On Collecting Staunton Chessmen
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CL_11-2008_stuanton_DL_r3:chess life 9/24/2008 4:54 PM Page 30 2C0o0ll8ecPtoinlgg ar On Collecting Staunton Chessmen A beginner’s guide to assembling a collection of the finest chess sets. By Frank Camaratta y chess set collecting obsession The Staunton chessmen were designed ficial” World Champion. had its start a few months after I and first manufactured in the United What is not known is the relationship M first learned the moves of the Kingdom by the firm of John Jaques. I between Jaques and Cook or between game. That was the summer before my obtained a copy of the design registration Cook and Staunton. We do know that 16th birthday. A few friends in my new for the Staunton chessmen from the Staunton wrote a daily chess article for neighborhood took the pains to explain patent office in London. The Staunton the Illustrated London News (ILN). It has the moves to me and I was addicted. All chessmen design was registered as num - been reported, but not verified, that Cook I could do was eat, drink and sleep chess. ber 58607 on March 1, 1849. The title of was affiliated with the ILN, possibly as a I was entering my junior year in high the registration was “Ornamental Design partner. It has also been reported, again school. I turned 16 in the fall of that year for a set of Chess-Men.” It was registered without verification, that Cook was John and, for my birthday, my mother gave by Nathaniel Cook, 198, Strand, London, Jaques’ son-in-law. me a nice set of wooden Staunton chess - under the Ornamental Designs Act of men. These were nothing spectacular, 1842. Interestingly, the registration was What to Look For In the Early Sets just a good, solid, German-made weighted limited to Class II, articles fabricated Make no mistake about it. If you are set of lacquered chessmen in a wood mostly from wood. looking for a set of antique Staunton slide-top box. The pieces were tourna - There have been allusions to a set of chessmen to enhance your collection, ment size and I made good use of them in similar chessmen having been designed there are chessmen produced by Jaques the years that followed. around 1835. That “fact” seems to have of London and then there are the rest. The lessons I’ve learned in the interven - been repeated several times in the liter - Jaques Chessmen, Staunton or other - ing 22 years I would like to now share ature. However, there is no evidence to wise, are by far the most collectible and, with you. I hope to help you avoid some support that contention. as a consequence, the most expensive. of the pitfalls and costly mistakes that can Well, who was Nathaniel Cook and what This is not to say that there are not other befall a new collector. An education in was his connection with John Jaques, Staunton chessmen that are worth col - collecting can cost more than tuition to a the original manufacturer? Moreover, how lecting. For example, British Chess four-year college. Make no mistake about did Howard Staunton get into the mix? Company Xylonite chessmen quickly it, this can be a costly education. First, What is known is that the first Staunton come to mind. However, if you are look - having been a serious tournament chess chessmen were manufactured by the firm ing for one set of vintage Staunton player, my interest was in practical play - of John Jaques, whose business premises chessmen, you must have a Jaques. ing sets--the Staunton design in were in Hatton Garden, and later on the What follows is a distillation the impor - particular. What I had discovered very Strand in London. What is also known is tant details that will serve as a roadmap early in my collecting career was that that Cook managed to obtain the endorse - for anyone who is seriously contemplat - there was woefully little information on ment of the then self-proclaimed World ing this investment. the Staunton chessmen and what did Champion, Howard Staunton who, after exist was mostly incorrect. So, I decided defeating the leading French Champion The Chessmen to pull together as much information on Pierre de Saint-Amant in their landmark The original Staunton chessmen pro - the Staunton pattern as I could. 1842 match, became the World’s “Unof - duced by Jaques were and still are quite 30 Chess Life — November 2008 uschess.org CL_11-2008_stuanton_DL_r3:chess life 9/24/2008 4:54 PM Page 31 The original Jaques Staunton design from 1849. unique in appearance. Although generally stability. 