India  (Asia)

India. It starts with a so called "Jaipur" silver enamelled chess set in a very cute form. In that form it is rare. Unfortunately it is not in a very good condition. The enamel is coming loose.

India. In the course of the time I have collected 7 of those "Rajasthan" sets, which are all made for the tourist market and cannot compete with the antique ones. My dating may not be accurate, but it is as is told to me. However you cannot believe everyone. All these sets are in a presentation box, designed to show the pieces for easier sale.

In the list you see 2 tiny and a big ivory one, two normal sized wooden and one bigger wooden set, and a modern set with silver and gold pieces made of a kind of plastic, I think. That set was listed as wooden, but only the brown bases may be wood. There exist bigger sets as well, with full width figures in stead of flat ones. Here you see full width Kings and Queens at the larger wooden set, and full width figures at he modern set. The big ivory set here has more or less full width figures, albeit that King and Queen are half-round pieces.

This type of games is also called elephant game. King, Queen and Rook are elephants. The King sits on an elephant with a howdah. The Queen sits on an open elephant saddle. The Rook has no saddle with figure, but has a driver like all pieces do. Bishop is a dromedary. Knight is a horse. Pawns are soldiers.

Royal Mahara(d)ja(h) is a common name for figural sets from India and also often applied to these elephant sets.

India. The last set in this listing is only half a set. It was a gift and the other side was never there. Pieces are crudely carved, except for the elephants which are very nice. The elephant pieces have also a little different colour.