This long-lost chess piece will cost you a pretty check, mate.
A missing piece from the medieval Lewis Chessmen set was bought for $7.50 in Scotland in 1964 — and spent the last 55 years in the drawer of an Edinburgh family who had no idea of its real worth.
Recently rediscovered, the rare find is expected to fetch up to $1.26 million at auction July 2 in the London.
“They brought it in for assessment,” says Sotheby’s expert Alexander Kader of the day the family unveiled the precious 3.5-inch, walrus ivory piece.
When he realized what the figurine was upon closer examination Kader said his “jaw dropped” — even after seeing its condition.
“It’s a little bashed up,” he says. “It has lost its left eye — but that kind of weather-beaten, weary warrior added to its charm.”
The Lewis Chessman’s origins aren’t fully known, but they’re thought to date to the late 12th or early 13th century Norway. The pieces were first documented 168 years ago, in 1831, on the Isle of Lewis.
The historic set served as the inspiration for the chess pieces in the film adaption of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
The set includes a total of 93 objects (four complete chess sets and, inexplicably, a belt buckle), 82 of which are in the British Museum, 11 of which are in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland, and five — now four — of which are missing.
“There are still four out there somewhere,” says Kader. “It might take another 150 years for another one to pop up.”