GRANDPA’S CHESS PIECE THAT WAS LOCKED IN FOR MORE THAN A DECADE CHANGES THE FAMILY’S LIFE FOREVER
“In the end, the family is all that matters.”
People use this saying way too often and they are totally correct. The story that follows is about a grandson and his bond with his grandfather. Grandfathers are one of the few family members you can walk up to and tell him everything and they’ll provide you with the best possible solutions.
But in this story, the grandfather was proving out to be really helpful to his grandson and the biggest twist is that the greatest help that the grandson received from his grandfather was almost a decade after the grandpa’s demise.
Grand-Parents
Grandpas are known for being one of the coolest members of the family. The stories that they narrate which are filled with lots of learnings and teachings and their way of making it sound fun is what is left under-appreciated.
Grandson
A grandson was sad at the demise of his grandfather and fought his family to keep his belongings with him and not sell it to some antique shop or even scrap it all away. But little did his family know that this obsession of a kid with his grandfather’s belongings would turn out to be a great decision.
A Great Bond
The kiddo shared a great bond with his grandpa and for him, his grandpa was one of the strongest pillars in his life. Whenever he was sad or angry or filled with any kind of feeling that he was unable to express he would find solace in his grandfather.
Greatest Moments
The kid reminisces that he shared most of the greatest moments of his childhood with his grandfather. He remembers that his grandpa was one of his family members who always supported him in every decision of his life.
Memories
A decade after his grandfather passes away, the kid and his family were shifting to a new home when he decided that it was time that he let go of his feeling and his emotions and finally make peace with whatever had happened.
Grandfather’s Belongings
It is at that point in time, the family decided that it was in everyone’s interest to take all the things out and discard them all. But the kid who was now an adult was not ready about the fact that the belongings of his grandfather were all going to be scrapped away.
Family Heirloom
When the guy was not ready to get rid of the things, the family decided that it will take the heirloom to the most famous auction house in the world and try to assess its value. Everyone in the family had almost zero expectations about the value of the heirloom.
Zero Expectation
Even though nobody expected that the heirloom would yield any monetary benefit, this was the only solution to which consensus in the family could be obtained.
Auction Store
The family reached the auction store with zero expectations about the heirloom’s worth, but they had no idea about how the next events were to be unfolded. They showed the heirloom to the person at the store and his reaction suddenly changed about the heirloom.
A Chess Piece
The family’s expectations suddenly took a U-turn when they saw a guy who was assessing a chess piece. Suddenly the ones who thought that they were in it for no money and just for the guy’s satisfaction were excited about what might be its worth.
Assessing
The first time the family members saw the person who was assessing the piece of chess thought that it might not be something of great importance or even something worthy. But with every passing moment, everyone grew more and more interested in it.
What’s It?
The people who were opposing the fact that the heirlooms should be preserved were now waiting to know what was so precious about a piece of chess? And that too a single piece of chess and not the whole chess set.
What’s It Worth?
The not so usual looking piece was one of the things in the grandfather’s heirlooms and according to the family, even the grandpa did not have any idea of what was the piece’s worth. And he treated it as a usual chess piece.
Storage
“It was stored away in his home and then when my grandfather died my mother inherited the chess piece,” a family spokesperson said in a statement. And when the family was taking the grandpa’s belonging to the store, no one thought that it was worth taking to an auction store but everyone had to give up against the arguments of the grandson.
A Chat In Private
When the person who was appraising the piece of chess was finally done with the procedure, he keenly looked towards the family who was waiting for the result. He then asked the family to come inside in private as he wanted to discuss something with them.
Everything Else
At this point in time, the family forgot about everything else that was in the heirlooms of the grandpa. they were only interested in what was the worth of the chess piece. But no one had any idea what was going to happen next.
Tension All-Around
The auction store official told them all to wait in the room for some time while he gets his superiors to talk. When this all started happening everyone in the family was in shock. They did not know what was happening or even what that piece of chess was.
What’s Happening?
When the superiors arrived in front of the family, they wanted to know about what was happening?
The official calmed the family telling them that there was nothing to worry about and told then that he had a few questions for them.
Panicking
The questions part was where everyone in the family started panicking. The official asked the family about where did they find that piece of chess. Although, the family was worried about what was happening they did not know that this situation was going to turn into a great one for them.
The Family’s Story
The family told the official everything they guys knew about the piece of chess and how it had been locked in the drawer for more than a decade and how did they inherit it. They even told them about how they were thinking of not even bringing the chess piece to the store.
Surprised
The officials informed the family that there was nothing to worry about instead they were in it for a lot of money. The officials told them they were about to become ‘millionaires’. The family could not believe their ears.
A Rare Piece
The officials informed them that the chess piece they were carrying was no ordinary chess piece, in fact, it was one of the rare pieces of a chess set that had been missing for 200 years and was valued in millions.
What’s So Special?
The family started to feel glad that the grandson forced them all to bring the heirlooms to an auction store and did not let anyone throw it all out. Now the question that arose was, “What is so special about a 200-year-old missing piece of chess?”
Historical Significance
The auction store owner told the family that the piece might not look extraordinary at first but the piece had great historical significance. He stated that the piece of chess had an immense history and it represents the European civilization.
