Question 2: What are the chess pieces made out of? It’s a real problem! Unfortunately, if you can’t find the answers you might have to assume the worst. Sometimes it is hard to determine if an item is actually hand made or done by machine or assembly line. ![]() What you might think is an awesome, intricate, exclusive piece may be a copy of many produced as souvenirs overseas and sold for only tens of dollars. This is hugely problematic as art, and the costs of art, can be hugely subjective. This does not make it worthless, but without being able to track down the original manufacturer you can’t know how much it ever sold for as new. More often then not, you will not find anything without the original box the antique chess set came in or any sort of certificate the chessmen might have come with. If you are lucky, there might be a collectors market – for example for Franklin Mint chess items, or the before-mentioned Jacques of London Staunton chess pieces. If you find something, you can reach out to the company – even if the set is decades old – to see what additional information you can find out. It could range from a symbol to an actual signature. A good place to check would be under the chessboard or beneath the chess pieces. Look to see if there is a signature or brand emblem on the chess piece set. These may have skill in manufacture, and may be valuable in their own right – but certainly not to the level of those special ‘name brand’ options. More often than not, however, a chess set is a limited edition item, or even a hand-crafted item by an unknown artist. Some brands, such as Jaques of London or Drueke have some value due to the history of the company itself. They have been made from all manner of materials exotic woods, stone, brass, ceramic, unusual other materials. Unfortunately, there are literally thousands of different artisans and manufacturers that have made chess piece sets over the years. Question 1: Who is the Manufacturer and Where was it made? I have come up with a few questions you should ask yourself when looking to value or identify antique chessmen. The vast majority are made overseas where it is difficult, if not impossible – to track down the original artist, so a lot of guess work is involved. Likewise, there are tons that are from other manufacturers with less brand recognition. It is important to realize they are as much an art form as an sculpture or painting, so some of them, by the right manufacturers, can hold a great deal of value. ![]() There is good reason to want to find out – chess sets vary in value from worthless to tens of thousands of dollars in some rare instances. So you have antique chessmen, and you want to know what they are worth. The problems with valuation and Antique Chess Sets While answers are often extremely hard to come by, I thought it would be a service to write a quick explanation on why it is so difficult as well as give some suggestions for finding out more. How much are they worth? What are they made of? Sometimes just a search to find out a little more about a chess piece set that has been passed down in the family. Probably the most common? Questions about antique chess sets. ![]() Because of that, we get a lot of requests for things we do not normally handle. There are not a whole lot of brick and mortar chess stores out there, so I realize we fill a very particular niche in the chess world.
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