pretty sweet too, featuring amboyna, ebony and spalted maple. Price $10,000