A chess piece from Lewis Island, which "possesses tremendous character and strength"

When this chess piece was found in the old chest, its owners could not even imagine how much it would be appreciated at the auction. And the amount was not small - $ 1 million.

The grandfather of the family bought antiques. He acquired a chess piece for only 5 pounds in 1964. He had no idea about the value of a figure made of bone. He handed it over to the custody of the family.

Relatives took care of her for 55 years before passing to an assessment by experts at Sotheby's auction house in London. They found that the figure is part of a set of chess from the island of Lewis and was cut about in the XII century.

Chess Island Lewis - a set of 78 chess pieces, made in the middle ages. The material for most of them served as a walrus tusk, while the rest are made of whale tooth. The figures, along with 14 checkers for the backgammon type game and belt buckle, were discovered in 1831 on the Scottish island of Lewis.

Currently, 11 chess pieces are in the National Museum of Scotland, the remaining 82 items (including checkers and buckle) are in the British Museum.

Chess pieces from this island became the prototype of the magic party figures in the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by British writer JK Rowling.

The figure found is a warder, a man with a helmet, a shield and a sword and the equivalent of a rook on a modern chessboard that “possesses tremendous character and strength”.