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Chess is thought to have originated in India. Chess first appeared
around the 6th century AD, and by the 10th century had spread to
the Middle East and Europe. By the end of the eleventh century,
chess was a very popular game among the aristocracy throughout Europe.
The chess sets of the wealthy were made from luxurious materials
such as gold, rock crystal, and ivory. However, this set consists
of wooden chessmen, with seeds and fragments of wood used as pawns.
There is no board with this set – instead a board would simply
be marked out on the ground or on a piece of wood. The chessmen
were stored in a coconut shell.
View
database record 1902.88.200
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