A Chess Piece Bought For $6 Turns Out To Be Worth $1.3 Million
In the 1960s, a Scottish antique dealer purchased an ivory chess piece for $6. After being misplaced then rediscovered in a drawer, the game piece is estimated to be worth around $1.3 million.
Sotheby's auction house claims that the piece is the Lewis Warder, one of the Lewis Chessmen that were discovered on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides in 1831.
The pieces are assumed to have been carved in Trondheim, Norway, in the 12th or 13th century before being brought to the Isle of Lewis. Ninety-three of these pieces were discovered in 1931.
The particular piece, named the Lewis Warder, holds the same ability as a rook in a modern game of chess. In 1964, it was sold under the description of an "Antique Walrus Tusk Warrior Chessman" to the antique dealer.
The game piece was gifted to the buyer's daughter, who stored it away in a drawer only to be forgotten. It wasn't until just recently that the piece was rediscovered by the daughter's family members who thought it should be looked at by experts, As it turns out, it is a Lewis Chessman, and is now expected to sell for over $1.3 million at auction.
