Does anyone collect chess sets?

Hi

Usually collecters don't know the first thing about playing chess, but they have more money than ability

I am not that interested in "decorator" items

Inevatibly (sic), 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 (sic)

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

I am not taking your statements personally at all...merely explaining (using my own motivations in posting in this thread as the best example I have on hand) why your idea of what constitute "observations" (above) are not really objective observations but assumptions about underlying characteristics of chess set collectors.  

I only play on Staunton sets myself; it's just easier not to get confused by all the piece designs that way...but I would not consider myself a "purist" for making such a choice :).

Had someone tell me in a previous thread that I enjoyed playing with dolls. One of the reasons it's so funny is that we all know collectors actually do have to deal with psychological stereotyping, only some of which we can resemble at any one time. 

As a collector of rare books, fine art, and various other objects d'art, I understand my own "anal retentive" personality of surrounding myself with a lot of stuff.  If it gives a person pleasure and they can afford it, please do so with my blessings.  However, there is a fine line between a collectable item and kitch.  A statue of Buddha my be beautiful, but a statue of Budda with a clock in his stomach is gauche.  Likewise, a well crafted Stauton set by Drueke or Jaques is beautiful, but to me, a board made out of butterfly wings is sick.  There is no accounting for taste.  As Bictkler (or is the "k" supposed to be an "h?") pointed out, like anybody else, I can be criticized on minutia, but I make presumptions based on facts, not assumptions.  I relate to Baddogno because when I was a little boy, my momie gave me a doll and my daddy took it away from me.  I this was the basis for adult onset preoccupation with inflatable companions.  JUST KIDDING!  Honestly, some folks on this forum, in my opinion, could benefit from a good BM. : ^ )

Collectable or "kitch", what I pointed out belies your statement "I make presumptions based on facts, not assumptions."

What "facts" led you to conclude:

- Most collectors have more money than ability?  Do you know most of the world's collectors?  Maybe you've run a scientific survey on a significant sampling?

- There is something wrong with "decorator" items, which are distinct from your tasteful choices by some invisible line you have drawn?

- Which people are phonies and which are not?  Online, with no real interaction with them at all?

...etc.

These are prejudices based on biased observation, nothing more.  You don't really have a leg to stand for any of those statements.  I am not mad about it, I am not obsessed about it; I am just making sure you actually are shown for what you are, rather than weaseling out of it with some dubious backtracking statements.

I recommend you take your own BM advice.  May I recommend your avatar's beret as a fitting receptacle?

Herr Bictkler (is it a "k" or an "h"), all I see in you is a petty, tiny, obsessive, nut-job who probably lives with his mother and probably shares the same bed.  Take that, wierdo.  You can insult me, but not my uniform.

I have such a uniform myself.  The difference is, I'm not using mine to lend false credibility in a discussion I am losing ;)...

A uniform in and of itself does not make you a better person.  People that try to play the uniform as currency are doing it a disservice.

You keep trying to insult your way past your indefensible positions or toss out red herrings about my username.  Have you actually got any cogent arguments about how your statements are "factual" and not based on your own prejudices?  If not, we're pretty much done here.

Bickler:  You are right.  100% correct.  I should leave this forum since there is already somebody here who knows everything.  Yes, I am done with your type of neurotic (I have seen this before). 

On topic, yes, I do have a few chess sets, but what is a collectable?  Well, I am sure you know this because you have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything, but for those less fortunate than you Highness, let me explain.

A "collection" can be held by an elementary student who shows off his little green army solders we all had as children.  Remember the rifleman and the radio man?  But a real collectable has some intrinsic value.  It could be a sold gold set owned by the King of Bruni or have historical significance. 

I never considered having a collection, but you have raised an interesting point.  Beyond collection, what is a collectable item?  A collectable item is unique.  It has a "providence."  That is, there is a story behind the significance of the item.  For example, over years I have picked up chess sets in my travels. 

I have a beautiful miniture set made in Soviet occupied Hungray circa 1963.  I have a useful plastic folding board set I picked up in the Soviet Union with the black and white queens with a spot on the top of the opposite color.  I have another cheap plastic set I bought in Spain when I played in a tournament there.  So what?  The "what" is, these few sets have a meaning and are probably the only remaining examples of their kind. 

I want to thank the players who posted such beautiful pictures of their sets.  But if you read what I said, I was only commenting on the people who pick up a cheap onyx board and set in Mexico and think they know how to play chess. 

Peace.

Did you mean "provenance"?  Providence has nothing to do with collecting, unless you are talking about a lucky find in some flea market that you attribute to divine intervention ;). 

Since you originally said that collectors "usually" yadda yadda yadda, and are now backtracking to "I was only commenting on the people who pick up a cheap onyx board and set in Mexico and think they know how to play chess", the implication is that the majority of chess set collectors must therefore be cheap Mexican onyx chess set owners who don't know how to play chess.

Thanks for the attempted lessons; I'm sure you mean well, sort of...

Please note:  I have changed my avatar because Herr Bitchler is offended by a MAN in a uniform and wants to censor my opinon.  Is that why you created this forum? ...just to play language games and one-up-manship?  Well, I resign, you win.

I didn't create this post, nor this forum.

Apologies Herr Bitchler.  I was wrong.  You did not create this forum.  You did, however, ruin it for me and anyone who wanted to participate.  Once again, YOU WIN!  YOU ARE A WIENER!

Was there some need to come back 9 days later and say this?  I think people can decide for themselves who is the winner vs. wiener here.

I would collect chess sets if I just had the money :(

Pot...kettle...black. QED.

                       PAT  collects chess sets.   Leave them in THIS thread, and PATS people will come by and collect them later.    JOIN US   WE ARE PAT

No contest!  Bitchler is a winner! OUT.

....advise against using a glass set for five minute...

Goodbye guys.  AMF.

Aluminum Chess Pieces

Does anyone have any idea of who the designer of this chess set might be? 

Value?