first snow on the fields
Altenburg Pastoral -
the German CCI Meeting Nov. 3 - 6 in Thuringia - by Nicholas Lanier
Rather surprisingly and on fairly short notice, the German section of CCI celebrated an "extracurricular" gathering this November - normally the german CCI meetings take place in a two year rythm, alternating with the World CCI Conference which had already rolled over in Paris this past May. The catalyst was the splendid show of iron foundry chess sets(see report), which longtime CCI President Thomas Thomsen had installed in the Playing Card Palace Museum in the former Saxonian residential town of Altenburg south of Leipzig. The callup proved to be a great success - over 80 visitors showed up, among them the president of the German Chess Federation Herbert Bastian and Grandmaster Helmut Pfleger. Not least because Thomsen and German CCI president Wolfgang Angerstein had managed to get very reasonable hotel fares, which reduced the cost of attending for most visitors. Collectors from afar were plentiful - Luanne and Tom Gallegos from Denver, Colorado, CCI President Mike Wiltshire from England, N. Lanier from Portugal, and several visitors from Switzerland - Gero Jung, Alex & Natalya Günsberg, the director of the Swiss Games Museum Ulrich Schädler - and from Holland like Joost van den Reeij, Hans Overgoor and Bob van der Velde. France was represented by Patrice & Annie Plain , and Michelle & Jaques Lamy, in contrast the Italian CCI members - took a rain check! Interesting to note that a large number of KWABC chess book collectors attended - the two organizations are more and more converging on a similar path....- as well as several members of the Chess Motives Group, namely Wolfgang Pähtz and Frank Held.
Ouverture
On Friday evening, the large and lively crowd assembled in the Park Hotel bar for drinks and a relaxed dinner. A time for renewing old acquaintance, and even showing some rather abused chess sets, and books. After dinner every body was in for a surprise: Alex Günsberg , an Austrian living in Switzerland lugged a portable loudspeaker to the front, sat down and read from his self-published stories - some on chess, some on the Jewish experience in Europe - and then signed and sold a largish stack of these books. This is literature in the making, ladies and gentlemen, and very competently done...the evening ended early, because the next day everybody had to traipse across the town, ascend the steep, winding cobblestone lane to the castle and assemble in the sumptuous wood-paneled, and comfortably heated Bach-Hall of the Altenburg castle.
On Friday evening, the large and lively crowd assembled in the Park Hotel bar for drinks and a relaxed dinner. A time for renewing old acquaintance, and even showing some rather abused chess sets, and books. After dinner every body was in for a surprise: Alex Günsberg , an Austrian living in Switzerland lugged a portable loudspeaker to the front, sat down and read from his self-published stories - some on chess, some on the Jewish experience in Europe - and then signed and sold a largish stack of these books. This is literature in the making, ladies and gentlemen, and very competently done...the evening ended early, because the next day everybody had to traipse across the town, ascend the steep, winding cobblestone lane to the castle and assemble in the sumptuous wood-paneled, and comfortably heated Bach-Hall of the Altenburg castle.
Con fuoco
At 9 o'clock local time everybody was set for the "working part" of the conference - for veteran members there is a certain scenario to these meetings - the lectures. After the welcoming words by longtime CCI president Thomas Thomsen and CCI Germany president Wolfgang Angerstein, Museum director Uta Künzl welcomed the visitors, and gave a brief speech on the history of the castle-palace and the Museum - the reason being the nearby card producing company, and the fact that Altenburg is the place where the game of skat - highly popular in Germany - was invented. Ulrich Schädler, reputed games specialist and perennial director of the Swiss Games Museum near Lausanne, gave a highly interesting talk about games as a vehicle of cultural exchange - many of today's most popular games like backgammon, parcheesi and chess originate in Asia - and gamesmanship is a s good a passport in foreign lands as any other one. Thomas Thomsen delved into his immense collection to present the typical features of prisoner of war chess sets - most of them where whittled from stolen pieces of wood, with pocket or kitchen knives - some where made in bread, fe. in Nazi prisons and concentration camps - but these rarely have survived till today. Jens-Frieder Mükke showed an extraordinary chess set made by german soldiers from rifle cartridge cases and out-of-circulation coins in the trenches of the Western front- such sets tell a story, and Jens-Frieder did a bit of sleuthing to get the details of the calibres, the coinage etc. The former co-director of the Nuremberg Toy Museum, Marion Faber, presented a short resume of her very interesting longtime project involving pattern books - here Mrs. Faber presented models for chess sets form a dozen of pattern books, catalogues and advertisements from various 18th and 19th century toy distributors from the Erzgebirge area and from Nuremberg. These books were used by wandering salesmen, others were sales brochures