peter hodgkinson wrote on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 02:09 PM UTC:
At the age of 75 I am a novice trying to keep my memory going and had to
find a set of chess and a board. On one of my visits to a Spanish market I
found a set in wooden box the pieces of which are unusual. I am curious to
know if they are common or not.
In general terms the pieces are representative of the Persion Empire and
the Moors. Each piece appears to be hand painted and in very fine detail.
Pawns of course are representative of each army. The kings and queens again
the same each in costume and highly detailed even under a glass. and full
colour. The Rooks fitting for the religen and again is intricate detail
with arabic lettering around tghe base and a date 2004 along with a name
but the name is like normal hand writing and difficult to read.
The detail is amazing- eg. the face of the king is only 5mm across and 8cm
tall, but it is lifelike. The clothing, jewelery, skin, etc almost flawless
even under strong magnification. The Bishop clothed in irmine in white,
red and blue. The Knights are on horseback with the horse rearing detail
amazing. All have the arabic around the base and one set is dark around the
base and the other a lighter colour otherwise all pieces are in true
colours for the period.
Really curious, anyone I show these too are unable to give any idea where
they come from. Have you any idea. ??
Kind regards Peter Hodgkinson [email protected]