Checkmate: The Swarovski Chess Set

As a professional Swarovski broker, I have seen alot of crystal in the past 15 years.  Some of the more unique items that listed and sold are the Swarovski Chess Sets.

Swarovski produced two different chess sets, both recognized under the same part number: 7550NR432032.  The original set was the Swarovski Wooden Chess Set, which was introduced in 1984 and retired in 1986.  This Chess board is characterized by the fawn and chocolate brown leather/suede squares on the playing board surrounded by the wood frame.  The Swarovski Wooden Chess set allowed convenient storage of the actual chess pieces inside the board and included a key to secure them from accidentally falling out of the case.  The Wooden Chess set was available in the USA and Canada only.

The other chess set is the Swarovski Glass Chess Set.  The Glass Chess set was introduced in 1984 and it retired in 2007.  The glass board is a mirror with a frosted border and frosted squares to create the contrast for the playing board.  We have seen cases that allow the board and chess figurines to be stored in a single case. Additionally, we have seen cases where the board and playing figurines are stored separately.  These storage units also displayed the Swarovski logo on the outside of the simulated leather case or soft velvet-like case(s).

A lesser known fact about the Swarovski Chess sets is that at some point in time, it was possible to purchase the Chess Men, Gray (simulated) Leather Carrying Case, and the Glass Chess Board separately.  This would have been convenient for collectors who may have lost or damaged chess pieces to replace them at a much lower cost than purchasing a complete replacement set.  For the elements sold separately, the Chess Men were referenced as Swarovski part number: 7469 100 000; the Glass Chess Board was referenced as Swarovski part number: 7550 345 006; the Glass Chess Case was referenced as Swarovski part number: 7700 255 032.

Since our favorite crystal brand produced the Swarovski Chess set during the period that the official Swarovski logo changed, it is possible to find the chess pieces with both logos.  Off all the sets we sold, we did not find the actual crystal to be marked with either the Block SC logo or Swan logo, but instead found the logo to be a sticker on the underside of the chess pieces, much like the oldest Swarovski paperweights are marked.

Chess players know that there are 16 figurines in 2 difference colors comprising the set.  (In the Swarovski Chess set, half the figurines are clear crystal and half the figurines are black crystal.)  Each player has: 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, 2 Rooks, and 8 Pawns.  To the best of my knowledge, Swarovski never sold these pieces individually.  It may have been possible to buy replacements for missing or broken parts under a warranty period from Swarovski, however, since the Chess set has been retired for 4 years now, a collectors only recourse now would be the online auctions or finding them at a Swarovski crystal dealer, like Crystal Exchange America at www.CrystalExchange.com .