destined for major buyers, and a third group was meant for trade fairs and markets. After a coffee break - the hospitable Museum staff had managed to put up a very cosy coffee and cake bar - Nicholas Lanier proffered a lengthy discourse on the production of chess sets in the Jura mountains of France - in contrast with the report published in June this time Lanier concentrated on the older background of chess production in the 18th and 19th century. Mario Ziegler, editor of the recently published magazine on chess history an culture "Caissa" , elaborated on the british chess master Elijah Williams, who beat Howard Staunton at the London 1851 chess tournament, and thereafter was constantly vilified and harrassed by Staunton in books and articles. Ziegler became interested in Williams in researching his critical edition of the London 1851 tournament - which he has published n his own Edition Chaturanga. (in German)
At 9 o'clock local time everybody was set for the "working part" of the conference - for veteran members there is a certain scenario to these meetings - the lectures. After the welcoming words by longtime CCI president Thomas Thomsen and CCI Germany president Wolfgang Angerstein, Museum director Uta Künzl welcomed the visitors, and gave a brief speech on the history of the castle-palace and the Museum - the reason being the nearby card producing company, and the fact that Altenburg is the place where the game of skat - highly popular in Germany - was invented. Ulrich Schädler, reputed games specialist and perennial director of the Swiss Games Museum near Lausanne, gave a highly interesting talk about games as a vehicle of cultural exchange - many of today's most popular games like backgammon, parcheesi and chess originate in Asia - and gamesmanship is a s good a passport in foreign lands as any other one. Thomas Thomsen delved into his immense collection to present the typical features of prisoner of war chess sets - most of them where whittled from stolen pieces of wood, with pocket or kitchen knives - some where made in bread, fe. in Nazi prisons and concentration camps - but these rarely have survived till today. Jens-Frieder Mükke showed an extraordinary chess set made by german soldiers from rifle cartridge cases and out-of-circulation coins in the trenches of the Western front- such sets tell a story, and Jens-Frieder did a bit of sleuthing to get the details of the calibres, the coinage etc. The former co-director of the Nuremberg Toy Museum, Marion Faber, presented a short resume of her very interesting longtime project involving pattern books - here Mrs. Faber presented models for chess sets form a dozen of pattern books, catalogues and advertisements from various 18th and 19th century toy distributors from the Erzgebirge area and from Nuremberg. These books were used by wandering salesmen, others were sales brochures destined for major buyers, and a third group was meant for trade fairs and markets. After a coffee break - the hospitable Museum staff had managed to put up a very cosy coffee and cake bar - Nicholas Lanier proffered a lengthy discourse on the production of chess sets in the Jura mountains of France - in contrast with the report published in June this time Lanier concentrated on the older background of chess production in the 18th and 19th century. Mario Ziegler, editor of the recently published magazine on chess history an culture "Caissa" , elaborated on the british chess master Elijah Williams, who beat Howard Staunton at the London 1851 chess tournament, and thereafter was constantly vilified and harrassed by Staunton in books and articles. Ziegler became interested in Williams in researching his critical edition of the London 1851 tournament - which he has published n his own Edition Chaturanga. (in German)
Crescendo
For lunch, the collectors had to brave a major downpour and skip down the palace ramp and up a hill to a very comfy Italian restaurant named "Brunello" - the less nimble ones ahd to be ferried over in complicated manoeuvres owing to the one way traffic organisation in Altenburg. At the end, we all had a a cosy and excellent lunch - but had to get out into the wet once more to reach the safe have of the place Museum. Here the major part of the group ascended the winding staircases to the third floor to visit the special exhibit on cast-iron chess sets which Thomas Thomsen had installed there next to the former ducal living quarters. Following that, the whole troupe caracoled downstairs to the warm and accomodating Bach-Hall, where a record number of exhibitors already were busily setting up their stands. Foremost of course the Egerts with their unending funds of medium valued chess sets, but also Bernhard Schmid, son of Grandmaster and collector prince Lothar Schmid, with a huge display of vintage chess sets left by his father. Books abounded - more of Günsberg's story collections, the books of Karl Klittich from the well known chess antiquarians, and of Mario Ziegler, who edits chess books. Plus a bevy of catalogue, stamps, chess clocks, chess sets, single pieces - even Moscow ivory carver Oleg Raikis made an appearance to present some beautifully carved mammoth ivory sets. After two hours of busy markets activity, things quieted down and came to an end - because the besotted collectors had to gallop across town to dress up for the grand dinner in the town hall restaurant.
