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>>> Lost Lewis Chessman worth over $1 million found in drawer


CNN

by Gianluca Mezzofiore

3rd June 2019


https://www.cnn.com/style/article/lost-lewis-chessman-scli-intl/index.html


On 2 July in London, Sothebyís will offer the first discovery of an unknown missing piece from the hoard of 93 objects found in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Made in the late 12th/early 13th century, and most likely Norwegian in origin, the Lewis Chessmen were probably the stock of a trader in chessmen that never reached their market, who buried them after a shipwreck. Acquired for £5 in 1964 by an antiques dealer in Edinburgh, the Lewis Warder will be presented with an estimate of £600,000-1,000,000 in Sothebyís sale of Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art. The Lewis Chessmen are regarded as the most famous chess pieces to have survived from the medieval world.

Lost Lewis Chessman worth over $1 million found in drawer

When an antiques dealer in Scotland bought an ivory chessman for £5 ($6) in 1964, he probably had no inkling that he had taken possession of one of the most famous chess pieces in the world.

Stored in a drawer for 55 years, the Lewis Warder, as the piece is known, could now fetch up to £1 million ($1.3 million) at auction after the late owner's family took it to Sotheby's auction house in London for assessment.

The chessman was recorded in the owner's ledger as 'Antique Walrus Tusk Warrior Chessman.'

The Lewis Chessmen were found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides in 1831, but the circumstances of their discovery are shrouded in mystery. With 93 pieces found -- the majority carved from walrus ivory -- the set was missing one knight and four "warders."

The leading theory about their origin is that they were carved between the late 12th and early 13th centuries in Trondheim, Norway, Sotheby's said in a press release.

Of the 93 pieces discovered in 1931, 82 are in the British Museum in London while 11 are in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The new discovery is a 3.5-inch warder, a bearded figure with a sword in his right hand and shield at his left side. In modern chess it would be the equivalent of a rook. It will be auctioned at Sotheby's London on July 2, the first time any of the Lewis Chessmen has been auctioned.

A spokesperson for the family, which wishes to remain anonymous, said in a statement that the warder was cataloged in the antiques dealer's purchase ledger as "Antique Walrus Tusk Warrior Chessman."

"From this description it can be assumed that he was unaware he had purchased an important historic artifact," the spokesperson said. "It was stored away in his home and then when my grandfather died my mother inherited the chess piece."

"My mother was very fond of the Chessman as she admired its intricacy and quirkiness. She believed that it was special and thought perhaps it could even have had some magical significance."

"For many years it resided in a drawer in her home where it had been carefully wrapped in a small bag. From time to time, she would remove the chess piece from the drawer in order to appreciate its uniqueness."

The Lewis Chessmen are "steeped in folklore, legend and the rich tradition of story-telling," Sotheby's said in a press release, adding that they are "an important symbol of European civilisation."

Alexander Kader, the Sotheby's expert who assessed the piece for the family, called it "one of the most exciting and personal rediscoveries to have been made during my career."

"Today all the chessmen are a pale ivory color, but the new Lewis Warder's dark tone clearly has the potential to offer valuable and fresh insight into how other Lewis chessmen may have looked in the past," he said in a press release.

"There is certainly more to the story of this warder still to be told, about his life over the last 188 years since he was separated from his fellow chessmen, and just as interesting, about the next chapter in his journey now that he has been rediscovered."

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