Some months ago this historic Club set – king 4 inches, weighted with the pieces stamped GCC on the bases – was offered on Ebay. I decided to buy it after a brief look by visiting the seller’s shop, and noted that the condition of the set was good. Buying old club sets have some drawbacks however –
a replacement black knight and a white rook were roguish looking pieces, the rooks were not matching, but a pleasing toffee coloured patina more than compensated. The Ayres stamp was present on both a black and a white knight- these sort of details should be studied when deciding to buy such a set. A special thanks must go to Scottish chess historian Alan McGowan who has been a most useful contributor to my research. Despite the set’s issues it is well worth owning such a fine piece of Scottish chess history:-
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