House of Hauteville Chessmen - Antique White and Black Marble Resin
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Just three reasons why 20,965 people rate Chess House 4.8 out of 5 stars.
Mark - Always fast, efficient, packed well, and good updates and communication on order even if just email.
About The House of Hauteville Chessmen - Antique White and Black Marble Resin
The House of Hauteville Chess Set was inspired by the adventurous Normans who invaded Italy in the Eleventh Century. It is an artist's dream come true. ChessHouse brings you artist Carolyn Cavanaugh's design, now produced in limited quantities right here in the USA. Her masterpiece is now available to chess collectors and artists. An initial production was donated to the Smithsonian's benefit auction and brought in over $500.
"The inspiration for this set came from a friend who asked me to make a mantle piece based on a pawn
she had seen in a book by John Norwich. I read the book, The Normans in Sicily, and fell in love with the
idea of these brave men. The knights and the pawn are directly based on some 11th century Norman wood
chessmen that have been preserved at The Biblioteque de National in France. The other pieces are original
imaginings. I gave the king a cat because there is a saying (of later vintage) that "a cat may look upon a
king." The queen has a hawk because she is a warrior woman. I've named the king and queen after the
famous warrior duo, Robert Guiscard and his wife Sichelgaita. I often refer to the knights as Tancred and
Drogo, also names in the Norman Hauteville family."
"I once attended a lecture by Lord Norwich at the Smithsonian. He was not talking about his book on the
Normans, but about his mother. Nonetheless I arranged to have someone at Smithsonian give him the six little
figures to take home with him. He wrote me a letter of thanks and said he keeps them on the mantle. John
Julius Norwich is a brilliant writer and has many wonderful books to his credit."
- Carolyn Cavanaugh; Creator of The House of Hauteville Chess Set
Each piece was originally modeled in clay, then molded and reproduced in wax. The wax patterns were refined for better detail and final molds were made for reproduction. They are cast in stone resin. These pieces are handcrafted entirely in the US. The pieces are substantial from 3 to 5 inches tall and are ideal with a chessboard with at least 2" squares.
Designed for the enjoyment of all, the serious player and the collector, we hope everyone will enjoy the artistry and humor of this impressive work.
The recommended chessboard for these chessmen is the 21" Hardwood Player's Chessboard and is handcrafted in the USA from premium walnut and maple with a lacquer finish for an ultra smooth playing experience and display quality.
Specifications:
- King height: 5"
- King weight: 7.7 oz
- Base size: 1 7/8"
- Pawn size: 3 3/8"
- Felted Bases
- Weight: 9+ pounds. Weight varies slightly from set to set.
- Made of marble resin.
- 32 pieces - 1 Queen per side
NOTE: Every set is hand stained after being cast and there can be differences in how the material accepts the stain, leading to variations of piece color from one production run to another.
Product Specs
Dear Chess House Team,
I'm owning two set of House of Hauteville chessmen. I enjoy both everyday, and have to say that it is not only to play chess games, but equally to look on the board to dream about a medieval battle field. The pieces are really splendid, full of details, well balanced and stable. Thanks to the sculptor who takes time to learn the story of this Norman familly (Wikings in fact), conquerors eeven into the south of Italy. Each chessman piece has its own caracter, seen even into their eyes!
If I have to give my preference regaqrding the material, the black set is absolutely wonderful. If one time the scuptor make a serie in RED-BLACK set, I will be interested.
Thanks more to Carolyn Cavanaugh, the sculptor, a real asset for Chess House.
Best regards.
Marcel
I ordered the black and white set and it is beautiful. The only thing I wasn’t keen on was the colour of the white pieces. I found them to be nearer brown than white and rather too shaded. So I painted them and now they look perfect. Highly recommend!
Pieces are beautiful, it's a really nice set. Two things I wish would be included are a storage box to hold the pieces (I ended up buying two Chess House treasure boxes, one for the white pieces and one for black) and an extra queen for both white and black. Otherwise, it's a really nice chess set and is a beautiful addition to my home.
I ordered the black and white set. Love the look. Excellent service. They were backordered but I placed an order and received roughly 6 weeks later.
Beautiful, intricate set. Easy ordering. Excellent delivery time/date on an island. Perfect birthday surprise for my wife.
I purchased this as a gift for my father in law just before traveling to the UK for his birthday. It was a bit larger, and quite a bit heavier, than I anticipated so I had to check a bag to get it over there, but the hassle was more than worth it.
He is a knowledgeable historian of middle age Europe and immediately identified the Hauteville family, providing quite a few details about them and their various exploits. Needless to say, he loved the gift. It was perfect and the quality was high for resin pieces. Next up - larger board for him to properly play on :)
House of Hauteville Chessmen - Antique White and Black Marble Resin
Just received my set in ivory and black marble resin. I am a collector of sets from all over the world. This set is close to the best one yet. Excellent weight, felt bottoms, Looks like it was carved out of stone.
My wish list for this set is to make some other colors like emeral green, asure blue and crimson red. I like to display my sets, only room for one at a time, but the colors mentioned would be a great change while keeping the fabulous design for "show-off".
Can these pieces (house of Hauteville) be used with the millennium self detection boards? If not? Is there a way to make them detectable?
Thank you
Keith, even if you were to be able make them detectable, those pieces would be far too large for any Millennium board, sorry!
Is there, or are there any plans for, a UK outlet for this set?
Sorry but we don't, we do ship to the UK though.
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