Europe – schaak-museum

Austria. This set is a bit of mystery to me. Considering the style and presentation, I suspect it from Austria, Northern Italy or South Germany and of recent date. The pieces are marked with a three-pointed star as you can see at the base of the white rook, but I don't know what that means.

On the other hand: I bought this set from someone in USA who was unable to tell more about the set. The pieces were weighted in a strange way: there was some weight material in the bottom of the pieces covered with thick white felt. However, at most of the pieces the material had swollen and was disintegrated in some kind of powder pushing the felt away. Some pieces could barely stand, so I removed all.

Georgia/Russia. Caucasus warriors as chessmen. According I.M.Linder, in his book "The Art of Chess Pieces", goes the design back to Zugdidi, Georgia, 1987. This is a set from "The porcelain of Kislovodsk City", in Kislovodsk, Stavropol Territory, USSR, made in the nineties of the 20th century. Differences from the original in Linder's book is the headdress of the bishops, the less elaborate painting and the felt under the pieces. I believe that originals have an under glass factory mark at the bottom.
I have added 2 pictures of a box of a similar set.

Germany. In the 19th century there were a lot of foundries that produced iron cast items. Of the ones that made chess sets deserve mentioning: Royal Ironworks in Berlin, E.G. Zimmermann in Hanau, Seebaß & Cie in Offenbach a/M and Albert Anton Meves in Berlin.

Sets 1 & 2 have a beloved theme, originally by Royal Ironworks in Berlin: "Frederick II (the great) vs. Napoleon I". Of course these persons were not contemporary but the Prussians wished Frederick II back to fight Napoleon! This theme has been copied by many. The royal pieces are based on designs by Carl August Kiss (Frederick II) and A.Kiss perhaps together with Wilhelm August Stilarsky (Napoleon), ca. 1820. There exist sets that have rooks that are all square, but normally the lower stage is round. The bishops wear Bearskin hats on the French side and the typical long helmets on the Prussian one. The 1st set, which is painted gold and black (at a later time I think), has bishops and queens switched from side. I guess that has occurred when it was painted. In both sets does Frederick miss his staff. The 1st set does have much more detail as the 2nd. This could have been caused by the fact that moulds of the 2nd set were used more often before this one was cast or, more likely, the casting sand used was coarser, which was generally so in later reproductions. Remarkable is that the 1st set is smaller and more detailed as the 2nd, while copies from originals are smaller because of the shrinkage of the iron (3/32 to 1/8 of an inch per foot), which also causes a loose of some detail. There must have been more moulds for these sets seen the differences in size and shape of rooks that exist. This theme is also produced in 20st century in pewter or tin.

Germany. Sets 3 & 4 have another well-known theme, originally by Zimmermann in Hanau: "the 30 Year War", with Ferdinand II of Habsburg (grey/silver side) battling against Gustavus Adolphus from Sweden (black side). This theme has been copied by many as well. The differences are mainly in the bases. The 1st set is not a Zimmermann because it is not marked as such. It could be an early copy from Seebaß, but the black rook is different from the white. Normally rooks of both sides do have the same shape in Zimmermann and Seebaß sets. So we don't know, but it looks like an original from an unknown maker. The 2nd set of the two is probably a later copy seen the round (in stead of octagonal) bases. 20st century copies in pewter or tin exist as well.

Germany. These Porcelain "mouse"and "frog" sets are loved by collectors, but are not very rare. They were made by several manufacturers in 20th century. The little more rare "mouse" set here has the "N" mark with 5-point crown and was made by Ernst Bohne & Söhne from Rudolstadt in the 1920s. The "frog" set has the later anchor mark of Albert Stahl & Co ("vormals Ernst Bohne & Söhne") from Rudolstadt-Volkstedt and was made in the 1940s. The round board, with same anchor mark but also the text "Handgemalt", was made in the 1960s. It fits the "frog" set very well. That board is the only one I have seen. There exist other round boards, mostly with a porcelain thimbles chess set. Another well know manufacturer of the sets is Rudolf Kämmer from Rudolstadt. Mixtures of one side "frog" and the other "mouse" do exist as well, but I'm not sure about the originality of that. Of course are colour variations that I have seen original. To me it is unclear what the Bishops and what the Knights are in these sets. Probably I have switched them in my pictures of the "mouse" set. By the way: although named the "mouse" set, do the animals look more like rats to me. But who wants rats?

