Media artist, Alexander Gelman, in collaboration with traditional Japanese artisans has designed an exquisite limited edition series of master chess sets.

The sleek and stunning sets are made of lacquer, silver plating and gold leaf — there are only 5 in the world, each is unique and priced up to $55,000.

Gelman and the artisans took up to 10 months to produce each piece by hand, using century old techniques.

Inspired by the Lewis Carroll’s novel ‘Alice through the Looking Glass,’ designer Yasmin Sethi developed a chess set that features pieces that “magically turn transparent” when they touch the board.

(In ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ by Lewis Carroll, Alice falls through a mirror and on the other side of the mirror, she becomes a piece in a game of chess.)

The pieces of this chess set are each contained in a cylinder that turns opaque when they’re removed from the board hiding the identity of the piece.

However, when you put them back down in one of the squares, the pieces turn transparent again and reveal their true identity.

Goldstriker is here with the Diamond Edition Chess fit for the richest players on earth. To make the black and white squares Goldstriker has used black and white diamonds.

The set including the pieces uses a total of 1,168 grams of 14K gold and 187 grams of silver along with a staggering 9,900 precious stones.

The black and white diamonds have a total weight of 186.98 carats. So if you want to indulge in a game of chess at your beachfront villa then the Goldstriker Diamond Edition Chess set is all yours for $ 100,000. Via luxurylaunches

The Mammoth Ivory Collector Series Signature Chess Set from the House of Staunton is crafted from 40,000-year old Wooly Mammoth Ivory and reproduced on the lines of the original Staunton pattern Chess set, registered by Nathaniel Cook and produced by Jaques of London in 1849.

The full Club-sized Chess set features a 4.4″ King with a 2.0″ diameter base.

While the white army retains the original ivory, the black army is stained black. The aesthetically handcrafted chess set comes packaged with a personalized Certificate of Authenticity and complementary English Leather base pads that can be affixed to the underside of the both armies if so desired.

The exquisite chess set can be all yours for $9,999.. And to think of all the history there is in each piece… Via Bornrich