The Nimzowitsch Set

The great maestro once played a game with these. That's right, one game. I worship, sue me.

A father of a prominent late Slovenian pianist Janez Lovše (1933 - 2012) was an avid chess player and as the story goes once played a game against Nimzowitsch (in a simul) and lost.

(More photos on my blog.)

-Izmet

I believe.

This set is a variation (a German variation) of the "Old Vienna & Coffeehouse Chess Sets" and the story is:

"The old Vienna or Coffeehouse style evolved from the earlier Biedermeier chessmen - probably influenced by the arrival of the Staunton style!  These sturdy and serviceable chessmen - fairly easy to make for the numerous turnings shops in existence in those days - became the standard in Central Europe - the lands of the Austrian monarchy as well as Germany , Switzerland , and Northern Italy. major tournaments like Vienna 1898, Semmering 1927, and Karlsbad 1929 were played with these chess pieces." 

http://www.chess-museum.com/

Nimzowitsch in Carklsbad 29, with a similar set

Good catch, thanks for the info!

Here's another Old Vienna Coffeehouse set from same period belonging to a friend. These were obviously very popular in these parts (Slovenia) at the start of last century:

-Izmet

I always thought this design was pre-Staunton. After all they look more like English/Edinborough/Northern "Upright" pieces: (here's na example from the Crumiller Collection http://www.crumiller.com/chess/chess_pages/northernupright/Wooden_Northern_upright.htm which certainly pre-date the Staunton design, than they do Staunton. If you replace the British mitre on the Bishop with the Austrian opposite color top (The Bishop in Austria at that time is a man or runner, not a clergyman, so not mitre,) and the Queen's orb top wtih a crown then you pretty much get an Old Vienna set, and crowned Queens were not new in the 19th century. That top was not as common as the orb but not uncommon... also the Queen (and king) finials on the Vienna sets look nothing like Staunton anyway. Who's to say which came first? As far as evolving from earlier Beidermier sets, clearly Beidermier sets continued being made far into the 20th century. I don't see any evidence that the thinner sets are earlier. It seems just as likely they're simply thinner, like similar better-known variations in English sets over this period.

Now maybe every collector or dealer who's dated one of these pre-1849 had a case of wishful thinking as they like to date their stuff as old as possible, lol, but I don't see why it isn't possible. (I don't mean Nimzo's set in particular, this one looks pretty obviously early 20th century; look at the knights.)

I can't remember where I read about the dominance of the Staunton set when it became written in the rules what a tournament set could and couldn't be and one of the restrictions was that the Bishop should be marked by a cut mitre or an opposite color top. These were the only sets allowed along side Stauntons in serious tournaments well into the 20th century... just because the design was so successful you have later examples of it doesn't mean it's not old, however. At the risk of beating a dead horse these look similar to Staunton but no more than a lot of known pre-Staunton sets from other countries. Jaques and Cooke took the world by storm, certainly, but we don't need to give them credit for this design as well.