Munich-36-pieces (Bundesform)

In addition to the pictures already shown by fellow collectors above, here is a picture of the full setup with one of the original Posingis clocks, one of the rarest chess clocks of all times, it seems.

Fascinating set. The clock fits right in, somehow.

I bought this set only knowing that it was German from the 80's and later discovered its history.  I was impressed by the knights and came to find out that they are way out of the original type.  I think this may be the closest the Bundesform gets to elegance.  It's a small set (8.5 cm king) and lightly weighted.  Goes well with my junkyard chess table find.

Bundesform- when I joined a small chess club in 1985 in Hamburg, it was all over the place. As a teenager I could never understand how these lipsticks/dildos could represent couriers (as bishop in German is called "Läufer", meaning runner or courier). Also king, queen and pawns were dulled by their simplified appearance compared to Papa's modest Stauntons. Featureless- except for the donuts. The rooks, unbreakable like all the set, turrets replaced by a razor sharp bird basin. It was only for the knights, that Bundesform had a distinct charme: because there were so many of them. The dog-like one, the bird-like one, the poodle, being done differently by different makers, and all mixing up within the club sets old,  older or new. A playing hall equipped with these pieces.. well, you forgot about it, of course, but it was also like a touch of blindfold, because the representation was so undercomplex. Like prisoners of post war setting up a tourney made out of clay during a break. (But, to tell the truth, we did not yearn for staunton, either). To me, the spread of the set is a trauma phenomenon. The less the pieces transported the beauty, the crazier it sprang from them. Club chess players were brought up with these, and the younger they got the less they knew about their origin. Time lifts the trauma, but the following generation feels responsibilities. As I said, the wornness and mingling of the sets from several decades with several sorts of horse's heads supplied an original authenticity and charme, these pieces were seen as a wild understatement, I guess, and at the same time as symbols of a past to work out. 

Fantastic number of pictures in this thread. #5 shows 3 knights- dogs, birds, apes, men, no horses, for sure. Magnus in #1 plays the popular version I call the Pudel, I wonder when that one originated?

Introduced at the '36 Olympiad to replace Staunton in Germany, they eliminated cross and mitre, turrets and horses. The pawns were reduced, too, everything is less alive. In its otherness Bundesform has little to do with Jaques- and with Man Ray. Man Ray had maths of king, queen and rook paired with seeds of pawns, music nurture and craft in the knight as violin and the bishop as an amphora. Bundesform is giving king and queen as gods, bishops as contraceptives, lipsticks, rockets , magic hats, syringes, knights as watch dogs of Hades, rooks as rukhs again, chariots, tanks, barrels, vases, canteens, pawns as mg belt, stahlhelmed units, uniformed workers and peasants.

Is it suitable for chess? It was used for 5 to 6 decades in German club play. Well, I found it ugly and I had fun playing with Bundesform. It was ours.

I close by posting two typical sets I use to revive Tandem sessions from the 80ies. And my two favourite sets, one old, unfelted, unweighted, one jolly antique.. one naively and one willfully breaking the spell. Both with horses that could break their ears. 

Do you know that Grob designed a very similar set? I found two of them in Swiss flea markets 

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/grob-not-the-opening-but-his-chess-set

You are all very terrible for bringing all these different chess sets to my attention

Now I had to go and buy that Bundesform set I found on eBay-kleinanzeigen (German Craigslist?). Fortunately it was only 22€ including shipping...

😂😂

My Bundesform arrived :-)

The black pieces have a few dents, but other than that I'm pretty happy with what I got for 22€

Great set, thanks for sharing!

Just found one of these sets in flea market, 10 Euros. Outstanding co dictionary of the pieces, pretty rough box condition, still in one piece, though. Unfortunately, the paper label inside the box is ripped. You can only read in German that it belonged to a chess club, with serial number 47. I somehow like the "spartan" look of it.

Do you know where I could get these “Design Pieces”? I think they’re beautiful.

The only comparable set I found is the Contemporary Series pieces sold by Regency, but it lacks some of the details of the above pieces, and the proportions are off.

Love that set!