godopenedherwomb
hi brad
we know the st george was the leading british set before the staunton pattern ,and here i can see no influences at all.
this is an area where it becomes fascinating as the creation of the staunton set is considered.
when i checked alans link to the 1940s court case of wood vrs jaques ... the claim was a set was made in the 1790s , which assisted wood in winning , as this purported set had staunton influences.
i am dammed if i can see any resemblence to a jaques from british sets in the 18th and early 19th century ,and if there was one would have expected to see such a set with a photo in publications at the time of the court case ,and then in chess collectors books afterwards.
clearly there may be far more informed experts out there who might be in a better position to offer more information, but i rather doubt they can .
so what i am intrigued to know is if the complete staunton design was an origonal idea ,with no influences from any patterns.
if this is the case ,then any sets with clear staunton influences ,even in part ,must be later than 1850 ....
