Caxton's fifteenth century chess pieces

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Reconstruction of Caxton’s chess set, shown on our medieval chess board
  • Reconstruction of Caxton’s chess set, shown on our medieval chess board
  • Caxton chess pieces – king, queen, bishop, knight, rook, pawn
  • Caxton chess set, showing all the white pieces on our medieval chess board

  • Caxton's fifteenth century chess pieces

  • Based on William Caxton's 1483 The Game and Playe of the Chesse
  • £0.00
Commission Only

Our chess sets, as well as some of our other larger games, are made to order. Please get in touch via our contact page for a quote, including time scales and shipping costs, or to discuss your own requirements. The set shown here is based on original illustrations from the late fifteenth century, and an approximate price for this set (pieces only) would be in the region of £250. The set is displayed on one of our our unpainted wooden medieval chessboards.

Many reproductions of this set are based on the drawings in H.J.R. Murray's The History of Chess, published in 1903. We have revisited the woodcuts in William Caxton's 1483 edition of The Game and Playe of the Chesse to produce these pieces. You can read more about Caxton's chess set here and about the development of Early Historic chess sets here.

 Specifications for the illustrated set:

  • Pieces turned and carved from beech wood
  • White pieces are the natural wood colour; black pieces are stained
  • All pieces are sanded, but not oiled, waxed or varnished
  • King is 1.5" diameter at the base
  • King is 3.75" tall
  • Pieces are supplied in a sturdy wire-stitched cardboard box

 

Historic Period or Date:

  • c. late 15th to mid 16th century; but of a style with elements similar to sets from the late 13th century

Materials and Special Features:

  • Beech wood pieces

Dimensions:

  • Height: up to 3.75"
  • Diameter: max. 1.5"