Legendary medieval piece of chess "lost" found in a drawer, one expects it to go for £ 1 million at auction / Boing Boing

A family from Edinburgh had this curious medieval chess game, mostly hidden in a drawer, for over 50 years that his grandfather, an antique dealer, bought for £ 5. Recently, her granddaughter had assessed her at Sotheby's, where she had been identified as one of the five missing pieces of the historically important Lewis Chessmen of the late twelfth-early thirteenth century and dug up on the Isle of Lewis in 1831. The single coin fetching 1 million pounds sterling at auction. The British Museum and the National Museum of Scotland hold the rest of the series. From the BBC News:

They are considered an "important symbol of European civilization" and have also penetrated popular culture, inspiring everything from the Noggin The Nog children's show to part of the plot in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. .

The newly discovered piece is a guardian, a man with helmet, shield and sword and the equivalent of a tower on a modern chessboard, which "has an immense character and power …"

The discovery of the treasure (pieces) remains wrapped in mystery, with stories that it would be dug up by a cow grazing on the sandy shores.

It is believed that he was buried shortly after making the items, possibly by a merchant to avoid taxes after his sinking, and thus remained underground for 500 years.

<! –

->