English Chess Forum

I was invited by the executors of the estate of Brian Gillman to assess the value of his extensive collection of chess boards and sets of pieces.

I could not quite believe my eyes when I was shown around seventy (70) very high quality sets of pieces and thirty (30) boards.

Everything was in wonderful condition, in boxes and presentation cases.

I estimated the average value of a set to be £400.

Can anyone recommend a suitable auction house (other than eBay) to sell these ?

As far as I can tell Brian Gillman played for the Revenue & Customs chess club and was based in Surbiton.

He appears to be 184522G and has not had any graded games after 1994.

Maybe he appears on older grading lists.

Can anyone shed any light on Brian ?

Thanks for your help,

John

Are they modern themed sets or historical sets? It would make a big difference.

There have been auctions of chess sets at Christie's, but really high-value historical sets:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/christie- ... ts-auction

eBay might be a good option - are you rejecting that or saying you are already aware of it?

The bulk of the sets of pieces are of Staunton pattern, triple weighted in presentation boxes / cases.

There are two top quality BCM sets I guess from the 1970s / 1980s when Brian Reilly was at the helm.

If anyone is interested in making serious offers then I will pass the contact details on.

J.

I have a collection of printed grading lists going back to the late '80s. On a quick scan through it seems it was around 1996 / 7 that grading references starting 18... began to appear. I can find no reference to a Brian Gillman. In the earlier lists there's an R Gillman, shown as "Railways: London". Around the turn of the century an Oliver Gillman starts to appear as a junior.

Reg Gillman was LCCL Railways - when I was playing for NALGO. I think he also ran some postal chess league. They were playing in near Vauxhall in those times. Maybe someone at the civil service league knows of Brian. A chess collector may know him. Good luck in finding an auctioneer.

"Maybe someone at the civil service league knows of Brian."

Inland Revenue didn't, but it now seems that was a red herring. The CS oracle had never heard of him.

John - if you are looking for an auction house to handle this, any decent provincial auction house will be able to do the job. Go to
the-saleroom.com and put chess sets in the search box. You will find a fair amount of trash but some sets that will give you an idea of price. Currently, Eastbourne Auctions have one or two nice sets for sale. A Victorian Jaques Staunton set and box might make £600-800 if in very fine condition but I'd be surprised if modern sets would average £400 however nice they are but then you have seen them and I have not. But as I say, any decent provincial auction house ...

It might also be worth contacting Luke Honey.

Richard James wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 03, 2018 12:26 am

It might also be worth contacting Luke Honey.

Now that is a good idea.

Brendan and I independently drew this to the attention of Mike Wiltshire. He has tried to register in order to reply directly but has not yet succeeded, so has asked for this to be posted.

"Luke Honey should be considered, but perhaps as a last resort as he’s really only interested in Jaques and more valuable sets. There are quite a few players/CCI members around who collect such sets and I’m willing to contact them. I’d also be willing to look at the sets just in case there is a hidden gem. Auction Houses can be used but not every set in one auction.

Mike Wiltshire
President Chess Collectors International"

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 02, 2018 2:23 pm

The bulk of the sets of pieces are of Staunton pattern, triple weighted in presentation boxes / cases.

There are two top quality BCM sets I guess from the 1970s / 1980s when Brian Reilly was at the helm.

If anyone is interested in making serious offers then I will pass the contact details on.

J.

Dominic Winter will auction quality chess sets. They are based in Cirencester.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:38 am

Can anyone shed any light on Brian ?

I suspect that Brian Gillman may have been the teenager, a leading member of the county junior team, whom I played in the Middlesex junior championships in 1961 or 1962. I had no more recent contact but, if Brian Gillman was about 73 when he died, he's probably one and the same.

Assuming Roger is correct, which I'm sure he is, there's a game and photo in a report of Paul Keres's 1962 simul tour here.

[Event "Simul - Keres 30 bds"] [Site "London"] [Date "1962.11.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Keres, Paul"] [Black "Gillman, Brian C"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C11"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "1962.11.25"] [EventType "simul"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Qb6 8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Qd2 cxd4 11. Nxd4 c5 12. Na4 Qc7 13. Nf3 Qc6 14. b3 d4 15. Bf2 Bb7 16. O-O Rd8 17. Nb2 Nb6 18. Bh4 Be7 19. Bxe7 Kxe7 20. Rae1 f6 21. f5 Bc8 22. exf6+ gxf6 23. fxe6 Rdg8 24. Nh4 Bb7 25. Rf2 Rg5 26. Qf4 Nd5 27. Nf5+ Kf8 28. Qb8+ Bc8 29. e7+ {Source: CHESS, Vol.28 No.422, 20 December 1962, p54} 1-0

Richard James wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:39 pm

Assuming Roger is correct, which I'm sure he is, there's a game and photo in a report of Paul Keres's 1962 simul tour here.

An interesting article with a remarkable amount of familiar names. Most will be familiar to all readers but one stood out for me; J Sepping who played in the York simul and who is presumably the same as the J Sepping of Ilkley. For years he has been a reluctant match player but when coaxed out of retirement his results were frequently spectacular. To the best of my knowledge he is still alive.