- Pewter 'Burmese' Set -
A certain type of19th century Anglo Chinese and Indian ivory chess set bares the misnomer 'Burmese.' I don't know who made the mistake first; these sets have nothing to do with Burma, but the name stuck. Jon Crumiller has several good examples of this type of set; here's one. I just acquired a set in this style which is made from cast pewter instead of ivory. This weighs better on my conscious and my pocket book than the more common ivory version of the set, of course, though many of the ivory sets, such as Jon's above are finer carved with piercing and openwork. I have no idea where or when this set was made, however. If you have any information I'd love an email. Chinese and Indian carvers had English sets in mind when they created these designs, and Personally see a lot of St George in these piece signatures, but they're far enough removed I'll keep these categorized in 'other' and make sure not raise any eyebrows. King 3.5"
This set goes particularly well with an Asian mother of pearl inlay chessboard.
White pieces are finished in silver...
And the 'red' side is gold.
A castled position.
The gold king and bishop.
Other than the ormamentation, the biggest difference between these sets and English styles like St George which these sets mimic is probably the queen finial, which has a crown like the king. This sort of finial is occasional seen in very elaborate English sets such as this one of Jon's.
Golden minor pieces.
Minor pieces.
White bishop.
Silver queenside.
White knight.
Foliate designs around the barrel a white rook.
Red queen and bishop.
Presentation order.
Golden pawn.
Golden royalty.
Dark knight.
