Does anyone collect chess sets?

…I still wish I was back in high school. I started making a chess and checkers set. I started too late thought to finish. I would love to make a high quality hinged board, from Bird's Eye Maple and Walnut. I would lathe all of the pieces except the knights. I'd hand carve them. I'd line inside with felt and use elastic strapping to hold the pieces. I would make a leather case for it in leather craft class.

Dont think I would call it a collection, but I have 5 sets including the tournament set. My favorite one is the one I picked up in peru. Incas vs spaniards. 

http://www.tykroll.com/chess

My collection...I am trying to get a chess set from every continent eventually:

Italy:

Inlaid wood board from Sorrento:

Leather board:

Greece:

Marble board:

Peru:

Llamas are the coolest knights ever:

Poland:

Taiwan:

Each of the eight pawns are unique, the white squares each have different artwork on them, the corners have dragon carvings, the drawers have elastic strings to hold pieces in, the sides have carved patterns, and the folding board has carrying handles...

nope

those are amazing sets.!

Thanks, I have Europe well covered, as well as Asia and South America.  I need North America (I guess I need the famous civil war chess set? ;)...actually I would prefer an Amer-Indian set if I could find one).  I also need African and Australian sets...I guess hoping for ones with stereotyped kangaroos as knights or lions as kings would be asking too much?  I also want an Indian set, with the traditional elephants as knights.

Dunno if any Antarctic set exists, but if it does I am assuming lots of penguins and walruses, etc.

I also would not mind finding a (tasteful) futuristic chess set.

I have a set with Kangaroos and Lions, but I think most likely German. For some reasons Kangaroos are a common piece an Animalier sets:

Inuit walrus ivory sets with Penguins and stuff certainly exist but they'd be pretty pricey. I don't know if they make affordable ones from wood or something.

Also Indian sets traditionally use elephants for Kings, Queens, and Rooks, and a long time ago for Bishops as well, but usually the Knights are on horseback. The only Indian set I've ever seen with elephant knights had elephants for every single piece. Here is one of my Indian sets with elephant royals and rooks:

The inlaid wood board (the round one) is from Sorrento, which is famous for inlaid wood in general.  The other two were gifts and I am not sure where they came from in Italy.  I don't know if you can get them online, these are all from before 1990.

Assuming you meant the first board (the really large one), this is all I have to go on ;)...

Dal Negro is the company, and you can find their current chess items here:  http://www.dalnegro.com/eng/all-games/classic-games/chess.html 

They also sell playing cards and other games.  I collect international (mostly Italian) playing cards also, for playing a great Italian card game called Scopa di Quindici (Napola variation):  http://www.dalnegro.com/eng/playing-cards/types-of-cards/italian-regional-cards.html

Thanx for the pictures

Hi all,, I was a photo student at a Univ, and I had to design a large installation piece that created a topic and images either I took or already taken. I created a weird Axes of Evil vs US chess game. Its 8' by 10'. Like I said, it was for a gallery so all our projects were big. I am ready to throw it out,, It created to much controversity but my teacher liked it. If you would like to see images of it, email me at bruceb7776 at aol dot com. 

To answer your question, Yes.  People do collect chess sets.  Usually collecters don't know the first thing about playing chess, but they have more money than ability.  I play chess without a board, so I am not that interested in "decorator" items.

i got one small travel chess set and half a dozen chess sets from america, india and england

Kitch.  Inevatibly, the black square is in White's h1 file and the proud owner boasts about how delicately the Elephants (Knights) are humping the bishops.  Totally bourgeois.

Actually collectors tend to be masters or class players. John C for example is no slouch. My blitz rating usually hangs around 1800-1900 on the site I use and that's about all the playing I do these days, but I'm not a serious collector or someone with a lot of money either. Most collectors I've corrsponded with are average players with normal incomes. It's a hobby like any other and it takes all kinds.

Yeah, your are probably right.  I just enjoy pulling the tail feathers of people who are really phonies and display chess sets to enhance their image among the other phonies.  I am a purist and the only chess set I will play on is a classic Staunton design.  Although now that I think about it, I did gift a "Simpsons" set to a friend who is a master.  Homer was the King, of course, and Marge the Queen, etc.  Now that I think of it, there was a chess set in the seventies or eighties where each piece and pawn contained a shot of liquor.  When you captured a piece, you had to drink the contents.  This created the environment for some wild end-games!

It's OK to appreciate the history and art of chess. I do not collect but I do seem to have too many sets for the amount of OTB play I do. It is addictive, no doubt!

lasertswift wrote:

jbskaggs wrote:

lasertswift wrote:

I am almost reluctant to say that I do indeed collect chess sets and have over 30.  They range from beautiful to simple and cheap.  Sometimes I buy a set from somewhere I traveled as memorabilia.  Some are unique.  Some are useful, like travel sets.  Some are pegged.  Some are pocket sized.  I also collect chess clocks and chess books.  Yes, I freely admit I have a problem.  I just love chess.  LOL

Laser

The most amusing part, or sad depending on your view, is that I am not very good at chess.

Being good or not has nothing to do with your love of the game.  Otherwise there'd be no sports fans.  What matters is do you enjoy it.

Point taken!  And yes, I love to play chess.  I play almost daily.  I just wish I could play more OTB chess.  It is so much more enjoyable to use actual pieces instead of manipulating an electronic board with a mouse.  Plus I like the feel of tapping a real clock.

This assumption says more about you than anyone else, really.  

For myself, I would probably never have posted my collection here except that someone in another thread kept insisting on seeing a photo of my marble board from Athens, and while digging it out, I decided to take photos of the whole collection and get them up in the cloud so I have them for insurance purposes later, if needed.

Not so much an assumption as an observation.

If you take it personally, I am not the cause.

You have some beautiful, artistic sets and I hope ownership is a pleasure.

Is there really a fence who buys stolen chess sets?  Perhaps that is another Forum topic.