<Regarding that chess set... this is all the info I have about it right now. This is what my mum said to an interested person... "I'm not really sure what they are made of, at a guess I'd say resin,
>it's not wood for sure.
>I don't think it's plaster of paris or anything like that, I think they are
>too light for that."

This person replied with (and I hope its OK to copy this!)
"I think what you have here is very unusual. If you look at the pawns (the
little ones - 8 of each colour) they are a different shape. My guess is that
if you compare the other pieces, (knights, bishops, rooks) and look at them
closely, they too will have differences. The Kings may even be vastly (but
subtly) different. The significance of this is that it shows that EACH piece
came from a different mould. Usually all the pieces come from a common mould
- one for all the pawns, one for all the rooks, one for all the bishops etc.
So you can see the original cost of this set would have been quite high.
Yes, they are likely to be made of resin.

They are a replica of a collectioon of chess men found on the beach at Uig
in the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides in 1831. They are called the
Lewis Chess Men and are held in the British Museum. In fact they are one of
the top 10 treasures in the Museum as voted by the curators last year.
(Number 6 I think). The originals date from the 12th Century and are hand
carved from walrus tusks."