The off-white Isle of Lewis Chess set 

To see these pieces in greater detail, click the name just below: King and Queen Bishops Knights Rooks Pawns

The Hebridian Island of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland is a barren land of uncomparable beauty. It is dotted with stone circles, cairns and brooches from a very early past. It is here, that in 1831 along a deserted coastline, while chasing a cow that a peasant stumbled upon a stone chamber originally buried under several feet of shifting sand. In the chamber he discovered 78 chessmen carved from morse ivory (fossil remains of walrus tusks).

Believed to be carved between AD1150 - 1170, they represent a possible Norse origin and the most complete collection of ancient chessmen in existence today. The 78 pieces were purchased by the British Museum for 84 pounds in November of 1831. In 1888, 11 pieces were acquired from the British Museum by the National Museum of Scotland.