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Monday, 13th February 2006 (5707 views)

A gold and jewel-encrusted chess set will go on sale for £5 million this week at London fashion week, the Times reports

Commissioned by Jewel Royale and built by Boodles, the set's pieces have been crafted with 18-carat gold and adorned with precious stones.

The king alone boasts a price tag of £100,000. Weighing 165.2 grams, the set's grandest piece is adorned with close to 1,000 diamonds, sapphires and rubies.

The board is an equally opulent affair, with a diamond-set white and gold playing surface supported by four gold-centred crystal balls.

Inside each crystal lies a 16-carat yellow gold spiral of diamonds to complete the scintillating line-up.

It was all the idea of former Henley Grammar schoolboy Trevor Wardle, who founded Jewel Royal last year specifically to realise this dream.

Mr Wardle is staying tight-lipped on the possible identity of the buyer but hinted the chess set may be bound for overseas.

"They are suggesting using the set for a play-off between the best British player and the top American," he told the Henley Standard last year.

"And people in the Middle East are crazy about the game. They are even building a 'chess city'."

 

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