Germany. The factory at Fürstenberg was founded in 1747 under the Duke of Brunschwick ("Braunschweig") but no porcelain was made until 1753. The biscuit porcelain pieces are taken from the original 18th century moulds to commemorate the bi-centenary of the Fürstenberg factory. All pieces marked under the base with blue F-mark. The king as "Herzog Karl I von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel", the queen as his consort "Phillipine Charlotte von Preußen", bishops as "Johann Georg von Langen" (who did let start the porcelain production), knights as horses heads, rooks as turrets and pawns as peasant boys. A glass board fits with all pieces in a leatherette cassette. A rare and most decorative set.

Germany. This tin set is based on the popular cartoon by Albert Uderzo and sculpted by Stuart Harris. It could be obtained by subscription, obtaining each month a piece or a couple (main piece and pawn I believe). Whether the cassette/board was a bonus or should be ordered separately, I do not know. But I know the total became very expensive. I bought mine second hand for still quite a lot of money. Next to the Extec edition there is a Mayfair edition, which to my knowledge is exactly the same. Maybe there are more editions. That way problems with stating "limited edition" could be avoided!

Greece. The large set is still for sale today. This is what is stated at the Manopoulos side about this set: "This period was characterized by fierce local as well as international wars. The aggressiveness of the Pawn and the Knight fully represent the ferocity of these wars. The posture of the King and Queen indicates their unquestionable leadership. The Bishop reveals his consideration for the movements of the imminent battle. Finally, the Castle is a reproduction of a pillar which characterized the architectural style during that period." Note that the image is a stock photo.

The small set is a recent (September 2024) acquisition and I'm not sure of it's origin. However the pieces are exactly the same as those of the large set. Just assuming it could be Manopoulos as well. The board that came with the set is of Egyptian origine and was the reason for purchase.

Hungary. This set does have commonalities with sets from the Ore Mountains as can be seen at my Czechia page. Rooks are almost identical. New insights, after visiting a shop with Ore Mountains figures, let me think that the set could have been made in that region, in spite of the fact that previous owner called it a Budapest set and similar sets are listed on internet as Hungarian. PS: picture is from internet, where the set was describes as being Czech. It is rather similar to mine. Have to make pictures of my set still.

Italy. The first set is identified by the moulded marks on rear base of each piece, stating "DEPOSE ITALY" with the spider mark of Fontanini. In the pictures you can see it at the white Knight. Only producing 1,500 sets, these pieces are cast in the famous Fontanini cast resin. Sets of this theme do exist with antique gold and silver finishes as well. The design is by Elio Simonetti.

The second set has exactly the same figures, so I assume the design is of Elio Simonetti as well and its origin is Italy and not Spain as said by auctioneer.

Italy. In 1912 Josef Anton Riffeser founded the ANRI Company, which he named using the first two letters of his first and last name. Josef’s wife, Carolina Riffeser ran the company during the difficult years of war and the absence of her husband. When Anton Adolf Riffeser took over in 1945, he transformed the ANRI company, adopting a more industrial model which allowed for better quality control and distribution to new markets. He was followed by Ernst Riffeser who was able to enlist the services of many well known artists including Juan Ferràndiz, Sarah Kay and others. The ANRI company today is run by Thomas Riffeser, and still remains in the same family.

