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"Play the Masters With the Finest Chess Sets"
 

"On Sale Special LLARDO Chess Set"

STUDIO ANNE CARLTON

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Peter Rabbit
This delightful set is a perfect "first chess set." It includes a folding board that provides the setting for Mr. McGregor’s Garden. Each piece is meticulously hand painted with painstaking detail. One side sits atop baby blue books while the other rests on pink. Characters include Peter Rabbit as the king, Jemima Puddle-duck for queen, Squirrel Nutkin for the knight, Foxy-Whiskered Gentleman for the bishop, Tom Kitten for the rook, and a family of bunny rabbits for pawns.

The story of Peter Rabbit first appeared in a picture letter that Beatrix Potter wrote to Noel Moore, the young son of her former governess, in 1893. Encouraged by her success in having some greetings card designs published, Beatrix remembered the letter seven years later and expanded it into a little picture book with black and white illustrations. After being rejected several times, it was finally published by Frederick Warne in 1902. The Tale of Peter Rabbit's  story, engaging hero and happy ending have made it a children's classic whose appeal is timeless.

Canterbury Cathedral
The city of Canterbury has been a place of Christian worship for nearly two thousand years. Following a major fire at the original cathedral in 1174, the monks at Canterbury used the revenue from the many pilgrims visiting the shrine and relics of St Thomas to create the first Gothic cathedral in England . The rebuilding and reconstruction continued during the following century and ensured that at the end of the Middle Ages, Canterbury Cathedral was one of the noblest churches in Christendom. 
The skilled designers and sculptors have created from the architecture and statuary in and around Canterbury Cathedral a gracious chess set of  proportions and great detail.
 

Cottage Garden Chess
In the Cottage Garden Chess Set, Studio Anne Carlton's sculptors have captured the elegant beauty and tranquility of the traditional English Cottage Garden. The pieces have been skillfully decorated with only selected detail picked out adding to the sophistication of the set. The King and Queen are represented by the Head Gardner and his wife and the other pieces show familiar items often found in the traditional garden - the Bishop is a sun dial, the knight a flower fairy bird bath and the Rook an ornamental well. All are protected by the pawns - a row of clipped shrubs. The white pieces are finished in a weathered stone effect and the dark pieces in terracotta.
 

Crusades
This is a magnificent chess set which epitomizes the struggles for domination between Christians and Muslims. This conflict has continued intermittently for over a thousand years, but it is the period between 1095 and 1292 which has captured our imagination because of the exploits of the Crusader knights.
Skillfully hand decorated, these pieces represent the Christian side led by King Richard I of England, known as Richard the Lionhearted, in combat with the Muslim armies led by Saladin. This chess set concentrates particularly on the Third great Crusade led by King Richard I of England, who in 1189 joined King Philip II of France in an effort to recapture the holy city of Jerusalem. King Richard, with 8000 troops, seized Cyprus and some cities on the Palestinian coast, but ultimately failed to dislodge the Muslim leader, Saladin, from Jerusalem.
 

History of Golf
There is no other sport as richly endowed with outstanding characters, incidents and locations as that of golf. Our designers have drawn on the rich history of the game to suggest individuals and places that have played an important part in the refinement of golf from what was a mediaeval peasants' pastime to the game we know and love today.
Golf's growing popularity really stems from the inauguration of the Open Championship in 1860 and it is from this era to the early 1900s that our designers have chosen to represent the true beginnings of the sport. They have chosen Harry Vardon as King, Lady Margaret Scott as the Queen and Old Tom Morris as the Bishop. 
Beautifully hand decorated, this set is a delight to own and makes a remarkable presentation piece.
 

Battle of Hastings
These chess pieces represent the two opposing armies in the most famous battle ever fought on English soil. The white pieces portray Harold, King of England, leading his forces into battle against William, Duke of Normandy. The ensuing battle fought just inland from Hastings on the south coast of England in October 1066, altered the course of English history. This set celebrates the battle and is sculpted in great authentic detail.
449.95

Nautical
Since time began, countless men have fought battles with the oceans and seas of the world to try and master the incredible power of these vast bodies of water. The contest has always been unequal for the tempestuous seas are far more powerful than man or anything man made. So how has man been able to survive and flourish in such a hostile environment? By skill, bravery, cunning and a little luck. 
It is this line of thought that led our designers to create a chess set featuring elements of the Ocean and man's constant quest to tame the rolling waves, the shrieking storms. Using all his experience, knowledge and seamanship, man has taken much of the uncertainty out of voyaging the oceans, but can he claim to have beaten it? Our chess set characters symbolize the relationship that man has with the sea.
 

