Rare scented chess set & a Spassky signed board for sale at Bonhams chess & games auction

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hi everyone,


Bonhams will offer a number of very rare and unusual items in the Chess Sets, Playing Cards and Games sale on the 14th September, taking place in the Knightsbridge saleroom. An unusual “Mary Chess” glass perfume bottle chess set is estimated to sell for £2,000 – 3,000. During the 1930s Mary Chess became synonymous with fine women’s perfume, and a selection of popular scents were bottled in glass chess pieces.


Together with a full set of unopened scent bottles, a number of letters written to Mary Chess Ltd are also included in the sale. The Queen Mother owned a similar set and letters from her lady in waiting and financier thanking Mary Chess for the “magnificent chess set” along with a letter from the Queen of Sweden’s lady in waiting thanking the company for the “useful and wonderful products” will all be offered with the scent bottles.

  A Spassky-Fischer silver and silver-gilt 

chess set. Photo: Bonhams.

A further highlight of the sale is a rare “Spassky-Fischer” silver and silver-gilt chess set designed by the American Director Cy Enfield in 1972. Best known for his 1964 film “Zulu”, starring Michael Caine, Endfield was commissioned to design set to commemorate the Chess World Championship of 1972 between Fischer and Spassky. Estimated to sell for £2,000 – 3,000, the set is one of a rare limited edition of six and is also signed by Boris Spassky.

Tweet

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com

Unique chess sets go for great prices at Bonhams auction

Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello Everyone,

The Bonhams auction in London saw unique chess sets go for great prices this week, according to ArtDaily.org news.

An 18th century Russian mammoth ivory chess set was the top lot of the Chess, Playing Cards and Games auction that took place on January 17 at The Bonhams, Knightsbridge.

The intricately carved set was highly sought after and eventually sold for £19,000, against a pre-sale estimate of £2000-3000. The village of Kholmogory in Russia is famous for the local craft of carving in bone, which as existed there for over four hundred years.

From Europe a very rare, 300 year old south German, ivory and ebony figural chess set sold for £16,500. Made around 1700, the King and Queen were dressed in 17th -18th century interpretations of dress and the pawns were dressed in baggy breeches and flared bottomed coats.

A Chinese, jade mah jong set made around 1920 that belonged to HM Queen Elisabeth of Greece sold for £9,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £1,200- 1,600. The silk-lined wooden case that held forty jade tiles with bone counters and four jade and gilt dice was sold with a letter from HSH Prince Marc of Hohenzollern-Roumanie explaining the provenance of the set, dated 1979.

Also, “The Game of War”, an intricate 600 piece game dating from 1890 sold for £4,000, four times its pre-sale estimate of £1,500-£2000.

Here is our previous www.chessblog.com post on the auction.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com

London's Bonhams to auction rare chess sets this Monday

Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello Everybody,

We are giving you the perfect excuse to be in London even in this 'frozen' weather. Nothing would hold you back if you read this Wall Street Journal article.

Bonhams auction house in London is going to auction rare chess sets Africa, Asia, America and Europe dating from the 18th to the 20th century this Monday.

At Christie's South Kensington in December, a souvenir chess piece made to commemorate the historic match between the British House of Commons and the U.S. House of Representatives in 1897 was sold for £4,375. The match was played over two days by cable transmission and resulted in a draw.

Chess prices at auction have risen steadily over the past 10 years, with particular demand coming from "well-heeled businessmen," Bonhams specialist Luke Honey says. The exquisitely sculptured figures usually aren't bought for playing but for the joy of owning them, he adds.
--------------------------------------
(Left A 19th-century whaler's maritime traveling chess set is estimated at £900-1,200.)

A major highlight will be an ivory and ebony figural chess set from southern Germany from circa 1700. Crowned kings and queens are dressed in regal medieval fashion and pawns wear baggy breeches and flared-bottomed coats. The set is expected to fetch £15,000-£20,000. "It is very rare to have a complete set from so far back," Mr. Honey says.

From circa 1780 comes a French ivory bust set that plays Europeans against the Moors. The European side is left in natural ivory, while the Moorish side is dyed red. There are charming details such as the Moorish queen wearing dangling earrings and the European king with his hair tied with a ribbon underneath his crown (estimate: £7,000-£9,000).

Another 18th-century set comes from Russia. Carved from mammoth ivory, it is valued at £2,000-£3,000. And a 19th-century English whaler's maritime traveling set will be offered in its original mahogany box, engraved with the name of the whaling ship's captain (estimate: £900-£1,200).

East meets West in a decorative Chinese set that was made for the export market in circa 1820. One side depicts the king and queen of England, with bishops as clergy and knights as horsemen; and the other, the Chinese emperor and empress as king and queen, bishops as mandarins and rooks as elephants with flags (estimate: £3,000-£5,000).

A fun item comes from 20th-century Africa. A 1950s hardwood tribal set shows queens bearing pots on their heads, bishops as witch doctors, knights as giraffes and pawns as tribesman (estimate: £200-£300).

There are a number of game boards that provide for both chess and backgammon. An Indian ivory, sandalwood and metal-inlaid board from circa 1900, the outside for chess and the interior for backgammon, is decorated with inlaid geometric medallions (estimate: £600-£800). The sale includes games other than chess. You can read further here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com