"Seonaid's set": Jaques Staunton "Broadbent" small club size, c1937

A pristine example of a "Broadbent" set (so named because a similar set was presented to R.J.Broadbent in 1937 (see Fersht, Fig 53) (Broadbent won the British Championship in 1948 and 1950). Whilst the quality of Jaques sets gradually deteriorated in the 1930s, this example is particularly well carved and executed.

I refer to this set as "Seonaid's set", as it was originally gifted to her over 70 years ago by her father, Bernard Camberg. Bernard, a doctor, and later Harley Street physician, was a Lithuanian Jew who had to seek refuge in Scotland before the second world war. I believe the wider family may be connected to the author Muriel Spark (of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" etc fame). I am very grateful indeed to Tony, Seonaid's partner, who was able to give me the history, which adds an extra dimension to my stewardship of this wonderful set.

I have another small club Broadbent in my collection, which has subtle but significant differences. Whilst the colour of the boxwood side differs, this is not unusual between Jaques sets. But stylistically, there are differences between the kings' crosses (larger crosses, but smaller "nipples" on top in this set), the bishops' mitres (deeper cut on this set), and the queens' coronets (13 and 14 points in this set, compared to 12 on the other).

Perhaps one of the biggest differences is the weighting of the sets - this set is significantly lighter with the white king weighing 75.8g c.f. the other set's 86.1g, and the black king weighing 79.0g c.f. the other set's whopping 102.7g! My working theory is that my other set is an earlier ~1930 set, and this later set (possibly 1937, but perhaps as late as 1939/40) may have seen Jaques reduce the amount of lead used due to the war effort. Or perhaps it was just a stylistic choice.