Dreueke what board is this?

Hello, I was hoping someone here might be able to help me figure out some more information about a Drueke chess board. I recently got a Drueke board on what appears to be a Drueke maker’s mark saying so stamped into the bottom side. The board is wooden with squares and appears to be walnut and maple veneer, but I have never read about Drueke making a veneer board before. I have model 63 from the 90’s, and while this board has dissimilar flat edges to that one, and similar wide-boarders proportions to other Drueke boards, it does not have the trademark groves framing the playing area. I have not been able to find any images or references to this model number. Is this an earlier Drueke board? Maybe pre-war? I read in an article that Drueke’s hiatus from 1928 to 1932 was related to an FTC action related to selling veneer furniture without properly advertising it as veneer- could the board be pre 1928? I would be grateful for any information anyone can provide, and thanks just for reading the post and adding your own thoughts too.

https://imgur.com/a/lBM5vyY

Do you know what era the oddball projects surfaced in? Is it likely that they may be illegitimate copycat clones?

Hi pontpierre

I posted a thread awhile back about a Drueke model 152 board very similar to yours. It’s also a veneer board without grooves, but it has routed edges more like a model 63 (I also have a 63 from the 90’s). I did some research, and emailed a museum in Grand Rapids to get a copy of Drueke’s product list from the 1920’s but I haven’t found a document that clearly lists the model 152 board. I did find some pdfs of Drueke catalogs from the 1950s that listed boards with a picture that did not appear to show grooves, but it was too small to really be sure. I just noticed that you sent me a chat request, so maybe you saw the earlier thread, but I’ll put a link again here just in case.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/drueke-no-152-what-board-is-this

I’ll look for the PDFs of the old Drueke catalogs and see what I can find. One thing I noticed is that the board uses a nitrocellulose finish, which isn’t used on that many wood products these days, but was used older chess sets I have and old guitars, so that suggests that these boards were maybe older than the models numbered in the 60s. However, I was never able to figure out if it was made in the 20s or the 1950s. I’d love to figure this out. If you find anything, please post it!

Here is a page from the 1948 Drueke catalog the I found on the Strong Museum of Play website searching through the collection.

https://museumofplay.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_e863e914-6ae0-4c96-9709-abcaa15f18c2/

There are several other Drueke catalogs there too. As you can see, no model 152 or 182, and the models number in the 60's are there as solid wood boards, but there is a model 172 that is a veneer board. However, even though it says that the board is "Boxwood finished," it seems to be just a single sheet of veneer with a decal or some sort of applique creating the light squares and border rather than actual boxwood veneer. Here's a picture of a model 172 I found on Worthpoint for reference:

So, maybe the model 152 and 182 were contemporary with the model 172, but were discontinued when the model 60's were introduced? The numbering system for different-sized boards seems to be the same, with the last digit changing for the square size, but the "1" was dropped for the model 60 series. The "Solid Block Chess and Checker Boards" mention in the 1922 Jobber's list from my previous post don't give a model number, but my model 152 board corresponds in size with the 17"x17" with 1 and 3/4" squares listed. And, while it says "solid block boards," Drueke was sued by the FTC in 1928 for falsely selling veneer furniture without advertising it as clearly as veneer. You can see it on page 166 (complaint 1410) of the FTC 1928 annual report here:

https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports_annual/annual-report-1928/ar1928_0.pdf

So maybe the model 152 and/or 182 are the boards mentioned in 1922 Jobber's list. Or maybe not. This rabbit hole seems to go pretty deep (the 1948 catalog is numbered "No. 49" so it seems like quite a few catalogs are missing between 1922 and 1948) and I never got to the bottom of it. But I do think that these Drueke veneer boards are really nice as the veneer work on mine is very good. Even if we never figure out when they were made, hope you enjoy your board!

This is a Drueke xl set on page 6 of that 40s catalogue. I love the black side.