For lunch, the collectors had to brave a major downpour and skip down the palace ramp and up a hill to a very comfy Italian restaurant named "Brunello" - the less nimble ones ahd to be ferried over in complicated manoeuvres owing to the one way traffic organisation in Altenburg. At the end, we all had a a cosy and excellent lunch - but had to get out into the wet once more to reach the safe have of the place Museum. Here the major part of the group ascended the winding staircases to the third floor to visit the special exhibit on cast-iron chess sets which Thomas Thomsen had installed there next to the former ducal living quarters. Following that, the whole troupe caracoled downstairs to the warm and accomodating Bach-Hall, where a record number of exhibitors already were busily setting up their stands. Foremost of course the Egerts with their unending funds of medium valued chess sets, but also Bernhard Schmid, son of Grandmaster and collector prince Lothar Schmid, with a huge display of vintage chess sets left by his father. Books abounded - more of Günsberg's story collections, the books of Karl Klittich from the well known chess antiquarians, and of Mario Ziegler, who edits chess books. Plus a bevy of catalogue, stamps, chess clocks, chess sets, single pieces - even Moscow ivory carver Oleg Raikis made an appearance to present some beautifully carved mammoth ivory sets. After two hours of busy markets activity, things quieted down and came to an end - because the besotted collectors had to gallop across town to dress up for the grand dinner in the town hall restaurant.
Allegro Fortissimo
The dinner in the town hall restaurant turned out to be a fairly lavish affair - the waiters in the best spirit of Christianity proved to be generous in pouring wine, but very stingy in doling out water...after dinner historian Michael Negele regaled the audience with a n improvised talk about "Richard the Fifth" - not a so far unknown Shakespeare figure, but the Berlin Grand Master Richard Teichmann, who usually coasted in in the 5. place at major tournaments, thanks to an inspired lack of ambition and a penchant for good living - just inside the prize range, but with a minimum of effort! Only once did the one-eyed giant live up to his reputation - in Carlsbad 1911, where he won outright, ahead of Rubinstein and Schlechter.
The dinner in the town hall restaurant turned out to be a fairly lavish affair - the waiters in the best spirit of Christianity proved to be generous in pouring wine, but very stingy in doling out water...after dinner historian Michael Negele regaled the audience with a n improvised talk about "Richard the Fifth" - not a so far unknown Shakespeare figure, but the Berlin Grand Master Richard Teichmann, who usually coasted in in the 5. place at major tournaments, thanks to an inspired lack of ambition and a penchant for good living - just inside the prize range, but with a minimum of effort! Only once did the one-eyed giant live up to his reputation - in Carlsbad 1911, where he won outright, ahead of Rubinstein and Schlechter.
Andante sostenuto
On Sunday morning fine weather enabled the group to enjoy a guided toru of town, ending in teh Palace Museum again, for a visit to the rest of the card Museum, and a much -awaited peek into the Palace church, which is closed normally. A gothic church with lavishly restored baroque interiors, where Johann Sebastian Bach himself used to improvise, and where his pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs was offical organist for over 30 years. Uta Künzl made a short introduction to the history of the temple, and of the organ, which only was returned to its former baroque splendour through the efforts of one man - the church organist, also music professor at the Leipzig conservatory, and who proceeded to demonstrate to us the rich volume of the organ by playing a Telemann piece, a Vivaldi snippet, and the marvellous Bach toccata. A superb ending indeed to the weekend - after this treat the collectors dispersed - some had a long way home ahead - and the last nucleus found itself back at the town hall restaurant, because on a Sunday in Altenburg - many restaurants are closed, and the open ones are overflowing with clients. We managed to snaffle a table, and had a great time of it, rehashing and savouring the conversations, plots and ramblings about of the last two days.
On Sunday morning fine weather enabled the group to enjoy a guided toru of town, ending in teh Palace Museum again, for a visit to the rest of the card Museum, and a much -awaited peek into the Palace church, which is closed normally. A gothic church with lavishly restored baroque interiors, where Johann Sebastian Bach himself used to improvise, and where his pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs was offical organist for over 30 years. Uta Künzl made a short introduction to the history of the temple, and of the organ, which only was returned to its former baroque splendour through the efforts of one man - the church organist, also music professor at the Leipzig conservatory, and who proceeded to demonstrate to us the rich volume of the organ by playing a Telemann piece, a Vivaldi snippet, and the marvellous Bach toccata. A superb ending indeed to the weekend - after this treat the collectors dispersed - some had a long way home ahead - and the last nucleus found itself back at the town hall restaurant, because on a Sunday in Altenburg - many restaurants are closed, and the open ones are overflowing with clients. We managed to snaffle a table, and had a great time of it, rehashing and savouring the conversations, plots and ramblings about of the last two days.
