“Staunton” (England) – schaak-museum

England. The following is copied from English makers (England) `page for "Staunton" sets of Jaques of London, B&Co and some unknown makers:

(John) Jaques of London is probably the most successful maker. At least longest existing, from 1795 till the present day, and run by the 8th generation now. Most famous, of course, is the "Staunton" pattern, which was patented on March 1, 1849, by Nathaniel Cooke, 198 Strand, London.

John and Nathaniel were related by the marriage of John's son John (II) with Nathaniel's daughter Harriet Ingram. Nathaniel was editor of "The Illustrated London News" (1842-2003), founded by his brother in law Herbert Ingram. That paper contained a chess column by Howard Staunton, who was asked by Cooke to advertise the chess set. He did so in his column on 8 September 1849 for the 1st time. As far as I know, Howard Staunton was the 1st sportsman to give his name to a product. It is not certain who is the designer of the Staunton pattern. It is not Staunton and probably also not Cooke. Most likely did John Jaques attribute to the design.

The codex of Frank Camaratta is an attempt to classify Jaques Staunton sets and the names "Anderssen" and "Broadbent" are from that codex and not names given by the Jaques of London company. The codex, however, is far from 100% decisive and Staunton connoisseur Alan Fersht did not use it in the 2nd version of his book. However, he is still using it at his website.

The origins of B&Co. are unclear and research didn't reveal much. What can be determined, based on the style of the chessmen and their boxes is that B&Co. started producing Staunton chessmen in the mid to late 1850s. Stampings are found on their extremely scarce, but beautiful, "Regulation Chessmen" which come in signed box. Specific is that bases are made separately and are screwed. We see that on ivory and bone sets, but rarely on wooden "Staunton" sets. Note the King without cross. B&Co. sets are rare.

There are a lot of other makers or retailers, like Asprey, J.Barr, BCC (founded by W. Moffat and W. Hughes, making chessmen from 1891 to about 1907, well known by the use of Xylonite, a celluloid), H.Dixon, W.Hallet, C.Hastilow, W.Howard, W.Leuchars (probably the 1st retailer of Jaques Staunton sets), Wedgwood, R.Whitty, to name a few older ones. I do not have examples of all of these makers/retailers, but you can find some of them elsewhere on my site.

Here some "Staunton" sets of unknown makers. The large 4¹/₃" (11.1cm) ivory set is a beautiful set, but it's origin is unclear. Someone has crudely marked or re-marked the crowns and Jaques signature. Frank Camaratta, at Oxford CCI meeting in 2024, closely looked at the pictures but wasn't sure. Frank could only tell for sure if he saw the pieces itself, which could only done at my home because I cannot take them abroad. On the other hand, Jaques made ivory sets in this size where Rooks are a bit taller than Knights, as is in this set. Unfortunately does one white Knight miss a little piece of its jaw. The box is not a chess box, I think, and is not in best condition. The 3²/₃" (9.3cm) bone set is extremely scarce. It is very much rarer as wooden ones, and even more rare as the ivory ones, especially in this size which is large for a bone set. Beautiful Knights as well. I think the box it came in is original. The 2¹/₂" (6.5cm) small wooden set is also of an unknown maker, but is not that uncommon. Note the King without cross.

The following is copied from Plastic page for "Staunton" sets of F.H.Ayres, Grays of Cambridge, Chad Valley, House Martin and some unknown makers:

England. Here are Galalith and Catalin sets in the "Staunton" design, which are quite old and interesting. Galalith and Catalin are old plastics which hardly, if at all, have been produced after WWII. Galalith could not be formed in moulds, so the pieces are turned and carved by hand. Catalin required every piece being individually cast and polished, which became too expensive at the end of WWII.

The first set is a Galalith one. It is interesting, because the board can be folded and put over the box in order to close it. There is a difficult to read logo at the closing flap of the board. There are, in a circle, a big combined "R" and "M", another big "M" and "URIE" as well as the word "PATENT". Below the circle it states "APP.FOR". I'm not sure what it means, but it could be RM Murie, maybe the manufacturer, but that is a name unknown to me. It is assumed that Uhlig made the pieces, because they are exactly designed as Uhlig sets like the bone "Staunton".

The second set is a Catalin one and made by F.H.Ayres. We know the latter, because of equal sets in a cassette with the F.H.Ayres logo. However these pieces have characteristics of the Uhlig sets. Maybe the pieces were made by Uhlig as well.

England. Even plastic sets from the 50ies are interesting, as this set with accompanying box proves. It is made of acrylic, or acrylic glass, know under brand names like Perspex or Plexiglass. Official name is PolyMethylMethAcrylate (PMMA). There exists a matching board for this set, but at my set the acrylic board is of another type and of later date (I think). This charming set was made or retailed by the Oralite Company Limited in Thornton near Blackpool, founded in 1906 and ceased trading in 1967. They were dental manufacturers, and one of the early marketers of acrylic glass as a dental appliance material. An advertising post card from 1937 states "Oralite: The Premiere Denture material". PMMA was discovered in 1928 and first marketed in 1933 by German Röhm and Haas AG.