Searching For Answers
The family now wanted to know how did an antique and rare piece of chess ended up with their grandpa.
They started to find out for answers but in many trials, they reached a dead-end and were not able to decipher anything about how the grandpa had acquired that.
The Journal
Then at a point in time when everybody was ready to give up on finding out the acquisition part of that piece, a family member ended up with Grandpa’s journal. And the journal told them some intriguing facts about that piece.
The Antique Sales Shop
The journal revealed that the piece of chess was acquired by the grandpa back in the year 1964. But what left everyone in awe was the amount for which he acquired that piece. The piece was acquired by grandpa from an antique sales shop for just 5 pounds!
Five Pounds
Nobody could believe that a piece of chess which is worth millions today was acquired in just 5 pounds. The English Historian Museum has been looking for this piece for a very long time and it is valued by the museum very highly.
History
The most significant feature of this piece is that it belongs to the oldest chess set in the world. This may be a little hard to believe but according to the historians, the proofs they have points out to the only fact that this is the oldest chess set.
Lewis Chessmen
The chess set goes by the name Lewis Chessmen and when the family was told that they had a piece that belonged to the oldest chess set in the world. The Lewis Chessmen set holds great historical value as per the historians.
Inheritance
The grandson recalls that “My mother was very fond of the chessmen as she admired its intricacy and quirkiness. She believed that it was special and thought perhaps it could even have had some magical significance.”
The Drawer
“For many years it resided in a drawer in her home where it had been carefully wrapped in a small bag. From time to time, she would remove the chess piece from the drawer in order to appreciate its uniqueness.” added the grandad’s daughter.
Anonymity
The family wanted to remain anonymous because they never wanted their relatives to know that they had suddenly turned millionaires overnight. The family did not want to share the amount with any of the relatives.
Oldest Chess Set
The world’s oldest chess set was discovered back in 1831 and every historian wanted to get their hands on this set. When it was discovered, many of the pieces were missing from the set. And with its discovery started a quest to search all the pieces around the globe.
Priceless
Archaeologists around the globe started to search for the remaining pieces of the set to complete it. According to historians and the archaeologists, the value of the total set of chess is touted to be priceless and even the single pieces of chess are worth millions.
10 Missing Pieces
There were a total of 93 pieces in the Lewis Chessmen set out of which 11 were still missing but with the discovery of the latest piece that reduces the count of missing pieces to 10. That means that there are a total of 82 pieces that are with the museum.
U-Turn
The family on knowing the importance of the chess piece was left dumbstruck. Within a span of 5 hours their life had taken a total U-turn. There was a time when they did not think of bringing the piece to the store and now they were really glad that they did.
Left In Awe
When the family was told that the single piece of the chess set that they brought would be sold for more than a million-dollar pounds, they did not know how to react. They thought of trying and learning more about that chess piece.
Couldn’t Believe
No one in the family could believe what the auction store had told them about the value of the piece of chess. But when they found out more about the chess set they were left surprised more than they already were. The chess set had a mythological value too.
Totally Different
The chess pieces did not seem anything like the chess pieces we see today. There is a theory that the chess set has a Norse History. The pieces do not look like any normal pawn or a knight in fact they look like army personnel who are thirsty for war.
Fate
It turns out that fate played a crucial role in the whole story. Think about it, a piece of chess that was worth more than a million was locked in a drawer and that too for more than a decade. And the greatest thing was that no one threw it thinking that it was some kind of waste.
Evolution
One of the reasons apart from the fact that the Lewis Chessmen is the oldest chess set ever that it was considered quite important was the fact that it showed the evolution of the people’s mind from the medieval ages to now.
An Army
The pieces of chess show the mindset of the people from medieval times and the pieces look like they were a force made to fight the foes. The people from that era were putting in a lot of effort and coming up with strategies and ways to defeat their opponents in war.
Rare Material
Apart from the aforementioned factors, the thing that makes that chess set unique is the material that is used in making the chess pieces. It is made from a quite rare material. According to the experts, the pieces are carved in walrus ivory.
Five Artisans
The material and its carving are not where the historians stopped. They came up with a story that no one knows whether is true or not. They say that the Lewis Chessmen set took not one, not two but five artisans to carve it.
Complex Design
The historians support their theory that five artisans worked on it by stating the fact that the pieces are so complex in design and it would have not been possible for a single artisan to carry everything out alone and he might have taken the help of other artisans too.
Norse Mythology
The chess set was known to be inspired by Norse mythology and its traditions. And that is the sole reason why there are four rocks that are totally different and more special than any other piece. They are called the berzerks!
Pay Heed
If one thing that is clear after this entire incident is that you should take a good look at your family heirlooms. The sale of the antique chess piece is going to let the family buy whatever they always wanted to and even more.
Super Lucky
And I don’t know about any of you but I am going to look all that is in my family heirlooms with a hope that one day I might turn super lucky and my family heirlooms might turn out to be a treasure that is missing since long.
Happy Ending
We are all glad to know that the story ended having a happy ending. One thing is for sure after this case that even after the grandpa has passed, the family members would now appreciate him more than they ever did.
No comments: