CHESS AND THE TRANSFERWARE COLLECTORS CLUB

William Adams IV & Sons (1834-1864) washbowl printed in red in a pattern known as Chess Players or Chess Battle, ca. 1836.

October 9th is National Chess Day.  I knew there were some transferware patterns that showed people playing chess, so I went to the database of the Transferware Collectors Club to see if there were patterns with which I wasn't familiar. (I thought I'd just insert a shout out here for the fabulous TCC database of more than 14,000 patterns!  If you want to see the entire database, you need to join the TCC, but the cost is a very reasonable $50 a year for domestic members and $60 a year for everyone else. I realize this is shameless advertising, but I couldn't resist because I am one of the database editors.)

Here are a few more chess patterns.  

Maker Unknown 7 inch child's plate printed with a similar pattern to the one above.  The TCC database shows another plate with the same pattern and molded border of rose, tulip, and aster, but it is impressed "Wedgwood."

John & Jos Mayer (1842-1855) pot lid showing a political cartoon titled "A False Move."  The players are the Pope and John Bull.

Maker Unknown 2.5 inch child's mug showing two men playing a game of chess, ca. 1840.

Malkin Edge & Co. (1870-1900) 6" tile printed in a pattern know as Chess.

I thought I'd add a photo of the beautiful 8.6 inch jug that belongs with the washbowl seen above.

William Adams IV & Sons (1834-1864) 8.6 inch wash jug.

The chess games seen here are examples of the Romantic Era of Chess which was played between the late 15th century and the 1880s. If you want to know more about the history of chess, follow this link.