
Early 19th century English set
There's something special about this set, I think. It came to me in a bad state - absolutely filthy (possibly in a sooty environment for a long time), with losses and damage. The white Queen had a nasty chunk missing from one of her rings, the black rooks battlements were shot, and one white pawn was missing. The easy, if slow, part was cleaning the pieces (some gentle cleansing with very very fine wire wool, olive oil and cider vinegar). Whilst the biggest difference in cleaning was seen in the white side, it also allowed the wonderful Rosewood black side to shine too. The Queen repaired remarkably well once I had colour mixed/matched some Milliput. I find Rooks' battlements are always tricky. One black rook done, but not to my liking yet. And the kings finials were missing, so I improvised some new finials (from Milliput) based on a Lund-style ivory set. The one missing white pawn is going to be in a batch order of missing pieces that I will give to a local turner to see if he can spin his magic. I've included some photos of repairs and dirty/cleaned comparisons below. Age wise, my guess for this set would be circa 1820s.
ID | Century | Size | Maker | Nationality | Sold? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 19th | 3.5" | Unknown | English | no |