Austrian or Coffeehouse Chess Sets
Austrian chess Sets have the drawback that there is practically no literature on them, and hardly any information on the workshops and manufactures which turned them - and turned them out. Many of them seem to have been made as a sideline in regular turners shops, which started to disappear after the 19th century heydays of turned wood furniture. We know of certain chessmen styles - the predominant pointed top style of 19th and 20th century Austrian chessmen - and certain regions, and we can speculate on the likely influence that these Austrian chessmen had on the farflung parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire, when we see similar chessmen produced in Romania, Ukraine, Czechia and former Yugoslavia. There is only one certainty - such chessmen are not made any more in Austria, nor in Southern Germany, nor anywhere else in Europe!
Tall "Biedermeier" chessmen
Austrian chessmen of the type labeled "Biedermeier" - with or without reason - these sets certainly were in use in Austria and adjacent areas in the first half of the 19th century, possibly even before in the 18th. The distinctive piece is the slope - cut bishop with a baton in the contrast colour jutting forth! This set has dark patination, age-contorted and twisted figures, two knights obviously replacements, slight damage, but the rest is all there. Contrasting colour tops on bishops, rooks, queens and kings - the kings stand 103 mm high. |  |
King Size Biedermeier
Tall Biedermeier slope-bishop set - in polished boxwood - kings stand 125 mm high. The slopes are a wee bit different than in the older preceding set - 1820 - 1850 from Austria.
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"Biedermeier" set with disk bishops
This set is both smaller and a bit more recent - a slightly different version thanks to the bishops with rakishly set hats in contrast colours hanging from the top - Less laborious to make than in the previous example. Good boxwood, lovely mellow patina, kings stand 75 mm high. Contrast tops only on bishops and rooks. |  |
Old Vienna
Almost faultless set in Austrian or Coffeehouse style, made in hardwood (fruit?), surface polished and superbly varnished. Nicely stylized knights, bishops tops are separately inserted parts. Would date from the 1880ies - but could be of later date.
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Black and white Old Viennese
Maybe the only black and white Viennese coffeehouse set in the world - due to a lazy club member who instead of cleaning the old pieces - decided to paint them. Shoddy paint too - the knights are certainly old, one of them different, all the pawns are different - this is a mixed batch! The missing bishop is only missing in the photo - kings size 110 mm (4 1/2")! |  |
"Fat pawn" set
A very clean and tidy set with interesting knights, and two-pieces bishops with striated separate ball tops, and little felt pads! These are signs of quality - set is probably from the 20ies to 40ies - round bases - and seems not to have suffered club or coffeehouse use - it is a compact set of one cut! It is certainly from the Jacoby/Nekvasil manufacture (see essay). (see essay) king stands 105 mm |  |
Peppered set
One more club size coffeehouse set, chiefly distinguished by the superb accompanying box/board - post-war Nekvasil issue - and the fact that the varnish on the figures has bubbled, dirt has caught in the pores, leading to a "peppered" aspect. One of these days I might work on it - king stands 110 mm! |  |
"Golden" set
One of the nicest sets I own - simple harmonic forms, beautiful kings (100 mm) and queens - and a simply perfect natural varnish that has mellowed to a rich honey colour. I have no idea where it is from, who made it - and can only guess at "Jugendstil" and an age of ca. 70 years.....
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Hardwood South German
Older set in hardwood, unfelted - king stands 85 mm, with a folding box board in good quality, quite different from the normal Austrian ones. White bishops finials are painted, black bishops are left unpainted! |  |
"Snake Knights"
Interesting set with intriguing knights - which do not match - probably a mixed batch set. The white knights are end 19th century, the black ones much later. Kings at 92 mm - they also do not match! |  |
Austrian set in sheesham!
10 years ago a Vienna trader - and chess club boss - sent an Austrian set to India to copy - here is the result, in sheesham wood. Check the knights - European St. type - and the balltops on the bishops seem to have posed a problem. Lifeless feeling, perfect finish, a dead fish. One chess shop in Europe actually sells these sets - plagiarism is normal in chess piece manufacture! |  |
South German
South German chessmen - king 117 mm - in a pale wood like poplar or ash - beyond - or before - the "normal" Austrian/Viennese canon. Take note of the oval tops on the bishops (separate pieces stuck in), the elongated forms, the superb knights heads, and the queen and king tops. ca. 1860 - 1880...every knght is different, one white knight might be from a smaller set, and one black pawn definitely is. |  |
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Whittled Tyrolean Set
Strongly carved chessmen in alpine maple, problably representing figures from local history - with rooks showing the towers of the Innsbruck Palace - white king stands 122 mm. Very expressive pawns and highly stylized knights - from the 40ies to 60ies. |  |
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Plastic !
Mold-injected Viennese plastic set - the only mold ever produced - with 50 mm kings. The bishop balltop is a separate piece - this means it ws injected separately , and then had to be assembled. Paper pads - prominent jointures from the mold halves, NOT polished down. |  |
Austroid set
Delicate chess pieces, in the general Austrian/South German mold, with odd finials on the top - kings stands 78 mm - paper pads - ca. 1930 - 1950. |  |
19th C South German set
Very old South German/Austrian set, no piece alike, rich patina - king 82 mm. a much better set of the same cut can be seen here! |  |
Short South German
Small Pieces (king 64 mm), austrian form, but - the king and queen stems lack the surplus ring. two pieces knights, one pieces bishops - usually it is the other way around. Early 20th C. |  |
Nekvasil Portable
Very small home set in folding box, with the telltale marble paper inlays, king 53 mm, paper pads. |  |
Nekvasil Portable 2
Another small boxed portable set - hardly taller (king 66 mm) but more substantial, box larger.
Pegged Travel set
Pegged travel set in a wooden inlaid folding boxboard - king stands 20 mm ith peg. These plastic pieces are not mold-injected, but milled and cut from little blocks of hard resin! Sold in the Tyrol (acc. to sticker) , probably around 1960 - 1970. Rare set nowadays... |  |
