Chess in Art: chess set for sale

Would you like to own this chess and draughts set table-and-chairs ensemble? Is it even called an ensemble? Why am I asking you this?

I was sent the above photo recently by a friend of mine who knows a woodwork tutor, called Karl. Karl, she said, assisted in the design of the piece displayed above, which is for sale.

Karl explains:

The set was made at a residential carehome for adults with learning disabilities in East Sussex. We also have a candle and basket making workshop, a bakery, a weavery and a large vegetable garden including a small orchard all of which is maintained by the residents. The person who made it is a little over 60 years old. We designed it together but he did all the work.

He provides the following information:

The board is approximately 3ft in diameter and 1 foot high. It is made from beech. The board section has been stained (dark squares) and the whole thing has an antique wax finish. Each square is approximately 2 inches square.

The legs and three drawers are made from pine with plywood bases. The drawers have mahogany handles.

The seats are made from pine with hand woven pure wool covers, woven by another resident. They are stuck onto the wood.

The cushion sections have been stuffed with washed sheepswool and are quite dense but comfortable. Some of the stuffing is slightly uneven but this doesn't affect the comfort; they're fine for a long game of chess!

The legs to the stools are slightly curved to allow a slight rocking motion which is better for the lower back if leaning forward.

The chess pieces are made from rosewood and beech chairlegs. All the rosewood pieces have been stained a darker colour for contrast. The white team are beech with a few pieces in unstained rosewood.

While there is a noticeable difference in colour between the beech and rosewood pieces in the white team, the stained rosewood pieces are much darker. Therefore there is no confusion between teams.

The pieces range from approximately 2 inches up to approximately 5 inches for the kings. All pieces are wax finished.

The draughts pieces are cut from branches and are therefore not a regular round shape. I'm not sure what wood they are made from but possibly applewood from our orchard. They are all sanded, and wax finished, again the black team is stained for contrast.

All the wood used is recycled, eg. old turned chair legs for the pieces, except the plywood bases for the drawers.

The home is a charity so anything from the sale goes back to it. We'd like £250 for it, but if anyone wants to donate more they are welcome!

For confidentiality reasons we don't want to give the resident's name or the name of the care home. If someone does buy it, we can give them more details if necessary.

Re: the sale. As it's quite heavy, we are happy to post it/have it delivered anywhere but would have to add the delivery charge. Alternatively it could be collected from us once bought. We don't want loads of people coming to look at it. It would be non-returnable and non-refundable whether collected or delivered. All enquiries should come to me via my email address - kgw@talktalk.net.

So, if you're interested, there's Karl's email address above. All further queries to him!

[Thanks to Hat Jodelka]
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