From the Museum Mailbag
This new section will publish some of the correspondence on chess objects or associated questions from the Museum Mail. If You have any any doubts,questions comments, please send them along - if they are interesting for others , we will publish them (except You had rather not )- photos are always a bonus.
Native American
Andrew Stegena from Pennsylvania writes:
Dear Curator,
..My wife and I purchased a farm home in Pennsylvania, United States. Several things were left in the dusty basement, and one item I cannot find anywhere online. I hope this is a good thing. It is a chess board, with pieces. There are no company indicators or any type of markings that helped my search. I am sending pictures. If you can shed any light, you seem to be very educated on chess boards. Thank you.
Andrew
The Museum replied:
Dear Andrew,
such boards were made in Mexico during the last 30 years - that is,
cassette board boxes with fancy decorations the side and on the board
itself, made by imprinting a stamp or pattern iron on a soft mass of -
what? Is it clay or resin?
The Museum owns a set like that, but the figures in ourset represent ancient Aztec
attire - Your figure looks more like a North American prairie Indian chief
(Pawnee or the like) . How do the other pieces look? Still, this might very
well have been made to sell to the numerous US tourists visiting the
Northern States of Mexico. All kinds of chess sets used to be sold in
Mexican shops and markets - and for all I know, still are. In any case, it
does not look like a one off amateur production - to make a set like this ,
You need a well-organized workshop, and that means - serial production in
some quantity.
So my palpitation on Your find is Mexico - sometime between 1960 and 1990.
That may be all wrong, one would have to see and touch the pieces from close
up to be sure. In any case, a good eye catcher in a glass case ....
Cheers
N. Lanier
Dear Curator,
..My wife and I purchased a farm home in Pennsylvania, United States. Several things were left in the dusty basement, and one item I cannot find anywhere online. I hope this is a good thing. It is a chess board, with pieces. There are no company indicators or any type of markings that helped my search. I am sending pictures. If you can shed any light, you seem to be very educated on chess boards. Thank you.
Andrew
The Museum replied:
Dear Andrew,
such boards were made in Mexico during the last 30 years - that is,
cassette board boxes with fancy decorations the side and on the board
itself, made by imprinting a stamp or pattern iron on a soft mass of -
what? Is it clay or resin?
The Museum owns a set like that, but the figures in ourset represent ancient Aztec
attire - Your figure looks more like a North American prairie Indian chief
(Pawnee or the like) . How do the other pieces look? Still, this might very
well have been made to sell to the numerous US tourists visiting the
Northern States of Mexico. All kinds of chess sets used to be sold in
Mexican shops and markets - and for all I know, still are. In any case, it
does not look like a one off amateur production - to make a set like this ,
You need a well-organized workshop, and that means - serial production in
some quantity.
So my palpitation on Your find is Mexico - sometime between 1960 and 1990.
That may be all wrong, one would have to see and touch the pieces from close
up to be sure. In any case, a good eye catcher in a glass case ....
Cheers
N. Lanier
Chess Piece weighting
Fil Nenna wrote on Feb. 25:
Hello!
Firstly, thank you for maintaining your chess set website. I love the history and geography told through the form of chessmen.
My question is that of the history of weighting, as there is very little (or no) information on the net or in my small library of books on the topic. Is weighting generally limited to Staunton designs?
I wonder if the delicate Regency sets are weighted in any way?
When did weighting pieces become mainstream? IS there a link between weighting and country/ time period?
Any insights would be much appreciated!
Many, many thanks,
Fil
The Museum curator answered also on 25 of Feb:
Hi,
interesting question - when did weighting of chess pieces begin? I suspect with the arrival of Clubs in London, where among the press of onlookers, and with tankards of beer or wine around, it was convenient to have stable pieces. Stabilizing chess men is necessary if they are very high, the board is big, and the ratio height to base is not ideal. In other words, weighting is an attempt to remedy an inherent fault of stability, or to increase this stability. I have seen a weighted club size St. George set (4,5 ") ,acc to the owner from the 1840ies - if that is correct , it might figure. Staunton sets were offered from the start with or without weighting, the ivory pieces being never weighted, as ivory is quite a mite heavier than boxwood.
Many tournament sets do not require weighting - having a wide base - but may be weighted all the same. the 19th C Staunton sets by Jaques always have a widely splayed base, could do without weighting, but often are weighted all the same, as a luxury feature. There is a a certain satisfaction in having to overcome a bit of resistance - major weight - before moving a piece! I own a modern Indian Staunton set with a large lead bomb in the base - great to play with!
