I learned to play chess when I was 5, watching my father and grandfather play when we would visit every weekend. Never had a chess book, nobody taught me the moves, didn't even play against anyone until a couple years later. I was 9 when I first played my grandfather, and beat him. About that time my dad brought home an E. S. Lowe Renaissance chess set, and I fell in love with those wonderful pieces. Then when I was 11 I got a guitar, and chess was forgotten. In my 30's my brother met a guy in a chess club, he invited us to come, and chess re-entered my life. Within a few years I had dozens of chess books, a few sets, and had a 1550 provisional USCF rating. Then work got in the way, and chess was abandoned again. Now I am retired and find myself with a lot of free time, and have the time to indulge my passion for the game again. Unfortunately, I now am as old as some of the sets people get excited about here, and probably look more beat up...or you might say I have a nice vintage patina lol. And I am still buying books, sets, even a couple of clocks, etc. I am not planning on stopping any time soon, and that Botvinnik-Flohr set looks like something I should have. Maybe I should put one on my wish list.
How did you start collecting chess items?
I'm still in the denying stage. Sorry.
I started playing chess the summer before my 12th birthday. My mom had sent me off to church camp that summer, and I watched two of the older counselors playing. They would let me watch, but not play, so when I got home, I badgered my mother into buying me a chess set. I played regularly in tournaments and at the chess club until I was in my early twenties, and acquired a couple of sets and a number of books along the way. My proudest possession was a tournament size Drueke board and a 4” wooden Lardy set, both of which I still have some 50 years later.
My collecting started when I was in my mid-thirties, first with a good set from HOS (Boxwood and Ebonized Collector #13) and then with an avalanche of books. I restricted myself to variants of Staunton sets for years, only recently acquiring some historical non-Staunton sets. It’s only in the last ten years or so that my collection exploded, though — first with inexpensive sets from Ebay, and gradually more and more rare and expensive sets. At last count, I had over 250 “full size” sets, just a couple of library size, and about 75 pocket size and portable sets, including JSQ sizes 1,3,and 4. The collection is mostly stored in a climate controlled area in the basement… I have no real place to display very many. Add in about 70 chess clocks, forty or fifty boards, and a thousand or so books, and you’ll understand why my wife is no longer amused.
Had an account that was a library and after doing business one day,I stumbled upon a fabulous looking book on various chess sets.This was 6 years ago.....That got me going and my bank acct. has not been too happy about it ever since.
P.S. My dad was a collector of all things and actually donated some stuff to the Smithsonian Museum....Guess I have the gene.
My father taught me chess on a big printed chipboard when I was 8 or 9 and we played years and years with simple Staunton pieces (which turned out to be very small, later). In school, I met with vinyl boards and plastic or wooden Bundesform, same in my little chess club. On my 15th or 16th birthday I got my own board and pieces. It was a darkish board and a set like they use today in big tournaments still, the chunky Staunton with the so-called German knights. I stopped playing after 4 years of club play and only played casual games for around 20 years, (mostly with my dad). Somewhere halfway I got a new light board and very nice german Staunton pieces from the 1920ies on ebay. I also found a strange red and white set (later identified as a Danish union, knubbel) that went well with a green and white board finished with car paint- the seller told me he had made it in jail. I decided to pay real money for once when I saw an antique set with bishops cracking up like hazelnuts which turned out to be named a St.George. I played a year in a club again, but an up and down momentum in life transformed into time trouble and suffering on the chess board, so that I happened to leave there too soon. After some time, I had three boards now, I invited a couple of friends over to play in triangle, two games each at the same time. When that circle dissolved, I played a lot of correspondence chess. Later I started playing blitz on lichess. Always bad with the clock, I started to find beautiful Jerger and Höpplein clocks and old bhb with flag and ticker in metal, sounding wonderful together. So, ever since I had found the 1920ies Sömmerda pieces, the Knubbel and the St.George, my collection kept growing, because I liked to find super good sets and they just were out there. All vintage except my first proper set and first two boards. All online, except for one set my wife once found me in a thrift store- funny ancient pieces making a toy set. I am using the pieces, boards (and sometimes the clocks) all the time, giving a weekly after-school-lesson to a handful of kids with old Russian, Danish or Spanish pieces, or bringing them with me for an evening in a circle of chess friends in my braided carry-all. Even though I like to find designs made to be played, some breakable lots of chessmen don't go out and a couple of good old boards are only home ground. Ideally they all go out, out into sun and rain. I can say I found more than what I was looking for, things full of life.