Netherlands. In 2010 the Chess Club Nuenen did invite the "Pleincollege" in Nuenen to contribute to a presentation at the cultural centre with the title "A chess match contains all the beauty of art". The school had adopted this invitation and a randomly chosen second class (2C) made a chess set: a king-size game even though, which had to be able to be played with. The dimensions of the board are not childish: size 2m*2m. The pieces are made under suspicion of Marijke Smulders, an artist, and made of MDF, Styrofoam and fabric hardened with Paverpol. Curtain rings, ping pong balls and skewers were used too. The most important thing is, that everyone in the class used their own creative ability to contribute. The newspapers "Rond de Linde" and the ED have published about the set. Also it has stayed two days in the monastery there and the mayor did open the manifestation "KunsT met een grote T". I got this set via a connection of the Chess Club Nuenen. They had no room to store it when they got it from the school after 2 years of display there.

Russia. This "Siberian Souvenir" chess set, with graceful figures in the old Soviet style, was produced in Divnogorsk in Siberia, by a low-voltage equipment plant that opened in 1973, in a limited series as a souvenir gift. This set is probably from the early 80's. The plastic - once wrongly described as noble kind of natural stone! - is often said to be Bakelite, but actually pieces are made of Carbolite (imitation of ivory) and brass, while the board is made of Carbolite and aluminium. The felted pieces, as well as the board, are very heavy, due to the heavy plastic and the metal which holds them together. Carbolite is a phenol formaldehyde resin analogous to Bakelite used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. In Soviet times, the cost was 80 rubles with an average salary of 120 rubles.

Russia. ШАХМАТЫ СУВЕНИРНЬІЕ means CHESS SOUVENIR as far as I can decipher. It is seen on the cover at front printing and backside label. The label, not in very good shape, probably tells much more, and I suspect that "199026" is a production date. Probably is the maker mentioned, at least a styled "63" logo is seen among some other details like Балтийский зав... (Baltic zav...) and part of Ленинград (Leningrad). There are a lot of numbers too. While not perfect we are happy to have the cover, because it is not present most of the time.

Russia. This Gzhel (or Ghzel/Gshel/Gschel/Schgel/...) porcelain chess set, with its typical blue glaze, is one of at least a dozen known different designs. That is not counting the variations we see as well. Juri Garanin did design these sets of which some bear his name, like this one. If he did all chess sets designs is uncertain: Gzhel refers not to a single village or factory, but to about 30 villages located southeast of Moscow with several porcelain manufacturers. We see different marks on the sets. Maybe there are unmarked copies by others as well. We know small, medium, average and large sets with boards of about 19, 31.5, 37.5 and 45 cm. The set here is medium and it is named "Souvenir". Figures are based on stories from history with Russian and Tatar motifs.

On top of the board are 2 names (see last 2 pictures in the galley): АВТ. ГарАнин Ю (Автор=Author Garanin Ju.) and расп. Ларин A (расписанный=painted Larin A.). Note that Юрий=Yuri or Juri.

Under the board a "Gzhel" logo and the number 2 (see 3rd picture in the gallery). What the number means is not clear. A lot of suggestions have been made: 2nd choice, 2nd model, 2nd size, sign that it was made for a specific customer, a quality sign, a mark from the painter, etc... If you know, please let me know...
I found another set of different model and size, so those reasons we can rule out.

Scotland. The "Lewis" chess men are the most documented pieces in the world. Numerous books and articles have been spent on them, but still they are a bit mysterious. Also numerous replicas have been made, in all kinds of material. This resin SAC (Studio Anne Carlton, now in Folkestone, Kent, UK) set seems to be quite accurate, although the red colour is hardly seen at the originals. Maybe I should have listed this at the "To Play With" menu, but who can tell whether the original pieces were ever made to play with or for decoration only.

Switzerland. Bears have a long and rather one-sided relationship enjoyed with Switzerland's capital Bern. According to a legend has Berthold V of Zähringen Bern named after the first animal that was killed at a yacht during the Foundation of the city in 1191. The 1923 Edition of Muirhead's Switzerland explains: whatever the real relationship of the word bear and Bern is, the figure of a bear appears on the oldest known city seal (1224), and by the city paid living bears are held in Bern since 1513 (except for a short period when French took them to Paris in 1798).

The very pretty 1st set came in a very nice box. Not a chess box of course. The 2nd set came in its original box with a label stating 1840 and centimes 16. Not sure how much that would be today.