Isle of Lewis Pieces

The most interesting and important of all early chess pieces are those which have come to be known as "The Lewis Chessmen". There are seventy-eight, of which sixty-seven are in the British Museum, and the other eleven in the National Museum in Edinburgh. The pieces were found in 1831 in an underground chamber on the west coast of the isle of Lewis. Their exact origin is unknown; they have been attributed both to Scotland and Scandinavia. They are generally accepted as 12th century. The height of the king is 3 1/2".