Carton-Pierre Casket Reproduction

The House of Staunton is now offering an extremely accurate reproduction of the Carton-Pierre caskets that were designed for Leuchars by Joseph L. Williams using the carton pierre material designed and manufactured by George Jackson & Sons. Leuchars was established at 47 Piccadilly, London in 1794 by James Leuchars. In 1820, the business moved to 38 Piccadilly, shortly before James Leuchars died in 1822.  Lucy Leuchars, James’ widow, continued the business under the name of L. Leuchars. These Neo-Gothic Sarcophagi were originally produced solely to house the revolutionary new Staunton Chessmen, registered by Nathaniel Cooke and introduced by Jaques of London in September of 1849. An image of an original casket is shown here. The original caskets were made in three basic sizes, all using the same four sides and lid, but with a false bottom to accommodate the four sizes of chessmen produced by Jaques at that time. Each of our reproduction caskets duplicates the material and process used in the originals and  also bears a facsimile of the original label with a unique “Entered No.” to further personalize this future heirloom. An image of an original label is shown here. Panels, sides and lids were molded from an original casket to ensure absolute accuracy. Caskets can be ordered to accommodate the Library-size, Tournament, Small Club and Full-Club size Jaques original and Reproduction 32 piece chess sets. A facsimile of a matching carton-pierre chessboard will be offered by mid-2022.