American Revolutionary War
At the time of King George III's coronation in 1760 the British were the pre-eminent power on the North American sub-continent. They had a difficult time persuading the colonists of the territory to pay taxes to the British Crown and as a result outbreaks of violence occurred which eventually escalated into full scale war between Britain and its North American colony.
The sculptor and artists have taken some of the principal characters from the era to create this superb chess set. Shown here in its hand decorated form the historically authentic hand crafted pieces will enable you to re-live some of the major battles and engagements and, perhaps.. who knows? Can you alter the course of history?
 

American Revolutionary War
A more definitive decorated chess set would be hard to find than this superbly crafted masterpiece. Our designers, by combining their skills with the styles of Staunton and the old French Dieppe sets, have created one of our most attractive sets. Two armies from the late twelfth century face off against each other, their heroic leader is Richard, King of England, also known as Richard the Lionheart. This regal chess set features important characters from the era of Richard I, who reigned from 1189-1199.
449.95

Shakespeare
This new chess set is about a group of artistes, entertainers and actors living in London in Elizabethan times. The King is William Shakespeare and the Queen, Bishop and Knight are intimate colleagues who enact his works as performers in the Globe Theatre. 
The pieces abound with allegorical icons from both the written and spoken work. Books, manuscripts, folios and feather quills decorate the chess pieces alongside the swirling fabric curtains of the theatre and the well trodden planks or boards of the stage. 
The set is unusual in having differing pawns for each side, the dark side pawns being characterized by Yorick's skull, representing the dark tragedies of Shakespeare's works, whilst those of the light side being representative of life, fresh flowers, love sonnets and eternal prose.
 

Battle of Trafalgar
Trafalgar was one of the most decisive naval battles ever fought. In the course of a short October afternoon, the Combined Fleet of France and Spain, with 33 battleships, was defeated by a British force of 27 battleships off cape Trafalgar, on the south-west coast of Spain. As a result of this crushing defeat, Napoleon abandoned his hopes of invading England.
499.95

The White Tower
The Royal palace and fortress of the Tower of London, founded by William the Conqueror shortly after 1066, is one of the world's most famous and spectacular castles. Known for housing the Crown Jewels, its Yeoman Warders ("Beefeaters") and its ravens, the Tower today is the most visited historic site in Britain.
The White Tower, oldest of all the Tower buildings, was originally built as a royal palace and fortress, but has also served as a prison, a royal chapel, a record office and a large storehouse of arms, armor and gunpowder.
 

Wizard of Oz
This magnificent chess set is based on the characters portrayed in the original story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written in 1899 by L Frank Baum. The book's theme concerns the friendship, co-operation and trust shown to each other by a most unlikely group of individuals who meet on their journey through life.
This beautifully designed chess set features not only all the principal characters from the book but also some of the lesser known personalities. This set truly captures the magic of the greatest fairy tale to originate in the USA .
 

Camelot
The stirring legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have inspired us to create this chess set. Our Camelot chess pieces take their character from the legendary noble King Arthur and beautiful Guinevere. Their fairy tale court includes Gallant Sir Lancelot, the king's perfect knight and the queens perfect lover; Merlin the court magician as the wise Bishop; an Anglo Saxon castle rising out of the mists of ignorance and honorably defended by peasant soldiers as pawns. The chessmen are made of an antiqued ground stone with the opposing side stained a rich burgundy brown.
 

American Civil War
The conflict between the Confederate Army of the South led by General Robert E Lee and the Federal Troops of the North led by General Ulysses S Grant resulted in many battles and great loss of life. This chess set is produced by popular request to illustrate the major players in this turbulent period of North American history.
 

Egyptian
The king depicts an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh while the queen, knights and bishops represent some of their sacred gods, Isis, Hathor and Amun. Hieroglyphic carvings are used for the rooks and the Royal Cobras are pawns. The chessmen are made of an antiqued ground stone with the opposing side stained a rich burgundy brown.
 

Gods of Mythology
The Ancient Greek Gods are well represented and portrayed in this impressive chess set. This is a consistently popular set and is often used as background decor in many TV shows and movies. The chessmen are made of an antiqued ground stone with the opposing side stained a rich burgundy brown. 
Zeus is the King, presiding over the whole social order and Mount Olympus. He is the father of gods and men and the most important of his fellow deities. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, daughter of Zeus, reigns as Queen. Asklepios, the god of healing and medicine, son of Apollo, serves as Bishop. The Knight, the Centaur, the strange part horse, part man creature very old in Greek legend. The Corinthian column of the Classical order was selected as the rook to create balance in the set. Pan, the gods of shepherds and countryside, represented with horns, legs of a goat and playing the pipes, serves as the pawn.
 

