in the Museum catacombs....
CCI meeting Munich - Nov. 1. - 3. 2013
.. the ever enigmatic Nikolai Timoshchuk and accompagnants...
Natasha Niemeyer-Wasserer....., Hans Ellinger, Jens-
Frieder Mükke, Georg Schweiger
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Wolfgang Angerstein, Prof. Bauer and friend, Gillian and Tony Raynes
Thomas Thomsen & company - live is great!
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Over 50 persons - CCI members plus company - showed up for the CCI Germany meeting in Munich from the 1. - to the 3. of November. As usual, they were treated to one more well-organized event according to the well proven recipe patented by Thomas Thomsen over many years.
For a novelty, the meeting was co-hosted by Georg Schweiger´s Foundation for Chess Culture, which has been highly active during the last year, in and around Munich. Apart from the German side, CCI President Mike Wiltshire showed up in Munich, Gareth and Vel Williams' and the Raynes from Great Britain, Carmen Romeo from Madrid, Joost van Reiij from Holland, and Patrice Plain and his wife from France - US collector Sid Silverman was the lone representant for the larger US CCI group.
On Friday, the arrival day, visitors congregated for a diner in the Hotel Restaurant. Here old friends and newcomers, of which quite a few were to be seen, exchanged new stories and old jokes over a fairly opulent meal.
Early on Saturday, the program continued with the habitual session of topical talks, in front of an imposing sculpture inside the Bavarian National Museum - not by chance a funeral monument for one of the Dukes from the House of Fugger!
For a novelty, the meeting was co-hosted by Georg Schweiger´s Foundation for Chess Culture, which has been highly active during the last year, in and around Munich. Apart from the German side, CCI President Mike Wiltshire showed up in Munich, Gareth and Vel Williams' and the Raynes from Great Britain, Carmen Romeo from Madrid, Joost van Reiij from Holland, and Patrice Plain and his wife from France - US collector Sid Silverman was the lone representant for the larger US CCI group.
On Friday, the arrival day, visitors congregated for a diner in the Hotel Restaurant. Here old friends and newcomers, of which quite a few were to be seen, exchanged new stories and old jokes over a fairly opulent meal.
Early on Saturday, the program continued with the habitual session of topical talks, in front of an imposing sculpture inside the Bavarian National Museum - not by chance a funeral monument for one of the Dukes from the House of Fugger!
The impressive front of the Bavarian National Museum
Barbara Holländer
Thomsen, Schweiger in front of Fugger Memorial
Natasha Niemeyer-Wasserer from the Chess Culture Foundation
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the hall with the Fugger monument
coffee break
... nautical motives...
genial as ever, CCI President Mike Wiltshire
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Nautical chess
The morning session was devoted partly to nautical motives, in chess and around, with several heterogeneous talks. Wolfgang Angerstein showed a dia show on a nautical version of chess, invented and patented in Vienna in the1920-ies by a former Austrian Navy Official. As Angerstein proved, this was just one of many combinations of chess and marine warfare invented in those days - these variants hd a lot in common, combining nautical warfare strategy with chess moves. Snapshots froma troubled time when war and a hopeless economic situations produced such phantastic creations...
Prof. Bauer, founder and former head of the Salzburg Institute for Games research, presented a superb nautical card game from the early 19th century, which entranced all present by the handcoloured and very exact descriptins of ships, naval battles and sundry other details in very small format. And Thomas Thomsen closed the marine section by showing several chess sets in Powerpoint , either made for naval or travel use, or produced by sailors or for sailors. Thomsen's verdict: no special sets made for use on shipboards ever existed, normal travel sets were used if ever on board ships!
Following the coffee break, Barbara Holländer gave a quite polemic view on the many historical absurdities exemplified for example in "Napoleon viz. Frederic ". - sets, or theme sets of Henri 4. against Francis the I. According to Holländer, such historical absurdities - and possibly most historical inscenations via chess sets, are nonsensical, tasteless, and very close to Kitsch.
Walter Pilz outlined his PH.D. project on Fatimid cristal carving, with special reference to the Osnabrück and Ager cristal chess pieces. In his opinion, Kairo does deserve the fame of having had a lot of cristal carvers, but many sets might have made in different places and times.
Georg Schweiger explained the aims and the activities of his Chess Foundation , which hosted a most attractive exhibition last year on chess in historical perspective and courtly life. Exhibits, ludic activities, historical research and in general the the raising of interest in chess are at the core of Schweiger's intentions. The next project will be to illuminate the atmosphere and the details around the Bogoljubow- Alekhine World Championship Match in Munich in 1934, which will concide with the edition of a facsimile book of the guest book from the match!
And to close , the reps from Ukrainian game producer Ludomorets showed the opulent chess set already presented at the last CCI Congress of the Western Hemisphere in St. Louis - possibly the wrong type of audience for this commercial product - most collectors I asked were of the same opinion!
Prof. Bauer, founder and former head of the Salzburg Institute for Games research, presented a superb nautical card game from the early 19th century, which entranced all present by the handcoloured and very exact descriptins of ships, naval battles and sundry other details in very small format. And Thomas Thomsen closed the marine section by showing several chess sets in Powerpoint , either made for naval or travel use, or produced by sailors or for sailors. Thomsen's verdict: no special sets made for use on shipboards ever existed, normal travel sets were used if ever on board ships!
Following the coffee break, Barbara Holländer gave a quite polemic view on the many historical absurdities exemplified for example in "Napoleon viz. Frederic ". - sets, or theme sets of Henri 4. against Francis the I. According to Holländer, such historical absurdities - and possibly most historical inscenations via chess sets, are nonsensical, tasteless, and very close to Kitsch.
