I received a comment by a group called the #chessbrothers in a previous post. Saying to feel free to use their tag in any future posts, I didn't want to just use their tag for the sake of it so decided I would make a post about a prized possession of mine. Today I decided to bring out the chessboard, along with my camera, tripod and lights.
The board folds onto itself making it easy to not only store but transport as well. With trays for the pieces at each end of it. The woodwork of the board is well made, dragons are carved into each corner of it, with the faces on one side and the tales on the other.
The board's checkers are really interesting too, each of the white squares have pictures underneath the glass. I intend to have it as a centrepiece when I have my own house and space to have it out, set up and ready to play. As I don't have a lot of space now, it has to stay up on my shelf between games.
Each side as I said earlier has a tray, with a velvet cover in each one which also has some embroidery on it. The pieces can each be held in place, by small bands sewn onto the velvet.
The amazing thing about this board is the attention to detail with each piece, all must of been hand carved because there are no exact duplicates.
It did take me a while to get used to the pieces, as I found at first it was easy to confuse the bishops for kings, but, I quickly got the hang of them as the bishops are a good bit shorter than the kings of each side.
Even the pawns themselves have some amazing detailing and are vastly different from each other.
(king)
(Queen)
(Bishops)
(Knights)
(Rooks)
(Pawns)
(Pawns)
(Pawns)
(Pawns)
The opposite side has very minor differences, but for the most part mirror the other side well. The minor differences would be just in the carvings themselves.
(King and Queen)
(Bishops)
(Knights)
(Rooks)
(Pawns)
(Pawns)
(Pawns)
(Pawns)
That's all the pieces and board, as you can tell by the photos the detailing on them is amazing, I think them along with the board itself are so interesting, to even just look at.
How I Came To Own It
Right place, right time. So, I had a chessboard like this when I was younger, the folding board with trays that held the pieces, obviously not as good as this one. What happened to the last one was, my dog ate some of the pieces of it, because, stupidly I left the house without putting it away. After a while, I got rid of it.
Years went by and I always wanted to buy one similar to the one I had, because I just found the design handy for keeping the pieces together with the board. I had gone into every shop and just couldn't find one like it. All the newer ones you can buy, seem to be plastic pieces, and the boards come without any trays. I had been to charity shops any time I passed one asking about chess sets and none had any. So, I carry on with my life, still looking whenever I had a chance.
A few years ago, a close friend of the singer in my band had retired and decided to leave Ireland to live out his retirement somewhere a bit nicer. So, we went down and were hanging out with him in his house, to have a bit of a farewell for him.
As we're sitting around, he mentions that he's getting rid of everything he owns bar the odd thing he's bringing with him. My dad jokingly says, don't suppose you have any Chessboards, as everyone knew I had been looking. He replies, as it happens I do. He gets up, has a root around and produces this bad boy. The backstory of it was that he had worked in some warehouses in Dublin when he was in his teens, which dealt with imports and exports. He saw the Chessboard and asked about buying it. He said he paid 20 Irish Punt, or Irish Pound, which was the currency of Ireland before joining the EU.
I have no idea how much 20 Punt was worth back then, he obviously got it for a discounted price since he worked there, but I think 20 then would have been a day's wages.
I've never seen anything like it and am lucky that things worked out as they did. My quest for a Chessboard was over and I received one that not only was everything I wanted in a board but, was much more.
I love the piece, I have no idea how much it's worth, not that it matters to me as I have no intentions of selling it. I've always loved playing and as I see it, why not play in style.
Hope you enjoyed the post, sorry if it got a bit long.
