Chess set in the Staunton pattern made of ebony and boxwood. This set was made by the British Chess Company (BCC) in 1901/1902 and sold under the name "Improved Royal Chessmen". King size is a tad short of 4". In the BCC classification this would mean Size 2, but according to BCC's 1902 price sheet "Numbers 4, 5 and 6 are one size larger than the corresponding number in the old series" and Guy Lyons and Mick Deasey (Lyons/Deasey, The British Chess Company - Stroud and London, p. 57 fn. 6) believe that this also applied to Size 3. So as one of the late sets sold by BCC this could be a Number 3 in the size of a former Number 2, i.e. 4".

Whereas in earlier BCC sets the Kings usually have a cross finial, in the later versions, such as the Improved Royal, the Kings came with a ball finial. The Queens in BCC sets are characterised by coronets with eight points. The Rooks in the Improved Royal sets are unusually tall and have a kingside stamping in the form of a starbust, which was not uncommon in later BCC sets. Also the Bishops are of an unusual edgy design with split mitres. The Knights have a very unique carved horse's head resting on top of a solid base. In particular the design of the Knights distinguishes BCC sets from all other sets of that period. Including the Pawns, the Improved Royal sets are characterised by double (or multiple) collars on the top of the pieces as well as double collars at the bases, which distinguishes the Improved Royal sets from the so called New Imperial Chessmen, which were introduced at approximately the same time, but which do not belong to BCC's Royal series, but to its Staunton series. All pieces are heavily weighted, as it was common with the better quality BCC sets.

The pieces came in a box, the design of which is similar to those used by BCC, hence it could be an original, but it does not have any stamping or official label. The label on the inside of the lid is a later reproduction by the former owner.

The British Chess Company was established around 1890 by William Moffatt and his junior partner William Alfred Paley Hughes as a competitor to Jaques, which dominated the market for Staunton sets in the 19th century. The BCC entered the market in December 1891 with the publication of their first price list. The prime product was the uniquely designed and registered Royal set of chessmen, but they also offered high quality traditional Staunton chessmen, the Imperial series. In October 1900 Moffatt introduced the New Imperial chessmen, which seemed to be some sort of success, because he quickly followed up with the Improved Royal. Nevertheless, both designs did little to improve BCC's business prospects and sometime in 1901 manufacturing ceased. Moffatt continued to sell chess sets after 1902, but there is no current evidence that any chess sets were still produced by that time (Lyons/Deasey, The British Chess Company - Stroud and London, p. 6 et seq.).

The position shown in the last pictures is from Lasker vs. Napier, Cambridge Springs 1904.