Guide to your first Chess Auction

Our guide to help begineers buy Jaques chess sets from auctions

Jaques sets are the Rolls-Royces of chess collecting, particularly those in complete, original condition made during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. It is still possible to find never-used Victorian sets purchased from fashionable London stores such as Harrods, complete with a copy of John Jaques' pamphlet "The ABC of Chess" in the firm's distinctive mahogany boxes. Many Jaques products were marked, usually with a stamp to the white king Chess Piece or (later) both kings, and boxes bearing labels with the trademark "Staunton."

Jaques rivals included the Victorian Chess Makers such as the  London firms of William Lund and Fisher, both of which stamped the ivory and wooden sets they made, which were typically in patterns rivaling the Staunton, including "Calvert," "Edinburgh," "Old English" and "Saint George." Many contemporary Continental Chess Pieces were of the figural type, particularly German sets, which were typically carved from soft woods and painted or fashioned in the traditional French pattern of elaborate spool-turned design, thought to be more authentic to ancient chess pieces.

"A good Jaques Staunton set complete with Chessboard and Boxcan fetch up to $25,000," according to Nic McElhatton, head of European works of art at Christie's in London and organizer of its annual chess sale, the fourth of which will be held this fall.

The auction offered a number of Wonderful Jaques Staunton Chess Sets, which fetched over $10,000