Bone Selenus Chess Set, possibly Scandinavian or German,
late 18th or early 19th century
An early Selenus style chess set made of bone with a king size of 6 cm. One side is natural, the other side stained in black. The set is unusual in many ways. First of all, the proportions of the set are odd compared to what we collectors usually see. Not the king, but the knight is the largest piece with a height of 6.7 cm. In fact, knights, bishops and rooks are larger than the king and the queen is the smallest piece save for the pawns. The kings are decorated with three galleries, the queens with two galleries. The rooks are baluster shaped turrets. The knights as simple horse heads and a small tail, which sometimes have been described as sea horses. Both, rooks and knights are raised on columns. The bishops as slim pieces with a hat resembling some kind of tricorne. The pawns as small baluster columns with a bell or acorn shaped head.
I have wondered a lot about the sets origin and age and have asked many collectors about it. One very experienced collector was 100% sure that this is a German set and most likely from Nuremberg. An expert on Nuremberg chess sets said that it definitely is not
from Nuremberg. Other collectors suggested a Danish origin. In terms of age, I heard anything from early 18th to late 19th century. I have developed my personal view and I think that the set was most likely made in Denmark in the late 18th or early 19th century. The design of the galleries, but also the knights and the hats on the bishops are consistent with sets attributed to Denmark or Scandinavia in general. Further, the set came with a wooden slide top box, which had the word "Schack" written on top. On the underside, we find the inscriptions "Erik Wickberg, Stockholm, 18.9.1940" and "Nils Wickberg, Bern". "Schack" is the Swedish word for chess, but was also still in use in Denmark in the 18th and 19th century before a universal "skak" was adopted. The inscription on the lid was made by the former owner rather than the maker. Nevertheless, together with the inscriptions on the underside it establishes a connection to Sweden, which again had established trade relations with Denmark. However, a chess set sold as lot 248 in the Bloomsbury auction of 23 October 2006, with very similar knights and rooks was described as a 19th century German set from Nuremberg. So anything is possible, but I lean towards the Scandinavian theory. The set also has a certain resemblance with a
set
shown by my fellow collector Joost van Reij, which he attributes to Denmark or Germany. His set is dated 1860, but I believe this version is (much) older.
The names of the former owners inscribed on the underside of the box are interesting in themselves. Erik Wickberg was a senior officer of The Salvation Army who played a highly sensitive and largely secret role during World War II. Officially, he served as a secretary to Commissioner Karl Larsson in Sweden, but in reality he acted as a covert intermediary for General George Carpenter in London at a time when direct communication between occupied Europe and International Headquarters was impossible. Due to his exceptional language skills (especially German and English), deep knowledge of European Salvation Army structures, and long experience in Germany and at International Headquarters in London, Erik was uniquely qualified for this role. From neutral Sweden, he maintained secret contacts, handled correspondence with European territories cut off by the war, and continued communication with London. This work involved significant personal risk, as discovery could have led to severe consequences under Nazi occupation. Despite the importance of his mission, Erik’s work remained unofficial and undocumented, thus providing plausible deniability for Salvation Army leadership. After the war, his secret assignment ended without formal acknowledgment, although he later continued a conventional Salvation Army career in Sweden. Nils Wickberg was his son, who later settled in Berne, which is also the place where I bought the set from a Swiss collector.
The chess position shown on some of the pictures is from a match allegedly played by Adolf Ludvig Gustav Fredrik Albert Badin (né Couchi; 1747 or 1750 – 1822) against an unknown opponent. He was a Swedish court servant and diarist. Originally a slave, he was the foster son and servant of Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden and a servant to his foster sister Princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden.
