Vintage chess set given to Lee Harvey Oswald by his mother after the family had moved to New Orleans in 1954, consisting of 14 white plastic pieces—one king, one queen, one bishop, two rooks, two knights, and seven pawns—and 14 red plastic pieces—one king, one queen, one knight, two bishops, two rooks, and seven pawns. Housed in the original burgundy leather box, 6.75 x 2.25 x 4, with an embossed gold image of a knight piece on the lid. In very good to fine condition, with moderate wear to the box and lid (which is detached but present); the chessmen themselves are in fine condition. When Marguerite Oswald was summoned to testify before the President's Commission on the assassination of President Kennedy on February 12, 1964, a portion of her testimony related to the various childhood hobbies of her son: "Lee played Monopoly. Lee played chess. Lee had a stamp collection, and even wrote to other young men and exchanged stamps, sir. And Lee read history books, books too deep for a child his age."