Regency sets are practically always unweighted - most of them were cheap sets. One cd weight a regency set, I guess....I have never seen or felt a weighted one in my life....
Mind You that weighting always was a cost-raising factor - it is a nuisance having to bore cavities in the pieces, filling them with a lead weight - often pouring hot lead in! - and then cleaning the bottom for felting. In Staunton's only the top qualities were always weighted, for tournament or club play, the so-called library versions with 3,5 " kings are mostly unweighted.
Finally weighting is a tournament extra - other pieces were weighted, for example Russian tournament pieces, or sometimes St. George or Edinburgh Uprights. But since tournament pieces fairly soon started to be exclusively Stauntons, weighting became a feature of competition chess pieces, and competition chess pieces were mostly Stauntons. Viennese tournament chess pieces - fe used in the Carlsbad tournaments, in Semmering1927, Vienna 1898 etc. were never weighted.
Best regards
Nick
Hello!
Firstly, thank you for maintaining your chess set website. I love the history and geography told through the form of chessmen.
My question is that of the history of weighting, as there is very little (or no) information on the net or in my small library of books on the topic. Is weighting generally limited to Staunton designs?
I wonder if the delicate Regency sets are weighted in any way?
When did weighting pieces become mainstream? IS there a link between weighting and country/ time period?
Any insights would be much appreciated!
Many, many thanks,
Fil
The Museum curator answered also on 25 of Feb:
Hi,
interesting question - when did weighting of chess pieces begin? I suspect with the arrival of Clubs in London, where among the press of onlookers, and with tankards of beer or wine around, it was convenient to have stable pieces. Stabilizing chess men is necessary if they are very high, the board is big, and the ratio height to base is not ideal. In other words, weighting is an attempt to remedy an inherent fault of stability, or to increase this stability. I have seen a weighted club size St. George set (4,5 ") ,acc to the owner from the 1840ies - if that is correct , it might figure. Staunton sets were offered from the start with or without weighting, the ivory pieces being never weighted, as ivory is quite a mite heavier than boxwood.
Many tournament sets do not require weighting - having a wide base - but may be weighted all the same. the 19th C Staunton sets by Jaques always have a widely splayed base, could do without weighting, but often are weighted all the same, as a luxury feature. There is a a certain satisfaction in having to overcome a bit of resistance - major weight - before moving a piece! I own a modern Indian Staunton set with a large lead bomb in the base - great to play with!
Regency sets are practically always unweighted - most of them were cheap sets. One cd weight a regency set, I guess....I have never seen or felt a weighted one in my life....
Mind You that weighting always was a cost-raising factor - it is a nuisance having to bore cavities in the pieces, filling them with a lead weight - often pouring hot lead in! - and then cleaning the bottom for felting. In Staunton's only the top qualities were always weighted, for tournament or club play, the so-called library versions with 3,5 " kings are mostly unweighted.
Finally weighting is a tournament extra - other pieces were weighted, for example Russian tournament pieces, or sometimes St. George or Edinburgh Uprights. But since tournament pieces fairly soon started to be exclusively Stauntons, weighting became a feature of competition chess pieces, and competition chess pieces were mostly Stauntons. Viennese tournament chess pieces - fe used in the Carlsbad tournaments, in Semmering1927, Vienna 1898 etc. were never weighted.
