klought9 wrote:
Before you know it you'll be opening your wallet. That's what's next!
Chess piece porn? What is next?
Drueke chess set
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owltuna wrote:
Isn't it nice to find out you were prescient over things like this without even trying?
I have one of those Drueke sets also. #43 I think. It was well used, it was my club set when I was an active player. Now it's in my closet, in its original box, one of the few things I've acquired over the years that is actually a collector's item. I'm keeping it! 
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The Drueke Players' Choice sets came in various sizes.
A 5" tall one was sold on Ebay recently:
Gomer... I call that a Double D... Drueke on a Drueke. Very nice ! I wasn't aware that they were seamless... Thanks 9... Ya would think that with todays technology they could be reintroduced, which being made of plastic, might be affordable for all... One things for sure, they also made the best boards too.
Banker123 wrote:
I have a complete set, of Drueke plastic pieces with a 4" king. As well an origional Drueke chess board 2" squares and 21 inches on each side. the set is in excellent condition. Looking for offers Larry
Looks like this is the Drueke @Banker123 is selling.
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-art-collectibles/ottawa/complete-drueke-staunton-chess-set/1065914646
At $210 looks like a great bargain.
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Chess set is now gone. Thans to everyone
AH YES, BONNIE!!!!!!!!111
Jul 1, 2015
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#74
9kick9 wrote:
The Drueke set is very nice.! I had one & sold it. I regret it to this day.
I gave mine to a friend in 1976. He became an expert. I didn't.
I couldn't remember the name of the Drueke Player's Choice Chess set that started this thread, but Google images brought me here. Beautiful set! I have wanted one since high school (thirty years ago). I've tried ebay and amazon, but can't find one for sale. Does anyone know of a better source? An earlier poster mentioned seeing them for up to $300. I would be happy to pay that.
Sorry sond Larry
Julio:
At some point less than 100 years ago, the process of making plastic at industrial levels was created.
In its time it was the symbol of modernism and the pride of industrialism. A brand new material, versitile, durable, resistant, and rich in textures.
People tired of wood, iron and stone was just exited about the new material. Factories in the leaders countries of industrialism furnished themself with plastic injectors, and this companies became the top brands on the world, still holding the brands reputation up to today.
Engeniers develop all sort of plastic products. From the pen to a car, all innovation, as plastic was consider the material of the future.
Jumping to this trend, some toys manufacturers got their plastic injectors and they created plastic chess sets. The sets you see in this pictures can't be purchased new today, they are part of the history, no only chess history but western civilization history.
There is nothing wrong with a plastic chess set, and as matter of fact it is very interesting to find a chess set created as short as 2 or 3 decades after plastic was invented.
I've never met anyone from my father's generation or older who was particularly impressed with plastic, or who was tired of traditional, natural materials. Plastic was viewed as "cheap" (which it is, in comparison to the natural materials it replaces), and symbolic of the popular saying: "They don't make 'em like they used to." Some plastics did earn some respect, namely Bakelite and Nylon Zytel. Nylon Zytel was most famously used in the legendary Remington Nylon 66 rifle, introduced in 1959, and Remington knew that people at the time were by and large skeptical of plastic, and that is reflected in their old advertisements. They went to great lengths to inform people of the durability and other advantages of this type of plastic, even going so far as driving over one of the rifles with a car and showing that it still functioned fine. In spite of all this they still added thin side plates made of steel to the receiver, which were purely decorative (i.e., not structural or otherwise functional in any way; dust covers at best), just to give the impression of a traditional steel receiver.
Note that Drueke plastic chess pieces were marketed as "simulated wood", while you'll never see wooden pieces marketed as "simulated plastic"; that's because wood is viewed as "the real thing", and plastic is viewed as the low-cost substitute.