Late19th century stamped British Chess Company (BCC) chessboard

These boards don’t become available too often, so a most fortunate eBay purchase. With a playing surface of 18 x 18 inches the board is of great interest because of the inserted strip of wood over the playing surface, presumably added to prevent the inlaid playing surface from sliding to either side of the frame. I have 2 BCC boards in my collection both acquired when my good friend Joost Van Reij spotted one at Portabello Road, London, and to my delight showed the stamped board to me – it sure pays to have collector friends. I got it for a low price – typical luck of the Irish but we deserve it! Recently the price of boards has been rising and deservedly so in my humble opinion, even vintage ones, but the bleak alternative is printed boards – definitely not for me! What we don’t know is why they appear to be scarce, and I can only speculate that they perhaps happily co-exist with owners of BCC sets who understandably don’t want to part with them?