Taken from the Jaques catalogue, and the illustration seems important as it appears the Rook has 6 Castellations .Therefore one or two sets,of this type in my collection which I believed were Jaques sets,are probably not . These English pattern are a rather important playing set as so many have survived . The latest dates my research has uncovered is they were being sold off cheaply in Chess magazine adverts from 1939 . It is rather unfortunate that so few of these surviving sets were stamped,so one has no easy task in proving who might have made what unless firm evidence is offered . THOUGHTS OFFERED HERE ARE NOT FACT JUST A PERSONAL OPINION BASED UPON EXAMINING THE COLLECTION AND CONSULTING WITH CHESS COLLECTORS DEALERS AND A WELL KNOWN RESTORER ,AND USING RESEARCH MATERIAL GIVEN OR ON OFFER .
This lighter rose/box wood set, is clearly less desirable than the heavy . The better looking knights however makes it far more collectable than many English pattern sets about . king height 8.5 cms . This looks like a set from the Jaques catalogue but the Rooks have only 4 Castellations ( tower cut tops ) . It is a nice set all the same and of course I never purchased it as a Jaques . Ebay 2005. Late 19th century seems likely here.
Set I thought was a Jaques . 8.5 cms King . It is worth noting that angled/extended Rook tower . Dublin & Upright Rooks have this idea but in a more prominant way.
Again we see this King Knop almost like a screw but proving any of these sets are by Jaques is difficult .
ILLUSTRATION ON THE COVER OF G . F . Pardon's Handbook of chess All the more interesting when viewing the next set .
Fleet St .....English pattern wooden set 3.25 inch. It may well be mid 19th .
3.25 Inch King Fleet St English Pattern .
The Fleet St wooden English pattern set .... the original 4 Knights and a well made replacement . Replacing the original very non matching replacement piece !
Old english lighter rose/boxwood set . another favourite set . this interesting set was probably retailed by Pierce of Cornhill . scource . Frank camaratta collection , he has a set with identical turning on the pieces . 1880's ??? King 5.5 cms, but he is a chunky boy .....base 3.5 cms. An absolute Keeper set .
A stumpy English pattern set. 5.5 cms King ...base 3.5 cms .
Stumpy Knights .
2 3/8 INCH KING
A small heavy rose wood Calvert English pattern style set .king 6 cms . A rarer and better example of such sets . Heavy Rosewood ,but unweighted . Mid- late 19th century . Again the amazing condition of this set poses a question if it was even a late set of that maker CRUMILLER RESEARCH 1839 Last date offered . One might speculate that later sets were less likely to receive heavy use,because the players had a choice of so many differing playing sets. It might also explain why so many sets survived with minimal damage , as they were copy versions of older styles , and had little later use if the owner tired of the set and simply put it away, to be forgotten about. I cannot see any obvious restoration work either . https://picasaweb.google.com/JonCrumiller/CalvertPatternSet
A Calvert style English pattern set , small unpolished , but ............nice . King Height 2 1/2 inch. Mid - late 19th century . If this unsigned set which clearly looks used was older it is a mystery why it is in such good condition. Jon's fantastic site offers images of true Calvert Knight's that differ considerably from these horses. A new collector could learn a great deal by comparing my two " Copy Calvert style sets with an original " https://picasaweb.google.com/JonCrumiller/CalvertPatternSet
another photo of this set . Looking at J Crumillers Calvert section kills off any hope of this being a genuine set of that famous maker . https://picasaweb.google.com/JonCrumiller/CalvertPatternSet
2.5 INCH KING SEE PREVIOUS 2 IMAGES
Sometimes I get my sets mixed up, and this may be a good idea if one has more than one example of a set in the collection. Both sets purchased in private. 2008 .
lot 111 Bonhams sale oct 2008. A nice looking set ,which is closer to ivory patterns ,than the more usual English pattern, in wood . 8 cm king in Box/ heavy rosewood . Probably later 19th century .
Bonhams St George set
Bonhams sale St George .
Bonhams St George .............unusual looking Bishops .
Boxwood/ebony English Pattern 3.5 inch King . A recent purchase , CCI Miami Auction . The King & Queen have a nice appeal . A curious thing about this set is that the owner a Mr John Collins was given this set as a gift for coaching the son of the Kesslers, in 1976. So considering he coached Bobby Fischer in the 1950's it would seem most unlikely that the later world champion would have ever seen these pieces at all. The provinance is interesting but chessmen alone were enough to purchase the set.
That CCI Miami Collins set . Now mine of course .