Best regards
Nick
Alan Fersht - authority on everything concerning Jaques - comes this clarification re. Jaques weighting practice:
"First, loaded antique non-Staunton sets are very, very rare. I have seen on sale very few, maybe 3 or 4. I have two heavily weighted massive Jaques St George, one is circa 1900, with a complete set of crown marks and stamps, the other circa 1850. Both have 12 cm kings. The lead weights are crude and look like hammered in or perhaps poured in molten, though there is no sign of burned wood. The first Jaques Staunton club size sets of 1849 (11 cm kings) have finely worked lead weights with concentric rings, which are screwed in. The tournament size sets (8.9 cm kings) were initially sold unweighted in both Carton Pierre from 1849 and in mahogany caskets from 1850. But, in the 1850s Jaques advertised that they could be loaded for an extra 5 shillings (25p), which was a large sum of money. These later weights have three indentations where a tool was inserted to screw in the weights. Jaques didn’t make a big thing about the 1849 club sets being weighted so it wasn’t considered a particular innovation. "
"First, loaded antique non-Staunton sets are very, very rare. I have seen on sale very few, maybe 3 or 4. I have two heavily weighted massive Jaques St George, one is circa 1900, with a complete set of crown marks and stamps, the other circa 1850. Both have 12 cm kings. The lead weights are crude and look like hammered in or perhaps poured in molten, though there is no sign of burned wood. The first Jaques Staunton club size sets of 1849 (11 cm kings) have finely worked lead weights with concentric rings, which are screwed in. The tournament size sets (8.9 cm kings) were initially sold unweighted in both Carton Pierre from 1849 and in mahogany caskets from 1850. But, in the 1850s Jaques advertised that they could be loaded for an extra 5 shillings (25p), which was a large sum of money. These later weights have three indentations where a tool was inserted to screw in the weights. Jaques didn’t make a big thing about the 1849 club sets being weighted so it wasn’t considered a particular innovation. "
"Dogface Knights"
James Wilson writes:
Hello,
I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this interesting little set. It is an older weighted chess set with 70 mm kings. The research I have done leads me to believe it is Staunton pattern, most likely made from boxwood, and that is of European (probably French) origin, dating back to somewhere between 1850 and the early 20th century. I could be totally off, which is why I really need your thoughts on it. It was very dirty when I first got it (especially the light colored pieces), and it had a couple old, poorly done, repairs (I will include some photos of what it looked like when I got it). The set is weighted, but instead of felt, the pieces had some strange thin black material that was in different states of decay with a few pieces being gone altogether. The light queen has a bit of a lean to her, and one dark bishop leans a little as well. The top (horse) portion of the knight pieces look just like many of the Regency pattern sets I have come across. I would love to know anything you can tell me about this set. The dark King piece had a recent damage to the cross on his crown, and the injury exposed very light wood, so I guess I can rule out ebony for the cross portion at least. The set came in the wood box in the photos. It has dove tailed joints and a sliding top. Thank you for your time,
James
Hello,
I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this interesting little set. It is an older weighted chess set with 70 mm kings. The research I have done leads me to believe it is Staunton pattern, most likely made from boxwood, and that is of European (probably French) origin, dating back to somewhere between 1850 and the early 20th century. I could be totally off, which is why I really need your thoughts on it. It was very dirty when I first got it (especially the light colored pieces), and it had a couple old, poorly done, repairs (I will include some photos of what it looked like when I got it). The set is weighted, but instead of felt, the pieces had some strange thin black material that was in different states of decay with a few pieces being gone altogether. The light queen has a bit of a lean to her, and one dark bishop leans a little as well. The top (horse) portion of the knight pieces look just like many of the Regency pattern sets I have come across. I would love to know anything you can tell me about this set. The dark King piece had a recent damage to the cross on his crown, and the injury exposed very light wood, so I guess I can rule out ebony for the cross portion at least. The set came in the wood box in the photos. It has dove tailed joints and a sliding top. Thank you for your time,
James
Our reply:
"Dear James,
You have done admirably well in cleaning and polishing these chess pieces, they now look quite presentable (:---
A similar set is shown in the Staunton section in the Museum - I like to call them "dogface" Stauntons, because the knight head reminds me of a Schnauzer or Terrier head. . This knights head is made this way because it is fairly economic and simple to do so only using the lathe tip. These sets were made in France, also in Germany and who knows in the spanish Pyrenees. In any case, since the knight is made in two sections, it is probably from the first half of the 20th Century - the french companies Lardy and Chavet - only started operating around 1900. Similar sets were made by Homan in Holland , from the 1920ies onwards....Being a small but weighted set, it most likely falls into what the British termed "library" sets - meaning home sets to replay games , or wager an occasional interfamiliar battle....
What is interesting is the kings top - a simplified form of the british St. George's cross - such tops are easier to make as well - and such crosses were installed by spanish turners on their Stauntons from 1910 onwards. But - it might just as well be Ms. Lardy making some kings to " epater les Anglais" (charm the british customers!). Finally, it is quite as possible that the set was made by british turners, dutch turners. even belgian turners - this model was fairly current, and all turners were aware of this form via their trade mags. The box tells us very little - such boxes were standard in the trade....
All in all, nice standard version of this very standard playing set - dark varnished set looks very good after polishing. Older wood like this always does shine up a bit....
