The King and Queen are Tipsy: How Chess Pieces Age

Lardy Staunton queen, France, ca. 1920

Regence style king, France, ca. 1880

Chess pieces are an art form. I've discovered that in my ongoing obsession with turning chess sets. I've bought a few antique sets here and there, and enjoy playing a game with a set that is over a century old. One of the peculiar things that happens to some sets is the king and/or queen get tipsy. Literally. Case in point is these two pieces, both a century or more in age. You'll notice that the warping has occurred at the thinnest point of the piece. The kings and queens are more susceptible than the other pieces to this kind of warping because they are the tallest pieces in each set. In the case of the Staunton queen, to the left, there is only one narrow junction. In the Regence king, to the right, there are three, making for three narrow places where warping can occur. Instead of this being a problem that diminishes value, it actually establishes their age as a century or more, since this type of warping generally doesn't happen with new pieces.

Old chess sets will often be very dirty, and I always give them a good cleaning with Murphy's Oil Soap to restore the surface. I sometimes will make repairs, and a few times I've had to reproduce a missing pawn or two.

Regence knight, ca. 1880

Other chess pieces age gracefully to one degree or another. This Regence knight, from the same set as the king above, has a crack (called a "check" in woodworking lingo) on the ball below the horse's head  from the wood drying out. Some people might try to glue and clamp this, or fill the crack with some sort of filler, but that wouldn't be a good idea. This crack will probably close up somewhat when it gets warmer and more humid.

South German king, pawn, and queen, ca. 1870-90.

Wear is another way in which pieces age. If they are used a lot, the finish on chess pieces will wear off on the highest points of the turned piece, as you can see in these three pieces from the black side of a ca. 1870-90 German set (king, pawn, queen, left to right). There is wear on the top of each pieces. Sometimes wear like this can be unsightly, and many times, as with this set, it testifies to its age and use. It's part of the patina.

Rooks also suffer damage from use. Rooks are particularly susceptible to breakage because until recently there was only one queen on each side in a chess set. Generally, new chess sets today include a second queen, only to be used if a pawn is promoted. If a player got a second queen by promoting a pawn, if the player did not simply regain his or her queen from capture they traditionally would use a captured rook turned upside down as a second queen. Eventually this can lead to the crenelations on the top of the rook to break off, as has happened to the rook on the right from a St. George style set, ca. 1880-1900. An intact rook is to the left.

In Japanese nomenclature the term wabi-sabi has become popular in the West. It simply means the characteristics that give an object an patina, a sense of having been used or worn. I think this is the appeal of sets that show their age--you know that a century or more ago someone was enjoying a game of chess with a friend.