Mint Soviet set from '82 'Laughing Llamas"!

...this BEAUTY just arrived and I am floored by it. From 1982 and in Perfect condition. The King is 11cm and the pieces are nice and CHUNKY . Their bottoms have that onion dome splay to them and are VERY stable yet still weighted. The (ALL WOOD) knights have the laughing llama faces that crack me up. The Bishops are the most amazing - talk about an hour glass figure !! The board has to be seen to be believed. Heavy lacquer and beautiful graining. As usual in Soviet era sets - too small for the pieces. This completes my collection of late version Soviet sets - a relief to some I know . Thanks for humoring me. Cheers -Ronbo 

Very nice Ron, thanks for sharing

Thanks Mike . One last pic on my DGT board for a less crowded look ... 

Nice.

Awesome Ron, a great match!

A most excellent set, Ron!

Ronbo,

congatulations on getting beautiful set. I have similar one, of couse not mint like yours. I got mine somewhere in the middle of eighties. My favorite set from all soviet chess pieces I ever saw alive. They are chunky, and weighty without anything added, just whole bare wood, and have low center of gravity. Like to play with them especialy blitz. Kings from my set had pins colored in opposite color, like on queens, but they gone long time ago. Those pins are pretty delicate portions and as far as I remember they always broken from usage and kids like to bite them off ;-) I repaired mine once, but they broke again, so I did not bother again.

Thanks for the comment . Yeah normally the finials are opposite color on the kings. I think these may have just been an error. I was amazed they have survived as well. For me this set is far too delicate for blitz. I leave that to the plastic ones. I love the shapes of these and low center of gravity too. Probably the most exotic looking of the Soviet era sets. Cheers - Ron

When I get a minute I'll pull mine out and check the finials.