Cheers
Nick
"Dear James,
You have done admirably well in cleaning and polishing these chess pieces, they now look quite presentable (:---
A similar set is shown in the Staunton section in the Museum - I like to call them "dogface" Stauntons, because the knight head reminds me of a Schnauzer or Terrier head. . This knights head is made this way because it is fairly economic and simple to do so only using the lathe tip. These sets were made in France, also in Germany and who knows in the spanish Pyrenees. In any case, since the knight is made in two sections, it is probably from the first half of the 20th Century - the french companies Lardy and Chavet - only started operating around 1900. Similar sets were made by Homan in Holland , from the 1920ies onwards....Being a small but weighted set, it most likely falls into what the British termed "library" sets - meaning home sets to replay games , or wager an occasional interfamiliar battle....
What is interesting is the kings top - a simplified form of the british St. George's cross - such tops are easier to make as well - and such crosses were installed by spanish turners on their Stauntons from 1910 onwards. But - it might just as well be Ms. Lardy making some kings to " epater les Anglais" (charm the british customers!). Finally, it is quite as possible that the set was made by british turners, dutch turners. even belgian turners - this model was fairly current, and all turners were aware of this form via their trade mags. The box tells us very little - such boxes were standard in the trade....
All in all, nice standard version of this very standard playing set - dark varnished set looks very good after polishing. Older wood like this always does shine up a bit....
Cheers
Nick
Made in the US - bone Staunton set
Dan Arnold writes:
Thank you for maintaining your Chess Museum.
My father taught me the game 63 years ago when I was five. We played with pieces a college friend had given him in about 1940.
I inherited them they are precious to me, worth more to me than my 1977 Jacques or the several House of Staunton 'Collector's' sets I bought in 1997.
I just wondered if you had more information on these. I think they were a fairly standard player's set at their time, 50mm King on a 13mm base, with all pieces and pawn having at least a 10mm base, parts screwing together; made of (camel?) bone; red stained and natural.
I think mine are the same as shown on your site under 'Tall bones' just before 'Staunton style.' Remarkably they fit in the original box which was only 5.25" x 4" x 1.5."
The Museum replied:
Hi Dan,
You sent me two photos atached - the top photo with the knights seem to be my pieces from the Museum.
The bottom ones are bone pieces most likely made in Grand Rapids, Michigan - often sold in a Sterling Furniture Company box. The chunky knight head is a give away. In my opinion - NOT shared by other collectors! - these are rough copies of german Uhlig sets, which somehow were emulated in Michigan. Unlike Uhlig pieces, these "Sterling" sets are generally of small size.
It is very likely that William Drueke had a hand in the making, or was somehow connected to the conception - the Drueke family immigrated from Germany, details can be found on the net, and William Drueke and progeny were one the first serial producers of chess pieces in the USA! The knights seem to have posed a problem, while the rest of the pieces are quite competently turned in cattle bone.
! I have a set like this, but have not exhibited it - bought it in the USA as well, so this is def. an early US set, from around 1900 - 1940.
Best regards
Nick
Thank you for maintaining your Chess Museum.
My father taught me the game 63 years ago when I was five. We played with pieces a college friend had given him in about 1940.
I inherited them they are precious to me, worth more to me than my 1977 Jacques or the several House of Staunton 'Collector's' sets I bought in 1997.
I just wondered if you had more information on these. I think they were a fairly standard player's set at their time, 50mm King on a 13mm base, with all pieces and pawn having at least a 10mm base, parts screwing together; made of (camel?) bone; red stained and natural.
I think mine are the same as shown on your site under 'Tall bones' just before 'Staunton style.' Remarkably they fit in the original box which was only 5.25" x 4" x 1.5."
The Museum replied:
Hi Dan,
You sent me two photos atached - the top photo with the knights seem to be my pieces from the Museum.
The bottom ones are bone pieces most likely made in Grand Rapids, Michigan - often sold in a Sterling Furniture Company box. The chunky knight head is a give away. In my opinion - NOT shared by other collectors! - these are rough copies of german Uhlig sets, which somehow were emulated in Michigan. Unlike Uhlig pieces, these "Sterling" sets are generally of small size.
It is very likely that William Drueke had a hand in the making, or was somehow connected to the conception - the Drueke family immigrated from Germany, details can be found on the net, and William Drueke and progeny were one the first serial producers of chess pieces in the USA! The knights seem to have posed a problem, while the rest of the pieces are quite competently turned in cattle bone.
! I have a set like this, but have not exhibited it - bought it in the USA as well, so this is def. an early US set, from around 1900 - 1940.
Best regards
Nick
