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3 Vintage Isle of Lewis Chess Pieces; Lookin' for More
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<p>[QUOTE="ehallspqr, post: 9607731, member: 84140"]<a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow"></a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow">[ATTACH=full]467399[/ATTACH] </a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow">Not very well I suppose but the fact is Norse culture ruled/conquered much of Europe in the early Middle Ages and especially in Scotland.</a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow">I’ve heard the competing theories about the Chessmen origins. Iceland was part and parcel of the Norse empire at the time. The majority of historians and experts in this debate tend to side with the Trondheim origins. The pieces themselves were made by as many as five different craftsman judging by the different styles. The Ivory industry and a large number of trained artist/carvers resided in Trondheim in the 12th century. The Ivory trade was immense and thriving in Trondheim when the figures were made. We saw many exhibits talking about this timeframe and examples of the carving techniques when visiting Norge/Trondheim. Saw very similar artifacts to the Chessmen in Norge museums and historical sites. A mixture of Norse/Scandinavian and Celtic style with definite Viking themes etc. The bulk of the 93 Chessmen artifacts reside in the London Museum with 11 or so in the Scottish national museum. There are Chess sets made from both collections as well as several Hybrid sets using figures from both collections. We purchased an official set from the Scottish Museum when we visited in 2017. The pieces are unique to the collection in Scottish National Museum. A recent lone original Chessmen piece turned up in Scotland in 2019. It sold that year at auction for nearly a million USD. It previously belonged to a Scottish antique dealer who purchased it for 5 pounds sterling back in the early 1960s. There is rumored to be 4 more missing pieces floating around out in the wild. The treasure hunt is on! Here are a couple photos of some of our replica pieces from the British museum collection. I will try and post more once I find them. Most are still packed away from our last move. You can see several different finishes and materials used over the years. The early ones used a resin material and have a very nice simulated Ivory sheen colored finish that closely mimics the the actual figures. The latest ones use a Permastone material that is not as authentic looking as the older replicas. Cost cutting I suppose. I included a link to a YouTube video uploaded by The British Museum featuring Irving Finkel a Medieval curator at the museum. He discusses the Chessmen story as well as the use of his Chessmen set in the Harry Potter movies. Many informative Isle of Lewis Chessmen videos on YouTube uploaded by Chess enthusiasts. Lots to these little figures and that makes selecting which sets a bit confusing. If your goal is to get figures that are the closest to the real pieces then IMHO the older BM pieces are the best to collect</a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow">[ATTACH=full]467394[/ATTACH] </a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow">[ATTACH=full]467397[/ATTACH] </a></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a" rel="nofollow"><br /></a></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]oZBXTy5KK3I[/MEDIA][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="ehallspqr, post: 9607731, member: 84140"][URL='https://youtu.be/oZBXTy5KK3I?si=WOSt1zzXRnUSEi4a'] [ATTACH=full]467399[/ATTACH] Not very well I suppose but the fact is Norse culture ruled/conquered much of Europe in the early Middle Ages and especially in Scotland. I’ve heard the competing theories about the Chessmen origins. Iceland was part and parcel of the Norse empire at the time. The majority of historians and experts in this debate tend to side with the Trondheim origins. The pieces themselves were made by as many as five different craftsman judging by the different styles. The Ivory industry and a large number of trained artist/carvers resided in Trondheim in the 12th century. The Ivory trade was immense and thriving in Trondheim when the figures were made. We saw many exhibits talking about this timeframe and examples of the carving techniques when visiting Norge/Trondheim. Saw very similar artifacts to the Chessmen in Norge museums and historical sites. A mixture of Norse/Scandinavian and Celtic style with definite Viking themes etc. The bulk of the 93 Chessmen artifacts reside in the London Museum with 11 or so in the Scottish national museum. There are Chess sets made from both collections as well as several Hybrid sets using figures from both collections. We purchased an official set from the Scottish Museum when we visited in 2017. The pieces are unique to the collection in Scottish National Museum. A recent lone original Chessmen piece turned up in Scotland in 2019. It sold that year at auction for nearly a million USD. It previously belonged to a Scottish antique dealer who purchased it for 5 pounds sterling back in the early 1960s. There is rumored to be 4 more missing pieces floating around out in the wild. The treasure hunt is on! Here are a couple photos of some of our replica pieces from the British museum collection. I will try and post more once I find them. Most are still packed away from our last move. You can see several different finishes and materials used over the years. The early ones used a resin material and have a very nice simulated Ivory sheen colored finish that closely mimics the the actual figures. The latest ones use a Permastone material that is not as authentic looking as the older replicas. Cost cutting I suppose. I included a link to a YouTube video uploaded by The British Museum featuring Irving Finkel a Medieval curator at the museum. He discusses the Chessmen story as well as the use of his Chessmen set in the Harry Potter movies. Many informative Isle of Lewis Chessmen videos on YouTube uploaded by Chess enthusiasts. Lots to these little figures and that makes selecting which sets a bit confusing. If your goal is to get figures that are the closest to the real pieces then IMHO the older BM pieces are the best to collect [ATTACH=full]467394[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]467397[/ATTACH] [/URL] [MEDIA=youtube]oZBXTy5KK3I[/MEDIA][/QUOTE]
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3 Vintage Isle of Lewis Chess Pieces; Lookin' for More
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