A late 19th century English bone chess set in a fitted box

This item was sold by Dermot Rochford on Ebay, and this fitted box was presumably made for this set, but such a fitted case was unlikely made by any maker of such sets. The normal box would have been a stained slide lid box. I have kept this item since 2004, as this box/case is pretty unusual for such a set – one can see the pieces are displayed on a neat tooled leather board which tucks rather nicely in the slot on top of the case. When one considers how much one can pay for a box with a label, having this item feels like I have done rather well with this collectable. Buying what you like is key – you don’t come by such items very often; the rarity of the set is not important to me. My best guess is that this item may well have been made up for a gift -perhaps for the son of a gentleman-, but such sets were not very expensive at the time, and such a case could have made a splendid impression. We of course will never know for sure, it’s merely speculation as we collectors are left with not much else. So try and get one if you want- it won’t be too easy I can tell you!