Hands and Heads Not from Wood

For this edition of Top eBay Chess Items by Price, I could have continued with Fischer Memorabilia. A signed scoresheet Fischer vs. Porat (Porath) from the 1968 Nethanya tournament in Israel received 37 bids from nine bidders, finally selling for US $905.

Why didn't I feature it? The scoresheet appears to have been a carbon copy, where the original was in German algebraic notation from Porat's hand. The auction writeup claimed that it was from the 'CHESS OLYMPIC TURNIR' (it wasn't even an Olympiad) and that it was 'EXTERIMLY RARE' (which is entirely subjective). Maybe it received so many bids because Porat misspelled Fischer's name ('Fisher') on the scoresheet's header.

Instead I chose the item pictured below. Its title was 'Antique Vienna Judaica Chryselephantine Carved Wood Jewish Figures Chess Players' and it sold for US $3795 in an unspecified manner, perhaps Buy-It-Now.

The description said,

Antique and more than probably unique carved wood figures depicting Jewish "Chess Players" (Schachspieler) made after a work of the 19th century famous Jewish artist Isidor Kaufmann. This set is from an absolute HIGH quality and absolute in very good condition as depicted. Look at the pictures, these will tell much more than my description. Engraved that this is made after the famous Jewish artist "Isidor Kaufmann" and there is also an engraved title in Hebrew. The persons are each about 3 ½" (9,5cm) tall. An absolute must for collectors of Judaic or antique carved wood pieces from an absolute very high quality. The hands and heads are not from wood.

In a previous post, Isidor Kaufmann, I featured another work of chess art by the mentioned artist.