Grace Mary Chess Robinson founded the Mary Chess Company in 1932.  She worked out of her New York City home and also had a shop in the Mayfair District in London. Her desire to start her own perfume company was based on her dissatisfactoin with an eau de toilette she had bought.

She started out making lotions and creams, then moved into perfumery.  Using natural ingredients from her own garden only, she built a small perfume empire.  Alleged to be a supplier of perfume to the Queen Mother, she had her perfumes placed in botltes made to look like chess pieces.