Basso continuo
Comparing the enthusiastic congregation of German and other European collectors - only the Italians were missing - with the very weak showing in Paris, one might readily conclude that the weight of CCI has imperceptibly shifted from the USA to Europe. Also, the composition of the crowd has changed quite a lot - and not only because of the growing inclusion of the book collecting crowd organized in the Ken Whyld Association, but also because of the people from adjacent walks of live, like games historians, academic and Museum personalities. Without doubt, the fairly economic overall package involved in this very diverting weekend in Altenburg helped to generate this heavy turnout. Possibly CCI - at least in Germany - is slowly diverting into a direction with a more popular and less elitist appeal ?
It is too early to draw conclusions - the working group assembled in Altenburg around founding member Franz Josef Lang to address the general crisis in CCI affairs also has not come to any definite conclusions so far. But we do see that an organization established in 1984 in Florida by several influential American collectors is fading away outre-Atlantic, and still shows remarkable vitality in Germany. At the Altenburg meeting, the new CCI Germany website was officially presented, and joins the existing sites of CCI Italy, CCI France and of the CCI magazine website. What we do not see is a dedicated site of the british collectors - formerly so influential,in the times of Keats, Williams and Michael Mark nor one for of the US collectors, with the memory of David Hafler, John Harbeson and Gustavus Pfeiffer in the background. All this seems to indicate that in times of severe economic stringencies, the ivory ban prevailing in the US, and the older generation leaving the scene, a transatlantic split is developing in the collectors group created by George Dean which is quite evident - and serious. And still, the principal problems remains as pressing as ever - how to interest the younger generations in the culture, history and background of chess and its manifestations, how to stop the membership hemorrage in CCI ? And how to draw in those many, many collectors who are not organized in any way, or have an aversion to CCI?
The next German meeting will most likely take place in autumn 2017 - it will be, as the two last ones, be held in a small provincial town, with severely controlled costs, and easy access for the punters. As for the next CCI World Meeting, only God knows whether, where, when - and why - it will be held....
(C) Nicholas Lanier 2016
Comparing the enthusiastic congregation of German and other European collectors - only the Italians were missing - with the very weak showing in Paris, one might readily conclude that the weight of CCI has imperceptibly shifted from the USA to Europe. Also, the composition of the crowd has changed quite a lot - and not only because of the growing inclusion of the book collecting crowd organized in the Ken Whyld Association, but also because of the people from adjacent walks of live, like games historians, academic and Museum personalities. Without doubt, the fairly economic overall package involved in this very diverting weekend in Altenburg helped to generate this heavy turnout. Possibly CCI - at least in Germany - is slowly diverting into a direction with a more popular and less elitist appeal ?
It is too early to draw conclusions - the working group assembled in Altenburg around founding member Franz Josef Lang to address the general crisis in CCI affairs also has not come to any definite conclusions so far. But we do see that an organization established in 1984 in Florida by several influential American collectors is fading away outre-Atlantic, and still shows remarkable vitality in Germany. At the Altenburg meeting, the new CCI Germany website was officially presented, and joins the existing sites of CCI Italy, CCI France and of the CCI magazine website. What we do not see is a dedicated site of the british collectors - formerly so influential,in the times of Keats, Williams and Michael Mark nor one for of the US collectors, with the memory of David Hafler, John Harbeson and Gustavus Pfeiffer in the background. All this seems to indicate that in times of severe economic stringencies, the ivory ban prevailing in the US, and the older generation leaving the scene, a transatlantic split is developing in the collectors group created by George Dean which is quite evident - and serious. And still, the principal problems remains as pressing as ever - how to interest the younger generations in the culture, history and background of chess and its manifestations, how to stop the membership hemorrage in CCI ? And how to draw in those many, many collectors who are not organized in any way, or have an aversion to CCI?
The next German meeting will most likely take place in autumn 2017 - it will be, as the two last ones, be held in a small provincial town, with severely controlled costs, and easy access for the punters. As for the next CCI World Meeting, only God knows whether, where, when - and why - it will be held....
(C) Nicholas Lanier 2016