The interesting Kessler letter to John Collins . A few points worth noting . It is likely that the set was made by Ayres of London circa 1890- 1914 , so it is not Maltese nor as early as 1875. In fact one might well wonder what if any chessmen might have been made in Malta . Was an established authority creating 70's Fairy tales in the Antique world . There is a refrence in Hammonds book on Maltese turners and he offers this Historical information that the Knights of St John started an Ivory carving school . This book is not one I have in my collection, so checking out his scources and accuracy is necessary .
The box which housed the Set owned by Collins . These appear to have been multi purpose boxes used by retailers in the late Victorian/Edwardian era, to house any product they might have sold . It might even explain why some sets have no surviving boxes ?!
A 3.25 inch old English Vegetable Ivory set . another favourite , a joy to handle . Probably by Ayres of London , however my Picasa Pal Peter has a set of this material which may have come from Germany . The colour of the Ivory,plus the turning style/signature is rather different to my set here . https://picasaweb.google.com/PeterArmit/VegetableIvorySets
Is it suprising that some people think this is a Plastic set ? More than one set has been offered on Ebay as Bakelite .
Could these be F H Ayres Knights ? One can see some similar ideas here but is it enough ..........further research is necessary .
The Erosion of quality or profit taking ? This image is well worth a good study .
This small English pattern set, has all the appearance of the 1900s-1930s massed produced chessmen . very common , and hardly worth collecting . yet useful for study . This is key for researchers,dismiss the cheaper sets without a proper examination and you risk failing to appreciate why a better set is more desirable . This is why I refuse to flog off my early buys as at any given time it is possible to continue research . We collectors cannot stop learning from each other if we have in our collections such chessmen as these, and better sets of course.
One could call this a french ,but it has the look of a hybrid or fused set of both Regence & English pattern sets. origin France late 19th century ??? Boxwood/Ebonised pieces on the Black side 4.25 inch king , unweighted. I have been told by Frank camaratta its an english adaption of a regence set late 19th century/early 20th .
This photo offers additional evidence that the Hybrid Regence is not English, whilst the turning signature looks similar one can see how a maker possibly copied another . The bases on the larger pieces look just a touch different to the normal English sets we see. The search for evidence continues ....to finally nail this down .
A Jaques Style English pattern 8.5 cms set . Polished finish Box / Rosewood ....unweighted probably 1870-1900 .At least the Rooks have 6 castellations .
Jaques Style English pattern 8.5 inch King . 4 Knights .
Knights from an English pattern set which has been associated with Calvert ?!
This English pattern set has significant damage and the common knights make restoration a no no . Boxwood/Ebony king 3.75 inch .....yes it is Ebony !
A Box/Ebony wood English pattern . King 3.5 inch . the common Knights do weaken this sets appeal .
My second heavy Rose wood Calvert style English pattern set . another small set . king height . 6.5 cms . Mid- later 19th century ?!
A most curious set of not good quality but interesting . The pieces are all in single sections assembled together . One dealer suggested it was possibly a self assembly set with pieces being free for buying a product . Purchased in 2004 on Ebay . The Black side is Ebonised . Sadly the Bishops are all missing as is a Knight . However it is interesting enough to want to keep . Mabye somewhere on this Planet a complete set exists . The Black dye is not holding to the wooden surface either . King height 6.5 cms. Even Tim M was intrigued with this set and could offer no information on ever viewing another .
This pattern number label has remained on most of the pieces bar the 4 Bishops and a Knight ,which are replacement pieces . See a previous photo in this album . A friend and fellow Picasa collector suggested to me these stickers might be fake or taken from something else . I have little or no idea if this is indeed the case, but if I was unethical as a hustling seller,some other chess set of better quality would have been my choice . A 2004 E bay purchase .
Boxwood /Ebony with reasonable knights . king 3.25 inch .
A 2.25 inch heavy Rosewood English pattern . Ebay purchase 2005. For some time now I had assumed this was a Jaques Compendium set . However with the Rooks having only 4 castellations , it is less likely to be so. One might offer this speculation...in the past centuries people took great pride in their work . In 1851 there was the Great Exhibition for the world too see all Great Britain manufactured. There is a case for suggesting that top makers had a Tell or Sign and from my research and discussing this with other collectors , the Jaques tell may well have been 6 castellations on all of their Rooks in patterns ....from Staunton - Dublin etc. However defenite proof has not been found yet ............
Nice quality rosewood /boxwood English pattern, with non figural Knights. Late 19th/early 20th century . A 2 Inch King .....yet my Picasa Pal Peter has a set even smaller by a bit ! Ebay 2005 purchase.
