An Ordinary Chess Piece Turns Out To Be A Priceless Thrift Store Artifact
Sotheby’sThis 12th-century chess piece was originally purchased for £5 in 1964.
In 1964, an antiques dealer in Scotland purchased a walrus ivory chess piece for £5, or roughly $100 in today’s currency. For over 55 years, he kept the piece in a drawer, seemingly unaware of its historical importance.
After the man passed away, his family members discovered the piece and took note of its intriguing details.
“It was stored away in his home and then when my grandfather died my mother inherited the chess piece,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement.
Standing 3.5 inches tall and crafted from walrus ivory, the piece is the equivalent of a rook. It is shaped like a bearded warrior holding a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left.
The family brought the piece to Sotheby’s and received the surprising news that their thrift store artifact was actually one of the famous Lewis Chessmen, the 12th-century chess pieces found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1831.
National Museum of ScotlandA collection of Lewis Chessmen at the National Museum of Scotland.
According to Sotheby’s, “The hoard comprised 93 objects, the majority carved from walrus ivory, which could make four complete sets of figure pieces, with the exception of one Knight and four Warders [rooks]… Of those 93 pieces, 82 are in the British Museum in London and 11 are in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the whereabouts of the remaining five pieces unknown.”
Sotheby’s described the newfound chessman as “the first additional piece from the Lewis hoard to have been discovered since 1831.”
In July 2019, the chess piece sold for a whopping £735,000 ($927,062).
