55 Years Ago A Family Bought A Chess Piece For Rs 430, Turns Out It's Now Worth Rs 6.3 Crores!
An Edinburgh family discovered that they owned a long-lost Lewis Chessmen. The family was unaware of its actual worth before they took it to Sothebys auction house in London for it to be auctioned. The piece was sold for a whopping £735000 Approx Rs 65 crores.
Imagine your father bought something for Rs 430, 50 years ago. It was nothing big and was casually kept in your drawer with other stuff. Then imagine finding out, that it is actually worth is Rs 6,36,00,000! This is exactly what happened with an Edinburgh family.
The family¡¯s grandfather was an antiques dealer and in 1964 he bought a 8.8-cm-tall chess piece made from walrus ivory, for ?5 (approximately Rs 430). It turns out that it was one of the long-lost Lewis Chessmen which were buried in a sand dune on the Isle of Lewis in 1831. The whereabouts of the 5 pieces however was a mystery.
How much would you pay for this Lewis chess piece? ??
¡ª BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) June 3, 2019
It's going on auction in Sotheby's and is valued at ?600,000 - ?1M ? #r4today pic.twitter.com/a3KFpURmZK
The family was unaware of its actual worth before they took it to Sotheby's auction house in London for it to be auctioned. The piece was sold for a whopping ?735,000 (Approx Rs 6.5 crores)
The Lewis Chessmen are considered an "important symbol of European civilisation" and they draw the greatest attention at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the British Museum. These pieces were probably made in Scandinavia or Norway. The auctioned piece is a warder - a man with a shield, sword and helmet which supposedly "has immense character and power".
Long lost Lewis Chessman auction: July 2, 2019 -- #LewisChessman #chess @Sothebys A medieval chess piece, bought for $14 in 1964 and kept in a drawer of an Edinburgh home for 55 years, has sold at auction for $928,000. Graphic shows what the Lewis¡ https://t.co/346tTgAA5n pic.twitter.com/MdRX9pyQAu
¡ª Graphic News (@GNgraphicnews) July 2, 2019
Even though for 55 years, the family was not aware of the warder¡¯s value, they kept it safe as it was handed down by their grandfather. It is reported that the previous owner¡¯s mother was of the belief that the chess piece ¡®almost had magical qualities.¡¯
The set of Lewis Chessmen includes - queens, kings, knights, bishops, warders (what we today know as rooks) and pawns. The British Museum has 82 pieces and the National Museum of Scotland holds some 11. The entire hoard was rediscovered in 1831 of which one knight and 4 warders were missing.
Medieval ivory chess piece of a prison guard, just sold for ?735K ($927,423) over low est @Sothebys London. Piece is one of 5 thought missing from famous Lewis chessmen set that helped inspire lots of folklore (inc Harry Potter) pic.twitter.com/8Clok5fJZh
¡ª Kelly Crow (@KellyCrowWSJ) July 2, 2019
Much about the hoard is unknown and a mystery, but one of the leading theories is that they were carved sometime in the 12th or the 13th century.
In a very similar case, about a week ago a Swiss family, discovered that they owned a rare Chinese bronze bowl which was estimated to be worth 4.9 million swiss francs (approximately Rs 34.5 crores). But they were innocuous of this knowledge. Not aware of the bowl¡¯s worth or history, they used it to keep tennis balls in there. Tennis balls!
You know what to do now, don¡¯t you? Ransack those drawers for any antique artefacts you might own and get them assessed. They might be worth crores!
