Some months ago I purchased on eBay a set I am familiar with, but it arrived in such a dreadful condition that giving a negative feedback was necessary. What to do? – send it back for a refund? But the set needed saving from the dump! My worry being for others getting a poor purchase, as some will sell in any manner for money and don’t care a hoot re the disappointment it causes to buyers. I decided to attempt to save the set by using some spare unimportant sets – the white pawn knops were made of a hideous looking material and needed replacing after removal. A small plastic set I already owned contained the necessary bits so the pawn knops were beheaded  – slowly with a blunt hacksaw- , then with care assembled onto the original white pawn shanks – this came at a price as there is at present a height difference between both red and white.  Nevertheless not returning the purchase was therefore most rewarding as I had plenty of fun with this genuine ‘Frankenstein’ set as it is the real thing –  one might even say this creation has a French Revolution influence!

Placing such nonsense type fun on this site, sums up what at least what we collectors treasure , the very

Idea of binning a likable set ,is like a torture as disappointment is realized by letting it go.