The 1885 Leipzig "Augustea" Chess Set in a Limited Edition

@sound67 historic authenticity does not dictate that, so they are available if a collector wants them (as are king side markings). But they are not provided in the standard setup.

One of the nicest looking German sets , What is the black side like ?

Love the knights long flowing manes .

@lighthouse - the six pieces shown on the picture are the sample pieces with which we finalized the design. We have just started the production of the sets and as soon as the first black pieces are ready, I will post new pictures. But even then it will most likely not be a full set I can show, because the knights will take the longest time to produce. But I guess seeing a mix of black and white pieces on a board will already give a much better impression of how the set will look like in the end.

@EfimLG47, Thank you for bringing the Leipzig "Augustea" chess set to life. Unfortunately I am not at liberty to purchase a new chess set these days... but having said that, I find the resurrected pieces to be beautiful and faithful to the 1885 catalogue drawing. While others have mentioned the king and queen seeming sort of top heavy, I was intrigued by the slight wrinkles, or reflections, seen on top of the queen's coronet. They gave the set a very realistic touch, differentiating it from English Staunton's. Next immediate question that popped up in my mind was which actual queen could it have been based on. After some searching, it turns out Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was the Queen of Prussia from 1861 until her death in 1888.

Could she be why the Leipzig chess club was called "Augustea"? I'm not familiar with Prussian history so perhaps this information is common knowledge in Germany. Just wondering the potential connection of Queen Augusta with the 1885 Leipzig "Augustea" chess set.

@zagryan, that is an interesting theory. I tried to investigate the history of the club myself, but could not yet find any comprehensive material on its founding. The name itself is mentioned very often as the club was one of the leading in the country with some of the strong players being members. But I could not find anything so far on its founding let alone the background of its name. I do not think, though, that the set has anything to do with the later Queen Augusta. The reason is rather simple. The "Augustea" chess club was already founded in 1848, when the later Queen Augusta did not yet play an important role in the region. The sovereign ruling over the state of Saxony at that time was prince elector Friedrich August II. Since his second name was "August" it may have been a reference to him. His predecessor was prince elector Friedrich August I., who also became King of Poland. He was known under the name "August, the strong" and is until today some sort of father figure for the Saxonians. My assumption is therefore that the "Augustea" club was named as reference to either of these two. Further, it could also be a reference to Gustavus Selenus, who undoubtedly had a great impact on German chess with his famous book "Das Schach- oder König-Spiel". Gustavus Selenus is just an alias. The person behind it was Duke August of Brunswick-Luneburg (with Gustavus being an anagram of Avgustus). The famous library in Wolfenbüttel hosting his book collection, which by the time of his death in 1666 probably was the largest in the world with an estimated 135,000 titles, was named "Augustea" in his memory. So why not also the chess club in Leipzig? It is another possible explanation.

Just emphasizing the amazing job done in reproducing this set. I appreciate the attention to detail.

First of all, congratulations to EfimLG47 for reproducing this set.

Second, congratulations on selling all 20 limited production runs.

I was quite intrigued about the shapes of the heads of the king, queen and bishop pieces. I was wondering where the inspiration for the 2013 WCC pieces came from. I cannot help but notice the similarities.

Augustea design:

FIDE 2013 WCC design:

Holger did a great job with this reproduction. However, I really like Holger's other Leipzig set which is an original set. He posted it in this thread under #817. https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/post-youre-chess-sets?page=41 It is the same as this set except the knight is better in my opinion.

Thank you all very much for the positive feedback. Very much appreciated!

Here are some pictures of the actual pieces. It took us a long time, but we are very content with the result and it seems the collectors, who bought the limited edition are very happy with the set as well.

We started the reproduction mainly because no one knew of an original set as shown in the catalogue of 1885. It was only after we had started with the design and production that I got hold of a set that had a very large similarity with the set shown in the catalogue. And since this set could even be traced back to Leipzig, I considered it an original despite the discrepancies in comparison with the engraving in the catalogue, in particular regarding the knight. Here are some pictures for comparison.

That’s funny. Even during the 1800s, manufacturers were already exercising creative liberties at reproducing chess sets that were already defined in their catalogs. Imagine that!

Killer set of pieces!

@EfimLG47 With both sets side by side I still have to say I prefer the original set on the right. I just think that knight is awesome!

Limited edition reproduction has stamped leather base pads. Touch of quality!

Self-praise is not really my thing, but this excellent review by Guy Lyons should not be missed.

@brasileirosim - Merci vielmals!

Such a elegant chess set !

Beautiful, exceptional! It will be the chess set some future collectors in the next century would be scouting for. An 1849 version of this century. Well done Dr. Holger. FIDE should approach you to use this set in some tournaments. Heck, I miss this. Will it be for sale again?