Bird's Chessmen - An Early American Photoshoot

Bird's Chessmen - An Early American Photoshoot

For today's lunch break viewing pleasure, here's something you don't see too often. After blowing the dust off, I present to you a 100-year-old, American made chess set from 1920 known as "Bird's Chessmen."

Frank Camaratta article on Bird's Chessmen: https://chessantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Birds_Chessmen.pdf

King height 3.375" (85mm).
King base 1.375" (35mm).
Weighted w/original felts, which have aged to this wonderful shade of Yoda Green.

Vintage Drueke board with 1.75" (45mm) squares.

Gorgeous pieces and board! Both pair well together like a good piece of aged steak at a steakhouse with a nice glass of red wine.

Thanks everyone. The old Drueke board has a little secret when you peak underneath. Say hello to my little friend. LOL.

If anyone has an idea of what years Drueke used this burned-in logo on the underside of the board in lieu of their typical logo sticker, I'd love to hear about it. 

Beautiful logo! I always wanted one of those. According to this thread, @Madmacsback said in post 5 that the burned in logo was from the late 80s. https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/wtb-drueke-33-2-5-king I believe two of the oldest I’ve seen had Drueke etched into the back side. One came with play away and the other was just the model number. Then it was the gold stickers with the oldest being the one without the model number followed by the model number. I think the one you have came after that.

Gorgeous set, @Pawnerai. One of the few remaining holes in my American collection. BTW, Frank has a set on chessantiques.com right now, but “college size”… 3”. It’s a beauty, but I don’t need any more 3” sets.  

Which would be just before the move to Ludington, MI (Carrom). I remember mullets and Nintendo in the late 80s, not Drueke! 

@madmacsback  Finding this Bird set was DIFFICULT. Harder than a club size Horn Mccrillis. Good luck!

Yeah it was right before they were sold and moved. The boards with the gold letters was from Carrom. I also don’t remember Drueke from that time as well.