Once upon a time I was an avid chess player. I was never into fancy boards and pieces, but I do appreciate fine work. But even if you aren’t especially interested in chess itself, this is a story for your Just Too Cool file.
BBC:
Long-lost Lewis Chessman found in Edinburgh family’s drawer
A medieval chess piece that was missing for almost 200 years had been unknowingly kept in a drawer by an Edinburgh family.
They had no idea that the object was one of the long-lost Lewis Chessmen – which could now fetch £1m at auction.
The chessmen were found on the Isle of Lewis in 1831 but the whereabouts of five pieces have remained a mystery.
The Edinburgh family’s grandfather, an antiques dealer, had bought the chess piece for £5 in 1964.
He had no idea of the significance of the 8.8cm piece (3.5in), made from walrus ivory, which he passed down to his family.
They have looked after it for 55 years without realising its importance, before taking it to Sotheby’s auction house in London.
[…]
Read the rest of the extremely cool story over there.
Fascinating stuff will surface from time to time. You never know.
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Poor walrus. I bet he’d give his eye-tooth for some of that money.
There are still some more pieces out there to find. :-D
The King will always have precedence over a “Dodgy” Bishop.
It’s called The Divine Move.
Thank You, Fr. Z, for your Priestly Vocation, and Thank You for sorting out my “Logging In” problem to your excellent Blog.
A small Donation has been made to your Vestments Fund, for The TLM Wisconsin, as a Thank You.
in Domino.
I find it interesting that this piece is called a “warder,” which became the piece we know as the rook.