flea market finds: checkmate!

dubbed as the "King's Game", chess was part of the noble culture during the Middle Ages and was used to teach war strategy.  in pre-modern times, however, chess was viewed as a means of self-improvement. and today chess is taught in schools all over the world!

i don't know how to play chess  (my dad taught me this game when i was a little girl and just like playing the guitar i promptly forgot about the rudiments of it!)  but the mister is a fan and we have been looking for a good,  reasonably priced set for a long time now.  this old marble chess set was buried under a pile of bric-a-bracs in my favorite shop.  just looking at the stained green box in the picture below can tell you that this set has been stored for a while and has been long forgotten by someone who once owned it.

all the pieces are in pristine order. no chips, no cracks.  and since marble is porous therefore easily stained, this set is clean and clear.  it doesn't have a mark or a name anywhere but there are two handwritten words in the front of the box that says "siyah beyaz", written in blue ink.   after some research, i found out that (1) they are Turkish for "black and white" and that (2) some of the best and most expensive marble chess sets are from Turkey.  if any one can tell me more information about them, it would certainly be appreciated :)

my next find is a wooden blocks game.  i love pieces like this because they can keep me entertained for hours!  (someday though,  i am hoping our children will appreciate and love pieces like these too)  so basically, you arrange the blocks in a way that the colors in their dots match the next blocks'.  it might seem simple at first but boy! did i ever spend one whole afternoon trying to arrange them in the way they should be!  it was hard!

this next find is unexpected and wonderful at the same time because in crafting blogs all over the internet,  i have seen a lot of things that you can do with musical sheets.  so of course, i was constantly on the lookout for one.  but i wasn't expecting for it to be of The Mikado!

i don't know much of The Mikado, except that its a comic opera (with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W.S. Gilbert).  apparently, it opened on March 14, 1885 in London and it was actually a pointed satire to British politics and institutions at that time.  oh well, decoupage anyone?

i can't explain why i bought this last piece. it caught my eye because of its jewel-toned color and damask design and maybe the picture of the pretty lady.  it is a simple picture frame but somehow i am drawn to it. right now, it is sitting in my bedside table and just as i was writing this line, it occured to me that my grandma's picture would be perfect for it!

once again, my finds, my treasures will always find a way into my life for a reason :)  i don't know what they are yet but i got a feeling, they help make me who i am now and who i will be in the future :)

*linking to Thrift Share Monday @ Apron Thrift Girl :)