Description
Vintage Wooden Chessmen By Milton Bradley, No. 4715.
Offered here is a set of Vintage Wooden Chessmen by Milton Bradley No. 4715 in its original box. The chess pieces are unweighted and unfelted. Instructions are printed on the inside of the lid. The set does not come with a chessboard, unsure if it ever came with one. The pieces are wood. The kings stand 2.4″ tall with a 0.6″ diameter base. The display box shows some minor wear on the corners and have come undone. The pieces re as new.
These vintage chess sets were produced around 1940. The Chessmen are black and natural lacquered. The unusual feature of the old Milton Bradley Chess set is the unique Knight. Interestingly, this is exactly the same Knight carving found on the earlier C. H. Bird sets.
Background.
Milton Bradley found success making board games. In 1860, Milton Bradley moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, and set up the state’s first color lithography shop. His first endeavor in the games market was The Checkered Game of Life. By spring of 1861, over 45,000 copies of The Checkered Game of Life had been sold. Bradley became convinced board games were his company’s future.
When the American Civil War broke out in early 1861, Bradley began producing small games which the soldiers could play during their down time. These are regarded as the first travel games in the country. These games included chess, checkers, backgammon, dominoes, and “The Checkered Game of Life.” They were sold for one dollar a piece to soldiers and charitable organizations, which bought them in bulk to distribute. By the 1870s, the company was producing dozens of games. Milton Bradley became the first manufacturer in America to make croquet sets. In 1880, the company began making jigsaw puzzles.
When Milton Bradley died in 1911, the company was passed to Robert Ellis, who passed it to Bradley’s son-in-law Robert Ingersoll, who eventually passed it to George Tapley’s son, William. In 1920, Bradley bought out McLoughlin Brothers, which went out of business after John McLoughlin’s death.
In 1984, Hasbro bought out Milton Bradley ending 124 years of family ownership.] The In 1991, Hasbro acquired Milton Bradley’s former arch-rival Parker Brothers. In 1998, Milton Bradley was merged with Parker Brothers to form Hasbro Games. After the consolidation, Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers turned into brands of Hasbro before being dropped in 2009 in favor of the parent company’s name, since adjusted to Hasbro Gaming.
