eBay

anglais · ‎02-20-2019

These are 7"h x 3"dia base, I do not know what they are, someone suggested chess pieces? The top unscrews.

Hoping someone can help. Thank you in advance. Janet

maxine*j · ‎02-24-2019

@woodw_sandr wrote:
They made that screw cap for a purpose...but what? They would be very heavy at 1.2 pounds to be used as cologne decanters and light for bookends, maybe the intent was to fill the cavity with sand through a funnel to add heft, but I would expect a flat side on each if bookends were the intention.
Have you considered removing the felt on the base for possible identification of the manufacturer? If you knew who made them, that may lead to identification by knowing the type of product made by the company.

I agree about the flattened side and the weight but can only say that I have seen a shedload of poorly designed, ightweight, pretty much useless "decorator" bookends. But goodness knows if that's what these are. That was just the only suggestion so far that made sense to me, especially so if weight could be added by filling them with sand. A puzzler!

woodw_sandr · ‎02-24-2019

Yes, I have seen some poorly designed bookends too. If the bulbous part and the flange below were equidistant to the base, they could serve that purpose, but they don't appear to be, from the photos it looks like the base is wider than the rest of the item.

eclectic-co · ‎02-24-2019

Is it possible that the screw finial (for lack of a better term) was interchangeable with other finials? If you had one in the shape of a cross, you'd have a bishop. In the shape of a crown, you'd have a queen or king. It could explain why the manufacturer designed the base like that. Instead of casting full individual pieces, you could just make a good number of the bases and add whatever topper you wanted in order to fill the orders they received.

maxine*j · ‎02-24-2019

And a horse's head for a knight. If no did do that, someone should! Clever.

maxine*j · ‎02-24-2019

Or who knows, maybe it sold originally as a chess set. I've seen many ovesized sets, with pieces even bigger than these. Your "only-change-the-top-bit" design would work well.

anglais · ‎02-24-2019

My daughter had suggested chess pawn pieces & judging by the photo's in the link these look very similar. Looked under the felt, it appears to be a thick cardboard, rules out anything liquid, funneled sand could be an option for bookends. Thank you all for your help. Janet

sonomabarn67 · ‎02-24-2019

They don't look like oversized chess pieces to me.. A bishop has a cut/slice out of the top and a pawn just has a round knob on the top. With as much detail as these pieces have it seems the maker would capture those details. JMHO

maxine*j · ‎02-24-2019

@sonomabarn67 wrote:
They don't look like oversized chess pieces to me.. A bishop has a cut/slice out of the top and a pawn just has a round knob on the top. With as much detail as these pieces have it seems the maker would capture those details. JMHO

You're describing the Staunton design -- classic, familiar, common, used in tournaments -- but still only one of a zillion designs for chess pieces.

argon38 · ‎02-24-2019

@sonomabarn67 wrote:
They don't look like oversized chess pieces to me..

But did you see the piece in eclectic-co's link (message #15)? It really does look similar, to me anyway.

maxine*j · ‎02-24-2019

Just as an interesting sidelight, and in memory of my late husband who loved chess and taught me this stuff:

Staunton Chess Pieces
In early 1849 Nathaniel Cook, Howard Staunton's editor at the Illustrated London Times, designed the Staunton chess set at a time when players were refusing to play with each other's pieces because of the difficulty in distinguishing the various chess pieces. The main patterns prior to the Staunton pattern were the Lund, Merrifield, Calvert, Barleycorn, Selenius and St George patterns. Cook used symbols in their plainest form. The King had a crown, the Queen had a coronet, the Bishop had a miter, the Knight was a horse's head, the Rook was a castle, and the pawn was a ball. The horses' heads were based on the Elgin Marbles. These were designs found in the Parthenon frieze and taken to England by Thoms Bruce, 7th Lord of Elgin, in 1806. The pawns were developed from the freemason's square and compass. Every symbol was supported on a plain stem rising from a heavy, wide base which gave stability. The design so impressed John Jaques, leading wood carver, that he immediately suggested making the pieces on a commercial basis.

STAUNTON DESIGN CHESS PIECES, OF WOOD

https://www.chesscentral.com/pages/chess-sets-pieces-boards/a-history-of-chess-pieces-and-chess-sets...

divwido · ‎02-24-2019

Have you measured how much the hold? I wonder if they could be urns.

Good Moms let you lick the Beaters.

Great Moms turn them off first.

sonomabarn67 · ‎02-24-2019

Yes I saw those as being similar but not the same. That slice across the bishop's mitre is missing from both those examples. I just didn't want the op to leave thinking it was 100% a bishop when it may not be. The attention to detail
(that brass band) is not evident on either which made me think to keep looking. It's not like we should say "Oh here's one close so that's what it is." If the OP's set had a knight then yes, slam dunk!

maxine*j · ‎02-24-2019

And I want to be clear that I am not saying these are bookends, nor am I saying they're from an oversized chess set. Those are both possibilities, but only that. A puzzler, for sure.