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Noggin the Nog (NEW CONCEPTS)
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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"OK where shall we start the bidding today for this fine looking Beserker, a lost piece from one of the 4 sets, commonly known as the Lewis Chess Men, displayed most famously at the British Museum. This historic piece was recently recovered from the back of a drawer, in Scotland, having been purchased for a fiver in 1964."

"We have a lot of interest including a internet bid from a Mr Wiley Coyote. What is it?"

"We start at £4.99."

"Any advance?"
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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I've found a very old Subbuteo set in the attic. I'm not saying it's Viking but it could be medieval.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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I've found an attic which, since I live in a basement, must be worth a bob or two.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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Wiley just missed out.

The berserker was sold for £735,000.
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Wiley might be intrigued to hear that the Art Gallery of Ontario has an ivory piece, said to be half Egyptian, half European, with a century or so between its body and the head
10th-11th century; head added 12th-13th century



The chess piece is part of the Thomson Collection, "the most significant private art collection in Canada and its gift to the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the most significant acts of philanthropy in Canadian history." (according to the Art Gallery of Ontario)

The Thomson Collection of European Art comprises more than 900 objects, including the legendary 12th-century Malmesbury châsse, an extraordinary selection of Medieval and Baroque ivories and a distinguished group of portrait miniatures dating from 1550 to 1850. The gift also includes a compelling collection of 130 mainly British ship models from the 17th century through the Napoleonic era to the 20th century.

The highlight of the Thomson Collection of European Art is the 17th-century masterpiece by Peter Paul Rubens The Massacre of the Innocents.

No mention of ancient Egyptian ivories though.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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Well spotted.

You are formally appointed as the head curator of the Egyptian Noggin gallery. (It is an unpaid position, pending the outcome of a funding application to the EU heritage antiquities fund).

As our very own, head curator "Egyptian Noggin", you will be considered as a leading expert in the field, and responsible for verification, classification, dating of all Noggin from the Middle Eastern, Middle Ages.

Congratulations.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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Wile E. Coyote wrote:
"OK where shall we start the bidding today for this fine looking Beserker, a lost piece from one of the 4 sets, commonly known as the Lewis Chess Men, displayed most famously at the British Museum. This historic piece was recently recovered from the back of a drawer, in Scotland, having been purchased for a fiver in 1964."

"We have a lot of interest including a internet bid from a Mr Wiley Coyote. What is it?"

"We start at £4.99."

"Any advance?"


There is no comparative Radiocarbon dating analysis (C14) for any of the Lewis chessmen in the British Museum or National Museum of Scotland. However the recently discovered warder was dated(!). I guess this was because the provenance was so dodgy, ie two antique dealers living in Edinburgh, where some of the pieces are housed, and every nick nack (fridge magnet) is a Lewis chess man, not noticing the resemblance, but still classifying the warder as "Antique Walrus tusk warrior chessman". Anyway the walrus ivory dates between AD 1328 to AD 1434 (95% confidence interval). Which puts it later than the Lewis chessmen by 80-100 years. So the Marine reservoir effect has had to be invoked giving a date AD 1283 to AD 1479 (95% confidence interval). I don't understand how you can have 2 sets of dates with 95% confidence but there you go.

The boring conclusion is that whilst mankind was wiping out the walrus around the 13th century, to enable the church to display (white god) religious icons, your seafarers on long trips carved these barbarous pieces to keep themselves busy.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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Ivory Vikings The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them. has sold a lot of copies.

The blurb sounds exciting.

n the early 1800's, on a Hebridean beach in Scotland, the sea exposed an ancient treasure cache: 93 chessmen carved from walrus ivory. Norse netsuke, each face individual, each full of quirks, the Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous chess pieces in the world. Harry played Wizard's Chess with them in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Housed at the British Museum, they are among its most visited and beloved objects. Questions abounded: Who carved them? Where? Ivory Vikings explores these mysteries by connecting medieval Icelandic sagas with modern archaeology, art history, forensics, and the history of board games. In the process, Ivory Vikings presents a vivid history of the 400 years when the Vikings ruled the North Atlantic, and the sea-road connected countries and islands we think of as far apart and culturally distinct: Nonrvay and Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, and Greenland and North America. The story of the Lewis chessmen explains the economic lure behind the Viking voyages to the west in the 800s and 900s. And finally, it brings from the shadows an extraordinarily talented woman artist of the twelfth century: Margret the Adroit of Iceland.


Margret the Adroit of Iceland according to wiki

Margret the Adroit appears in a single textual source: the Icelandic saga Páls saga biskups (Saga of Bishop Páll).[1] She lived in Skálholt, as the wife of Thorir the priest, who assisted Bishop Páll Jónsson and managed the see after the bishop's death in 1211. At the time, it was common for bishops to send and receive expensive gifts from other bishops and noblemen. According to the saga, "Margaret made everything that Bishop Pall wanted." As a gift for the Archbishop, Bishop Páll commissioned a "bishop's crozier of walrus ivory, carved so skilfully that no one in Iceland had ever seen such artistry before; it was made by Margaret the Adroit, who at that time was the most skilled carver in all Iceland."[2] He also commissioned an altarpiece and "Margret carved the walrus ivory extremely well."


The saga is recorded in three seventeenth century copies.

It's not much to go on. But having a single woman master carver produce the chessmen/ gaming pieces' means the book sells better.
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