Walter Pilz outlined his PH.D. project on Fatimid cristal carving, with special reference to the Osnabrück and Ager cristal chess pieces. In his opinion, Kairo does deserve the fame of having had a lot of cristal carvers, but many sets might have made in different places and times.
Georg Schweiger explained the aims and the activities of his Chess Foundation , which hosted a most attractive exhibition last year on chess in historical perspective and courtly life. Exhibits, ludic activities, historical research and in general the the raising of interest in chess are at the core of Schweiger's intentions. The next project will be to illuminate the atmosphere and the details around the Bogoljubow- Alekhine World Championship Match in Munich in 1934, which will concide with the edition of a facsimile book of the guest book from the match!
And to close , the reps from Ukrainian game producer Ludomorets showed the opulent chess set already presented at the last CCI Congress of the Western Hemisphere in St. Louis - possibly the wrong type of audience for this commercial product - most collectors I asked were of the same opinion!
Prof. Günter Bauer from Salzburg
Patrice Plain , longtime head of CCI France
Mike among the crowd
Mrs. Bosch, Vice-Director of the Museum
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Hans Krieger, Hamburg
Wolfgang Angerstein, future head CCI Germany
GM Helmut Pfleger, Georg Schweiger
Barbara Flügel
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Museum secrets
After a lunch in the Museum Cafeteria, graced by the presence of TV chess expert GM Helmut Pfleger, the participants were treated to a guided tour through the Museum, with special regard for the rich chess and backgammon sets from former Wittelsbach collections, as well as many interesting sets not normall shown - in the Museum backstage vaults! An authentic trip to the catacombs, which left collectors wondering why these sets are not exhibited more often.....
Meissen - Kändler
amber and mother-of-pearl
..backstage...
Eger inside
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Edel set
opulent mother-of-pearl inlay
Eger relief board
Prof. Hans Holländer , Dr. Marion Faber (Foundation), Madame Plain
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Market shape
What for many CCI buffs is the main part of these meetings, the afternoon "flea market", turned out rather a moot affair. Oldtime collectors "have everything", or are in fact trying to get rid of their collections - and younger members sometimes lack the funds! C'est terrible, but that is the way the cookie crumbles....
Tony Raynes for example offered a very good Berne bears set and interesting glass and porcelain sets - no takers! - a non-member offered a plethora of Asian sets - Muslim, Mongolian, Chinese, Thai - hardly takers - Franz-Josef Lang had some superb single Canton pieces in ivory and a lavish African carved colonial set - no takers! Yours truly was somewhat set back to see his rather unique Northern Upright set with glass-eyed knights not only unsold, but unremarked and unappreciated! And a large postwar Canton ivory set on a good lacquer board with gold illustrations totally disregarded as well! Half of the participants in the meeting did not even bother to turn up.....
Tony Raynes for example offered a very good Berne bears set and interesting glass and porcelain sets - no takers! - a non-member offered a plethora of Asian sets - Muslim, Mongolian, Chinese, Thai - hardly takers - Franz-Josef Lang had some superb single Canton pieces in ivory and a lavish African carved colonial set - no takers! Yours truly was somewhat set back to see his rather unique Northern Upright set with glass-eyed knights not only unsold, but unremarked and unappreciated! And a large postwar Canton ivory set on a good lacquer board with gold illustrations totally disregarded as well! Half of the participants in the meeting did not even bother to turn up.....
Canton ivory from Peoples Republic
Indian ivory on stitched cloth bord
market not bearish?
Rajasthan ivory, unsold at € 3.000.-
F.J. Lang and Wolfgang Angerstein
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Edinburgh Uprights - from Germany?
Macao supplements....
Gillian & Tony
Schweiger and his catalogues
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In the evening, the group migrated across the English Garden to the rather scenic lakeside restaurant "Seehaus" for a lavish repast in a strangely deserted setting. Those who walked home through the Garden, in any case will remember a very romantic autumn night reminiscent of Edgar Wallace movies....
And this dinner also saw a momentous change - by indication and consent among the hosts, Thomas Thomsen stepped down from the leadership of CCI Germany, to be followed by long-time member Wolfgang Angerstein. Angerstein will be counseled and assisted in the early days by Thomsen and Mike Wiltshire.
And this dinner also saw a momentous change - by indication and consent among the hosts, Thomas Thomsen stepped down from the leadership of CCI Germany, to be followed by long-time member Wolfgang Angerstein. Angerstein will be counseled and assisted in the early days by Thomsen and Mike Wiltshire.
Finis
On Sunday the still present visitors - some left early! - congregated at the Bavarian Kings Residence in the centre of town, for a guided tour through the Royal apartments and collections. The high point of the tour was the treasury, which houses lots of rock cristal carved cups and objects, and one lovely small jewelry chess set, featured in the Wichmann book on Chess Pieces.
While the main host of the participants dispersed hurriedly and unceremoniously, a small hard core of members moved to the Spatenbräu restaurant for a hearty Bavarian meal. And for several entrancing anecdotes told by Hans Krieger of chess in Hamburg, of research projects by Marion Faber and Walter Pilz, and poignant remarks by Barbara Flügel. The next meeting of CCI Germany has not been fixed yet, but will possibly be staged in the South of Germany again!
(C) Nicholas Lanier 2013
While the main host of the participants dispersed hurriedly and unceremoniously, a small hard core of members moved to the Spatenbräu restaurant for a hearty Bavarian meal. And for several entrancing anecdotes told by Hans Krieger of chess in Hamburg, of research projects by Marion Faber and Walter Pilz, and poignant remarks by Barbara Flügel. The next meeting of CCI Germany has not been fixed yet, but will possibly be staged in the South of Germany again!
(C) Nicholas Lanier 2013
