Russian Chess Set, early 20th Century

Russian Chess Set, early 20th Century

Rather unusual chess set following the Staunton design. The pieces are made of wood, one side stained in brown, the other in black. All pieces are lightly weighted. King size is 79 mm.

I believe this set to be of Russian origin, probably also Eastern European, and dating back to the early 20th century. In particular the design of the rooks and knights shows similarities with Russian sets. Kings, queens, bishops and pawns with bulbous bodies. The kings do not have cross finials, but come with onion shaped finials, the queens with knob finials, both turned of bovine bone. The bishops with helmet shaped heads with knob finials and  collars made of bone. In particular, the combination of wood and bone is a very rare feature unknown to me in later Russian chess sets.
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