Mini Lewis
These chess pieces are replicas of the originals which were discovered on the Isle of Lewis off the West Coast of Scotland and which are now housed safely and securely in the British Museum of London and in Edinburgh. Many pieces were discovered and this is our interpretation of the Isle of Lewis chess set. In this miniature set we have added a modified rook for the correct scale of the pieces. The Isle of Lewis chessmen were featured in the movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
In 1831 the sea carried away a sandbank on the Isle of Lewis uncovering a mysterious building that had been buried under the sand. A peasant working nearby found what he concluded to be a collection of Elves and Gnomes. The superstitious highlander flung down his spade and fled home in horror. Superstition in Lewis had survived in a powerful form. Thus, when the peasant first looked at the group of singular little ivory figures it was natural that they should appear as the pigmy sprites of Celtic folklore. However, he was induced by his wife to return to the spot and take the figures home. He sold them to a local collector who realized they were chessmen. There were 78 pieces in all belonging to eight or more sets; 67 are now in the British Museum and the rest in the National Museum, Edinburgh. Experts are unanimous in regarding them as the most astonishing collection of ancient chessmen in existence
 

Mini Florentine
The miniature set is a compact set in a Renaissance period design, beautifully executed. The chessmen are made of an antiqued ground stone with the opposing side stained a rich burgundy brown. Renaissance Florence has often been described as the birthplace of modern individualism, as reflected in the individual genius of its great artists, scholars, and statesmen. This set features Florentine nobility for the king and queen, an authority of the church for the bishop, a Florentine column for the rook, equestrian soldiers for the knights and foot soldiers for the pawns.
 

Mini Roman
The miniature set is a compact set that shows the elegance of the Roman era. The chessmen are made of an antiqued ground stone with the opposing side stained a rich burgundy brown. 
The King portrays Julius Caesar, traditionally dressed in a toga, the distinctive costume which remained fashionable throughout the whole of the Roman period. Caesar had several wives, none of whom played a significant role in Roman history. The Queen, therefore, typifies a lady of noble birth in the dress of the period; the Cloak or Palla, with its multiple folds which resulted in its extravagant length. The head-dress is also traditional, originating and modified from the original Greek. The Bishop is represented by the Standard Bearer carrying the insignia of the legion. He wears a General's mantle over the coat of mail with its traditional bronze decorations. The Knight is a gallant soldier's horse and the pawns are fighting foot soldiers. The rook takes it form from the Roman capital.

Sherlock Holmes Chessmen
This incredibly detailed chess set depicts the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes is featured as the King and his opponents are lead by his arch enemy Professor Moriarty, with the fearsome Hound of the Baskervilles depicting the Knight. Sherlock is accompanied on his adventures by his faithful companion Doctor Watson, while the rest of the set features other leading characters from the famous stories including Mrs. Hudson, Inspector Lestrade, Irene Adler and Colonel Moran. These carefully designed pieces are based on the original drawings that appeared in the Strand Magazine to accompany the Sherlock Holmes Stories
 

Warlords
Sculpted in intricate detail, these fascinating pieces represent the age old struggle between the forces of good and evil. Prince Vallior, the hero, combats the evil forces led by Demonas, Lord of the Underworld. Studio Anne Carlton's craftsmen have allowed their imagination to run riot in their interpretation of the mythical characters and creatures that inhabited the dark regions of the Earth in times long past. Many of these fabled creatures seem to come to life in this beautifully decorated set.
 

Westminster Abbey
A very large and impressive set of chess pieces inspired by statues, tombs and artifacts in and around the famous Westminster Abbey in London. This set is meticulous in its hand-painted detail and is by far the largest Studio Anne Carlton set. Westminster Abbey is a large gothic church in central London. 
Officially the Collegiate Church of St Peter, it was built between 1050 and 1745. Founded by the Saxon king Sebert in the early 7th Century on a marshy site, known as Thorney Island, the church was consecrated by Edward the Confessor in 1065. Rebuilding was commenced in 1245 by King Henry III and was completed in 1528. Westminster Abbey is renowned as one of the best examples of early English architecture. In particular Henry VIII's chantry chapel is remarkable for its pendant form vaulting. The famous west towers are by Hawksmoor and were completed in 1740. Most English sovereigns were crowned at Westminster Abbey and The Abbey is the final resting place of several English monarchs, notably Edward the Confessor, Henry III, Edward I, Henry VII, Elizabeth I, Charles II, William III and George II. 
This is the inspiration behind this majestic set. The King, Edward the Confessor, is in early English coronation robes, whilst the Queen, St.Helen, is shown at her prayers. The Bishop, St. Dunstan, is symbolically casting out devils and the Knight is St George, Patron Saint of England, slaying the evil dragon. The West Face of the Abbey makes an excellent rook while St. Roch, patron saint for the poor, is a delightful pawn.