It has been suggested to me by Alan D ,such small sets are from compendiums . considering the quality of these sets I am inclined to agree with him . Neither set came with an original box , but would do any Compendium justice, bar the top of the range items, which would have had good ivory sets with them.
MINITURE JAQUES ??? box/rosewood english pattern 2.25 inch king.
ordinary English pattern knights . the left two being less common , and a little better than the 4 right horses ,which are very common on these sets . Knights in this style of varied quality also appear on Upright and Dublin sets .
A selection of better Knights, but there are even rather superior horses in the best collections , of English pattern sets.
Almost 4.5 inch weighted with serious damage ....purchased at my local Auction house . For some odd reason which I cannot figure out these sets are attributed to Calvert ?
A weighted Rook from the very damaged set .
I was not joking either .
Another version of this type of set but cruder and later . King height 8.5 cms . The Patination is far nicer than on many early 20th century sets . Ebay 2005
Now I can see why one might call these sets a Trumpet or Bell style . Late 19th-early 20th century seems right . Polished finish King height 3.25 inch.
Ebay purchase ( AXEDREZ ) with a replacement Queen . 2005
4 Knights of that Axedrez purchase .
English pattern with 2 replacement Knights . 8.5 cm King in box /Light Rosewood .
A very 20th century unpolished English pattern. . King 6.5 cms.
Another 20th century English pattern ...King 2 7/8 inch.
And another very 20th century English pattern ...King 6.5 cms.
Yet another very 20th century English pattern .....King 9.5 cms
All my English pattern sets , yet three are not exactly such sets ,spotting them should be easy . This image was taken over 18 months ago so with added experience and knowledge gained, that statement is withdrawn. Describing chess men is not so easy as so many styles fuse into each other .
a selection of English Pattern kings . the large rosewood one in the centre is a rarer pattern .
Selection of English pattern queens .
English pattern Bishops . The largest one in the photo is a rare pattern . Note the rosewood small bishop , the yellow spot is useful to spot as it indicates a heavy quality material of this type .
Its worth checking the castellations , as well as the side view ,on English pattern Rooks . If one had 100 collections in a large hall of these type sets ........it would be mighty interesting if any expert could in a milli second spot any sets where the Rooks were swopped around ...............without checking the base undersides and assuming the patination was similar . Well I sure would not take on this task, if money was at stake. Even having looked at thousands of these sets on the Internet ( E bay ) the chances of getting replacement Rooks is over 50% as the sellers in most cases have little or know idea what these sets are about.
A selection of Rooks from English pattern sets . very often these pieces are substituted .
Tthe sheer variety of English pattern pawns is amazing . Its not easy to swap them around from set to set . in my experience matching up is difficult .
Jonathans Dublin with an English pattern style....a rather good drawing that .
Dublin set in the English pattern style 4.5 inch King after restoration .
This Style of Knight seems to be a feature in sets with a Dublin influence . Hallet style Knights copied from the registered pattern of 1852. See Chessspy picasa album on Hallet.
A beast of a box for a Beast of a set !
Purchased in the early morning at London's Tower hill market 2006 . You can just about see the heavy staples supporting this box ...left side ends .
Incomplete English pattern set purchased in 2005 .....4 Knights missing ...even trips to Aintree, Ascot, and Cheltenham have been unsuccessfu no spare horses available. Nice polished finish ....King 9 cms.
Ebony & hardwood ?! 20th century English pattern unpolished ( lathe finish ) 4 inch King............A PUZZLE HERE ... NOW THIS IS THE SECOND SET I OWN WHERE THE BOXWOOD SIDE IS HEAVY/DENSE ...SO WERE THEY USING A HARDWOOD AND EBONISING THAT FOR TURNING CHESSMEN ?......it sure looks like it .
For MICK .
Something seems very wrong here .
Local Auction house purchase . 3.5 inch King ... but wait ... the crosses are missing from the heads of the Monarch. On these sets the King usually have some type of final or cross. The set has been well played with over the years . The wide bases King 3.5 cms make piece stability excellent . 1840-60 !?
There is clear evidence here, that something has snapped off over time . The visible rough spot in the centre of the turned Kings head say's it all.
These Knights appear to be of a less common variety. At present I am struggling to see any other sets with such horses . Even the way the bases are turned is rather unusual .
A local purchase king knop damaged . King height 2 3/16th inch .
A smaller set King 1.75 inch . here the Kings knop is undamaged . A gift from a CCI member .
English pattern Box / Rose wood lathe polished set . prob late 19th century king 2.75 inch A local purchase .
