In Praise of Graeme Anthony - Australian Sculptor

One can get lost in the variety threads within the Chess Books and Equipment Forum. It’s akin to entering a maze of tunnels; some light - some dark - with treasures a plenty. Thus, it is with pleasure, that I create this new ‘tunnel’ as an ode to Graeme Anthony. A sculptor and a gentleman who has created so many treasures. When one enters Graeme’s world - they enter a land of whimsy and joy; of adventure and fantasy. Graeme is great talent creating high-quality works that deliver equal amounts of wonder and charm but beware … fearsome dragons and other creatures lurk. I believe these pieces sit near the top of Australian-made chess pieces. Of course, they are figural and thus, they will not be to everyone’s taste but to me, they are wonderful and my three sets (all circa 40-45 years old) will be passed down through my family long after I have left this mortal coil.

More to follow. For now some pictures …. and I smile as I add a thread that recognises a great Australian within this forum. Enjoy.

Henry VIII

Imperial DragonsWar of the Rings

I remember his sets being sold at markets around Melbourne, also 40-ish years ago. I think Mind Games might have sold them too.

Good to hear from you Greg! He’s a lovely guy - he’s been very forthcoming with knowledge anytime that I have reached out with various questions about the sets in my collection. He also had a formal partnership with Royal Selangor in the past too.

It's very hard to be critical of true art. Of course there are some who do so but, your set is quite unique.

Thanks Magic. It’s intriguing, clearly Graeme’s career is quite diverse but his dragons are quite special. It’s very hard to convey the details in 2d photos. I’ll try harder when I have more time. These are his designs and I find them stunning.

As a fan of Tolkien and chess, this is a pleasure to read about. Having never heard of him (Mr. Anthony) I had to search and found his website, where it states that he has now done over 47 different chess sets! Of the four he has listed right now for sale, the "Hobbit" one is really amazing, he used the dwarves as the pawns, really like that!

Great artist, would be fun to talk to him and find out more about his inspirations and what first started him on his path, you are fortunate to have conversed with him, I wonder if you could commission him to cast a set in a metal other than pewter? To bad I live in the US, otherwise sounds like a road trip would be in order, to pay a visit and see his creations in person!

https://graemeanthonypewter.com.au/

Wonderful! Why refuse space for whimsy!

@IslandKnightz - thanks for responding - I am stoked that as a fan of both chess and Tolkien, that you enjoy these pieces. That Hobbit set looks wonderful and the dwarf characters as pawns makes me smile too. Even in his earlier work, Graeme made different pawns… in my War of the Rings set, one dark pawn is not an Orc but Sméagol Gollum. I love it.

😊 and if Gandalf The Grey in his magical robe can’t cast a bit of whimsy, who can? Gandalf plays the role of Bishop in the War of the Rings chess set.

Back in the day, Graeme made his own chess boards too. They fit his fantasy chess sets well and indeed, they become a bit pock-marked like the battle fields of Mordor.

While I enjoy Graeme’s custom made boards, I am fortunate to own a beautiful board by the Australian wood artisan, Paul Lambe. I don’t know much about Paul, (I think he may now reside in WA) and the board was a bonus with set of pieces I purchased a few years back. It is solid, heavy and huge (8cm squares!). I think it is a great board and well sized to display the Graeme Anthony pieces. Below are the Imperial Dragon pieces. I think they are majestic on this board.
And a close look shows a little maker’s mark on the base of the rooks.

Really terrific stuff! I mean "seriously nice"! Demonstrates that collecting chess sets can be enjoyed for the artistic elements, as well as the history.

I find it intriguing …. the topics that connect and then those, such as this thread, that don’t engender much response.

I think the vast majority of collectors are focussed on traditional wooden pieces. I think that is logical and it is my main focus too.

Further, when it comes to figural and/or artistic sets - such sets are not of interest to many. Also, they may weigh into even narrower areas of personal taste and personal interest; and so, specific designs are not attractive to many collectors either.

Then there’s the fact that most participants of this forum reside outside of Australia - and so there may be limited connection a local artisan too.

Finally, perhaps pewter sets are considered “a dime a dozen” and the material itself is not broadly attractive.

I wonder if sets like this would create more interest if discussed in the context of art or sculpture or some other subject as the truth is, while the Henry VIII eminently playable for a slow game… the Imperial Dragons and WoTR pieces are not easy use and realistically, best for display.