11. Library-sized and ivory sets were described as a radically new design for their 5. Only the 11 cm boxwood and ebony NEVER weighted. The standard sets time, the form was based on the earlier chessmen were weighted initially. Ivory were available in both weighted and Northern Upright Chessmen which were chessmen were NEVER weighted. unweighted configurations. The small designed in the 1840s by Lord John Hay. 6. The 8.9 cm chessmen could be felted club and full club size wooden sets The Staunton chessmen featured very or unfelted. Ivory chessmen were were always weighted. broad bases, gracefully contoured stems NEVER felted. 12. Every Jaques chess set will have and attractively turned and carved head - 7. The black knight heads for the box - “Jaques London” imprinted on the pieces. From the graceful Formeé cross wood and ebony chessmen were upper part of the rim of the base of the atop the king to the six crenelled rook, actually stained boxwood. Apparently, white king if the set is boxwood and these chessmen make an impression. carving the rock-hard ebony was dif - ebony and on the underside of the The knights, however, are their hallmark. ficult and more time-consuming than base of the ivory king. Both kings are They were derived from the visages which boxwood, so, for the first three years so marked for sets produced after adorn the Elgin Marbles, which form a or so of production, the knight heads around 1890. part of the east Pediment of the Greek for the ebony side were stained box - 13. The kings from the earliest Jaques Acropolis. The “Marbles” were “expropri - wood. If you find a set of Jaques chessmen, which I refer to as the ated” in 1816 by Sir Thomas Bruce and chessmen with stained boxwood black Cook style in my codex of Jaques brought to London. They can be viewed knight heads, the set is pre-1852. chessmen, will have the imprint J. today at The British Museum in London. 8. In a true Jaques set, the king’s crosses Jaques London on their bases. This Some important details to look for in the are removable. Also, the knights are is true for both the boxwood and chessmen when contemplating your pur - two pieces--the head and the base-- ebony as well as ivory chessmen. The chase follow. which are screwed together. “J.” can sometimes be difficult to dis - 1. The original Staunton Chessmen were 9. Jaques was the first chess set manu - cern. All legitimate Cook style Jaques available in a Standard size (8.9 cm) facturer to affix the symbol of a king’s chessmen will have both the J. and a Full Club size (11 cm king) only. crown to the summits of the kingside Jaques London imprinted on the base 2. The original chessmen were available rooks and knights. This praxis was of the king as well as a white hand- in boxwood and ebony, ivory and largely copied and is not unique to signed and numbered label. Find one Wedgwood Carrara(!). This latter is sets produced by Jaques. These chess - of these and you have found a very largely unknown to both the Wedg - men are often offered on eBay as valuable collectible set of Jaques wood and the chess collector authentic Jaques chessmen. Don’t be chessmen. communities. fooled. Look for the Jaques London 14. The “Jaques London” mark on the 3. The large Club-size Ivory set was intro - mark imprinted on the base. underside of the ivory chessmen duced to the line in very limited 10. The library-size (7.3 cm king) was varies in configuration and can be quantities in April of 1850. added around 1852, while the small confidently used to date the set. The 4. Jaques originated the praxis of weight - club size (10 cm King) debuted earliest marks were printed on two ing their chessmen for enhanced around 1856. parallel arcs. Later ivory sets were uschess.org Chess Life — November 2008 31 CL_11-2008_stuanton_DL_r3:chess life 9/24/2008 4:54 PM Page 32 Collecting marked in two parallel straight lines earliest made to house the Staunton 9. The large weighted chessmen were and, later, in a single straight line. chessmen. Later Mahogany boxes generally not offered in Carton-Pierre would carry their labels on the under - caskets. These caskets are very frag - Registration Certificates side of the lid. This did help preserve ile and the heavy pieces would simply 1. Each chessman in a Jaques set, sold the labels since they were not placed break through the sides. during the first three years of produc - directly on a wear surface. tion, had a small green paper disk 3. The Mahogany boxes were lined in a Early Labels (1849–1851) affixed to the underside of their bases. green billiard cloth and lacked the 1. Each box bore a manufacturer’s label 2. This disk bore a registration mark center partition found in later boxes.