British auction house Bonhams will hold on Tuesday the first special «chess» auction, the lots for which the profits from all over the world

British auction house Bonhams will hold on Tuesday the first special «chess» auction, the lots for which the profits from all over the world.

Organizers consider selling one of the most interesting lots inlaid ivory board to play chess and backgammon era of the Italian Renaissance. Historians date it about the year 1500 and assume that it belonged to wealthy merchant or noble nobleman. Due to the fact that such relics are rarely put up for auction, an Italian chess board has become one of the most expensive lots: the estimated value of 10-12 thousand pounds.

According to the consultant for Bonhams desktop games Lucas Hani subjects auction is due to the unusually rapid growth in popularity of chess rarities »among collectors, and carved ivory and wood has always been considered skates Italians.

At «chess» auction lots will be presented from private collections, including rare instances - for example, complete sets of wooden chess pieces XVI century, enjoying a high demand of collectors.

According to the auction house, Bonhams auction will reflect all the diversity of cultural traditions of the game in chess. The list includes lots chinese chess table in 1830, vylozhenny mother-of-pearl and decorated with a dragon head (estimeyt - 4-6 thousand pounds sterling), a set of chess pieces of ebony and ivory from the Congo in the form of chiefs, elders and witches (800-1 200 pounds sterling) and Islamic chess set, where the traditional figures, the Koran banned, replaced by the abstract objects (4-6 thousand pounds sterling).

In addition to chess, the auction will be presented to the sets of games in the Chinese dominoes and backgammon, as well as rare decks of playing cards and books.

Source: www.rian.ru