The pictures below are of pieces produced at the Tula arms factory in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The box and chessmen, now in the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, were made by Andreyan Sukhanov in 1782. Forty four pieces have survived.
The steel surface of these superbly designed chess pieces are decorated with gold and silver inlays and diamond cut 'heads'.
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With thanks to Janos Szabolcsi.