Here is a genuine ivory English Barleycorn chess set with a 9 cms king purchased in the distant past from Dermot Rochford. At present there is a rather disturbing trend of misdescriptions from a host of Ebay sellers, and even worse are a number of well known auction houses on the Saleroom now. What compounds the problem is that sellers don’t want to spend the time researching and simply want the money with no regard to the unfortunate buyers who will in the future discover the ‘worst they have bought’ MISDESCRIBED item. Even when informed of their lack of knowledge some sellers respond with hostility and sarcasm, and yet continue to mislead naive buyers backed up with their so-called 100% feedback?!
Chess researcher and author Gareth Williams wrote a very trustworthy book that is still easily available to purchase at present and highly recommended- ignorance is no excuse these days!
Note the detailed carving on the kings and queens – the term ‘barley twist’ is best described as a Dubious Dealing Description (DDD) and is very misleading to the naive.
What these sellers don’t seem to appreciate is the disappointment the buyers suffer
when the penny drops on the duped! I have met quite a number of collectors who have great sympathy for the victims as do I, and getting your money back upon discovery after a lengthy time is impossible. Recently I had a heated and hostile exchange with a Saleroom auction house about the sneaky and misleading garbage description of ‘in the style of’. Calling their bogus description a Barleycorn pattern stinks of ignorance and a complete lack of appreciation for the work of chess collector researchers. This feeble ill-informed excuse is enough to enrage any serious minded collector. In the Gareth Williams book Master Pieces, see pages 42 and 43 where he explains that the carved Barleycorn pattern on the king and queen bodies. There is clearly more work put into the manufacture of genuine Barleycorn sets, which does explain why the price is rather higher than the far simpler English bone sets being passed off as Barleycorn. His book clearly shows on pages 48 and 49 a true stamped Calvert set, and the so called ‘Calvert pattern’ is utterly bogus, misleading, and in some cases being used to vastly overcharge for pretty ordinary late 19th century sets. Once a collector purchases this important book they will clearly see the multitude of misdescribed sets out there. Buyer beware of the use of the descriptions ‘pattern’ , ‘style’ , or ‘style of’, and note this:- no
experienced collector will ever pay the prices being charged for these bogus offerings. Passing them off to the naive as they were sold to them stinks!
Why do I write this? Because as a collector I CARE.
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