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Lot Essay
The ubiquitous Jaques' Staunton chess men received praised on 9th November, 1849 from the Times newspaper who wrote, 'it is to be remarked that, while there is so great an accession to elegance of form, it is not attained at the expense of practical utility'. Nathaniel Cook's design was patented in 1849 and several months later John Jaques gained the manufacturing right and started to supply retailers, such as W. Leuchars of Piccadilly. At this time a set, carton-pierre box and handbook on the game was priced at £5,50 shillings.
The celebrated chess champion, Howard Staunton, was recruited by Jaques to market the sets and protect his manufacturing right. Each box was originally issued with individually signed labels. As production accelerated the labels, (red were used between approximately 1850-60), detailed the number of the set and a facsimile of Staunton's autograph. See Michael Mark, British chess sets, V&A Museum and Chess Collectors International, 1986 and Gareth Williams, Master Pieces, Quintet 2000
The celebrated chess champion, Howard Staunton, was recruited by Jaques to market the sets and protect his manufacturing right. Each box was originally issued with individually signed labels. As production accelerated the labels, (red were used between approximately 1850-60), detailed the number of the set and a facsimile of Staunton's autograph. See Michael Mark, British chess sets, V&A Museum and Chess Collectors International, 1986 and Gareth Williams, Master Pieces, Quintet 2000