Small Staunton, 2.6" kings, c1870

A very well made small Staunton set -the knights have a very familiar look to them. The set came in a bentwood box dating from 1870 (sent from France to England, using three 30 centime French "Ceres head" stamps). Of course, the box could be a later addition by a collector or antiques dealer, but my hunch is that the set was reasonably contemporary to the box, which was used as a convenient storage solution by the original owner. Part of my reasoning being...these bentwood boxes are unlikely to have been kept, without being put to some use...and if a later dealer decided to house the set in the box, they perhaps don't know the value of such bentwood boxes to box collectors!