There is a collector market outside of this website that operates at a quite different level where figural sets are more commonly collected. You only have to look at the prices that good antique figural sets go for to know that there are people spending serious money on them, for example this randomly found set of auction results: Christies - find the UKP 150k figural set and note that the Natalia Danko set is a reproduction and still UKP7k. In terms of this site, sure, not a lot of interest, but that is probably a side effect of what people have to spend and what they know. Don 't be discouraged by the relatively low level response, but is triggering answers even the issue here?

In terms of Graeme Anthony's sets, they do tend to be eye-catching but some are hardly practical: the dragons, dear god. The earlier designs violate assumptions, the wizard of ID set for example with the king and queen the shortest of the major pieces (I had to remind myself of that one) in the Alice set which one is the knight and why is it so tall? It feels like there is a trade-off of whimsy (and attractiveness) for playability and I don't like the more conventional sets, I want both whimsy and playability.

As always, I appreciate your thoughts Greg.
Yes, practicality and playability are hardly a consideration for some Graeme Anthony sets. The Imperial Dragon set - while eye catching is an imperious nightmare to play.
Even the War of the Roses set is odd in that the bishops - on both sides - Gandalf the Grey and Sauroman respectively are the tallest pieces - not the king and queens. Therefore, visually confusing to play.
On the Wizard of Id pieces, I nearly purchased that set some time ago but upon inspection, I disliked the design and the function…. and walked away… a rare instance where my addiction was controlled. ☺️
On the other hand, the Henry VIII is fine to play … slowly.
I think GA sets are mostly form over function.
As an interesting aside, the Royal Selangor/Graeme Anthony collaboration seems to have produced a set with a more logical sizing from king through pawn. Maybe that’s the sculptor equivalent of the record label controlling the musician…. Sure… be creative … but with some guidelines. 😊

I agree about form and fucntion and I'm sure Selangor would have had some fairly directive conversations with the wayward artist about the design, it would have to conform to the house requirements as both a chess set (usability, avoidance of surprise, conformance to convention) and manufactured object (consistency with the Selangor house style, quality of finish).

Its interesting to consider what the conventions are (or might be): graduated height (mostly, I love my Max Ernst reproduction with the spare kings), knights having some kind of horse or riding tie-in, rooks not being creatures but being things (tower, castle, canon, boat) , queen being similar to the king, the bishops are problably the least constrained pieces, pawns being significantly smaller than rooks, relatively homogenous and not distracting relative to the major pieces.

Sometimes fantasy is a much needed escape from reality…a getaway of sorts … this King from Graeme Anthony’s Armageddon set sits next his Queen and under the watchful eye of a wicked bishop… a pawn looks ahead with disdain at his opposition. None look overly happy… 😉

I wonder if it is out of courtesy or disinterest that the response is low, Powder-Mark? I suppose general interest drops of once you move away from the Staunton/Soviet axis and drift into pockets of more specialized interest.
One of the reasons I hang around this place is to be exposed to the wide variety of sets I might otherwise never see, and also to here why those sets appeal (or not).

I enjoy the art of chess piece design, so am happy to see these. They make me smile. And that’s enough justification for them!

Thanks baudouin27 I am glad you find some interest. I believe you are spot on…. Disinterest or courtesy associated with not wanting to offend.

And I understand that - what’s the saying? “If you don’t have something nice to say, perhaps don’t say it at all.” Or words to that effect and I try to abide by that too.

Personally, these pieces are a niche for me too….I do enjoy the details, size, weight and the creativity that went into their original design/cast but they are primarily novelties for display.

Where I stumble on local finds … I explore. 😊

Well, I think they’re terrific. I’m newer to this affair, so have done just a little ‘branching out’ from the Staunton/Soviet bi-polar mentality. (🤓)

Though a different branch, I’m fairly confident of the relative quiet that would greet exposure. And that’s fair and fine. And great that we’re Kodachrome and ain’t nobody gonna take that away.

Not used really - not very ‘playable’ - but I love it:

Also not very playable, and definitely not to the taste of many, but its strange Sovietesque-grotesque/‘Close Encounters’ dna holds a strange attraction:

de gustibus non disputandum est!