Wonderful story, thanks for sharing this with us! I often take my “good” sets to play with a friend. But never for blitz!
I started playing chess the summer before my 12th birthday. My mom had sent me off to church camp that summer, and I watched two of the older counselors playing. They would let me watch, but not play, so when I got home, I badgered my mother into buying me a chess set. I played regularly in tournaments and at the chess club until I was in my early twenties, and acquired a couple of sets and a number of books along the way. My proudest possession was a tournament size Drueke board and a 4” wooden Lardy set, both of which I still have some 50 years later.
My collecting started when I was in my mid-thirties, first with a good set from HOS (Boxwood and Ebonized Collector #13) and then with an avalanche of books. I restricted myself to variants of Staunton sets for years, only recently acquiring some historical non-Staunton sets. It’s only in the last ten years or so that my collection exploded, though — first with inexpensive sets from Ebay, and gradually more and more rare and expensive sets. At last count, I had over 250 “full size” sets, just a couple of library size, and about 75 pocket size and portable sets, including JSQ sizes 1,3,and 4. The collection is mostly stored in a climate controlled area in the basement… I have no real place to display very many. Add in about 70 chess clocks, forty or fifty boards, and a thousand or so books, and you’ll understand why my wife is no longer amused.
The same thing with me: no place to display the items. This is somehow sad and the main reason I will start to reduce the collection. However, I began first with the chess books that I feel I don’t need anymore. I have something like 7 to 10 boxes of books ready to go. I sold recently 40 very interesting books for a very low price (but I got them for free, so no problem).
I am sure it would be easier to sell my chess items in the USA or Germany, as Switzerland is a very small country / market. Here you can find incredible chess items for a very attractive price, but it is also difficult to sell things for the market price. This applies also to other antiques.
The problem with selling to other countries is the high price to send the things.
For this reason I will probably next year try to sell chess items in an antique market in Bern, Switzerland. I know well the guy who organizes several of these markets. My idea is to advertise this in several forums, so that collectors in Swiss and perhaps South Germany will be aware about it.
I have to make some hard decisions about which areas if my collection I would like to keep and which not. This is hard because I love the diversity of chess items. However, I have to reduce the number of things I have. I am 60 and I don’t like the idea of postponing this until I am 70 or 80!
I learned chess in high school and was a member of the chess club. I played with a plastic Milton Bradley set from the dime store. I filled the hollow pieces with plaster-of-paris to weight them. In 1965, wood shop class I made a 2 inch square chess board from walnut and ash. I later bought a wood set with a folding board from Mexico on a trip to Nogales, Sonora. While in high school I'd play with my younger brother. When I was in the U. S. Air Force, my brother rescued my wooden chess board from my parents house and used it to teach his two sons how to play chess. I had forgotten about my board, thinking it was lost, until my brother kindly returned it to me a few years ago after almost 50 years after leaving home. His kind gesture sparked my renewed interest in chess, so I started looking for a nice set of wood chess pieces to use on my old board. Using the search capacity of the internet, I discovered the wonderful world of chess set collecting which led me to here.
I have no where near the expertise of many of the people here, but seeing the multitude of different styles of chess pieces and the vast collections of some of the members is fascinating to me. I only have my original board and three sets, but I will collect more in the future. My three sets are a Chess Bazaar Dubrovnik V3.0, a Ceska Klubovka made by Oldset in Kyiv, and a 3-D printed set designed by Conor O'Kane, and printed by my son-in-law. I did a review of the Oldset pieces on this forum.
Working with wood is one of my set of hobbies. I am working on a set of plans for a chess table in which to set my historic old board as well as a larger 2.25 inch square board I am planning from tropical walnut and maple. I am also working a set of plans for a Ukrainian set I will turn from African Blackwood and European Hornbeam.
I collect lots of pictures from the multitude of sets here and elsewhere. I find it fascinating and relaxing seeing and reading about the many different styles of chess pieces and reading about the history of the many sets. Two of my grandchildren and I take copies of some of the historic games and replay them with my board and the different sets. It helps me pass on my love of chess and teach them about the game and algebraic notation.
. Thanks for sharing!
“Chess pieces are my adult Smurfs” Powderdigit, chess.com, Dezember 2022