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1849 Handwritten signature, handwritten entry No. 9, from bottom of club size mahogany box. Second oldest known. Note, Jaques London is either side of the Entered No. in a curve, as on the base of the king. http://www.crumiller.com/chess/chess_pages/staunton/Staunton_signature.htm

1849 Handwritten signature, handwritten entry No. 10, from bottom of Carton Pierre Box, for 3.5" ivory set. Third oldest known. In British Museum. Notes "Jaques" is just visible on the left of Entered and "London" to right of the handwritten 10 in a straight line.

1849 Club size label from bottom of mahogany box containing J.Jaques stamped white king. In usual state of being illegible, but clearly hand signed and entered. Label typical of 1849-1850.

1850 J.jaques 3.5" set. In exceptional condition as it is inside a rarely used box. The box has paper stuck on the bottom, indicating that it was made for the label to be stuck on the bottom, as for the first white labels, but the procedure was changed. Note, Jaques London is now printed at the bottom. "Signed" is now in italics and in lower after the S in this second phase of labels.

1850 J.jaques 3.5" set. Last handwritten signature so far known, with handwritten entry No. 684. A Leuchars label is pasted below, covering up Jaques London. The photo has been considerably digitally enhanced, affecting the colour balance.

1852-1855 Printed Signature and Entry No. from bottom of Carton Pierre Box. 3.5" Ebony and Boxwood. Entry numbers ended about 1855/6. The 2880 = 2 for Carton Pierre box, 880 for the number of the set. Yellow/white labels under the CP boxes, green labels inside mahogany

About 1852-1853 from 3.5" weighted set with hinged lid. Pieces have Victorian registration lozenges. The cheaper smaller sets must have sold faster than their counterparts in the expensive Carton Pierre caskets. This would have been the 594 set made in the series of boxwood and ebony in mahogany boxes.

About 1855 from a 4.4" boxwood and ebony set ("Anderssen") in a hinged mahogany box. 1 is for a wooden set in a wooden hinge-lid box, 729 is its number in the series.

1852-1855 Red Label printed signature and entry number 3485 from bottom of Carton Pierre box with 3.5" ivory. Red labels were the norm for ivory until 20th century, when green labels were also used. 3 = Ivory, 485 = number of set. After about 1856, the ENTERED number was dropped. In about 1860, "&" son was added.

1852-1855 Red Label printed signature and entry number 3259 from inside bottom of mahogany box with 4.4" ivory. This set has a gift note from 1855 with it. The set is no later than 1852.

1852-1855 Red Label printed signature and entry number 3280 from bottom of Carton Pierre box with 4.4" ivory. The label is dated Oct 29 1857 as a gift from Lord Vernon. These very expensive ivory sets clearly sold slowly. (photo courtesy of Jon Crumiller)

1855-1860 yellow label (from an Anderssen drop jaw). The Entered number is dropped and the company is just Jaques (without son). The boxwood and ebony set labels are yellow in this period. (photo courtesy of Jon Crumiller)

1856-1860 red label for 3.5" ivory, without entered number. No son. These continued through to end of 19th century unchanged.

circa 1862-1865. From an "Anderssen" set. This label shows that the earliest post 1862 labels still retained the "Boxwood and Ebony" description. I think that this was phased out between 1865 and 1870.

1871 presentation of an Anderssen drop jaw set. This label suggests that the Anderssen drop jaw was being sold from the late 1850s (from a set with a yellow Jaques label) to about 1870.

Steinitz Megamouth label. On 4". A 3.5" from Knowle had same label. Changeover from having ebony and boxwood occurred before about 1870.

1870 - 1885 green label for boxwood and ebony sets, usually stuck on green baize under hinged lid or on top of sliding lid. After 1862, the label states 2 prize medals won in 1862. This was used until 1900 when the firm became incorporated as Ltd under British law. Red labels used for ivory sets.s.

circa 1885-1890 label on a "Pre-Hartston" set. Note that the border of curves has changed to a geometric pattern. The hyphen has been dropped from "CHESS-MEN", and it is in an outline font.

1890-1900. This label comes from a fine 3.5" "Hartston" set. The geometric design has progressed from the 1885-1890 one.

1890-1900 slide lid box. Note, although poorly resolved, this label has the same border as the 1900-1910 next. This box is inscribed on underside with owners name & address in ink dated 6th/sept/1905.

c1900-15 green label from under sarcophagus containing 3.5" ivory set. Now signed Jaques & Son Ltd. In this period, they also used green labels for ivory sets.

1900-1915 from slide lide box. Note the coiled rope border

1910-20s label

1927. From a set used in the London 1927 tournament. 4" wood in hinge lid box

circa 1930 from slide lid box

1935-1936 "Broadbent". Genuine is now thought necessary at the top. From http://picasaweb.google.com/jvreij

Late 1930s "Lessing". From top of slide lid box. The last of the prewar sets

Post-Second world war. The beginning of the end for the old Jaques sets.

1849 set number 10. 3.5" . This cost £5.5s (£5.25), including Mr Staunton's treatise. Labels under Carton Pierre boxes are often well preserved because the outsides slightly protrude.

1850 J.jaques 3.5" set.

Number 3027. Early in the run of printed entry numbers.

1849/1850 set number 488. 3.5" Boxwood and ebony. Another well preserved label. This cost £1.15s (£1.75), only 50p cheaper than the club size set, and would have included Mr Staunton's treatise.

Bottom of 1856-1860 carton pierre casket containing Anderssen drop jaw knights (courtesy of Jon Crumiller). Note: the 45 degree joins at each corner are clearly visible, as the sides were made separately and glued together in genuine boxes.

1852-1855 Red Label printed signature and entry number 3259 from inside bottom of mahogany box with 4.4" ivory.

Jaques London has been covered by another trade label. The king (right) is not stamped Jaques London. It is otherwise identical to the king (left) of set Entered No. 2880. Jaques some times made for other retailers and did not stamp the kings. The king here is undoubtedly original, being of the correct pattern and having the same patination and felts of the other pieces as well having a similar boxwood grain to that of the queen.