Club Size, 1974 Olympiad Lardy set (aka.) The GIGA-LARDY

Working from home Friday, I hear a heavy THUNK at the front door. The Eagle has landed. Time to take a break from work and investigate.

Club Size, 1974 Olympiad Lardy set. As far as I know, it's the biggest, rarest 1974 Olympiad set made. 4.75" King with 2" base. The box is 11 x 6.25 x 4(high). Vintage "Carlton Product" label on the outside. Lardy label on the inside. This thing is massive. I think I'll call it, The Giga-Lardy. LOL

According to chess-museum.com
"Lardy Club Set - The top of the line in Lardy, these very large and heavily weighted sets were only produced in minor numbers - very few clubs would use these sets as they are way beyond the FIDE limit of 95 mm king size for tournament pieces"

Hmmm... the shipping box is toast after the 3250 mile journey.

BOOM. The 4.75" King practically dwarfs the 3.75" Sinquefield King. The Camaratta Craftsman Knight just got adopted. (!!)

Pawn comparison on 2.25" board.

For comparison, here is the King next to a 3.75" set.

Wow, that is an impressive set. How hard was it to hunt this down? I am very jealous.

Looks like it took a small forest to make that set. 

If you're diligent, 3.75" King, 1974 Olympiad Lardy sets pop up once in while. Maybe 2-3 a year. Of those, maybe 1 is in good shape with minimal leans. I've never seen another 4.75" King, 1974 Olympiad "Giga-Lardy" offered for sale. 

The fact that these Olympiad sets were sold as commemorative souvenirs 50 years ago, I think many people treated the sets more kindly than the common Lardy sets out there. Less frequent, careful use. Good luck in the hunt! 

No room for another Drueke board. I have a reminder set to contact Shelby after his Holiday crush to see what he can do for me on his backroom mousepad printer. 

@CAMikaze385 I wasn't planning on selling it. But I guess if you made an offer I can't refuse... By private message of course. 

Such big wooden board for that set is actually quite handy. Every Friday when my friends coming over, I put cloth over it and we play poker on it.

DISASTER! The 4.75" Olympiad Lardy set is so big it does not fit the Plano 3700 Stowaway cases I just started transitioning my collection to. LOL GGRRRRrrr!!

What a great "disaster" to have. 

Since it doesn't fit, I'll take the set off your hands ...

Pawnerai, not to be dense, but why on earth would you put it in a Plano box when it came with the original Lardy ‘74 marked box? Just wondering…

Perfectly normal question. Hah!

I don't have room in my home office for all the odd size wood boxes my random chess sets come in. Having my sets in similar sized and shape Plano boxes makes it easier for me to stack and access them all. 

It also saves wear and tear on the original vintage boxes. Many of my vintage sets do not come in finely crafted, finger-jointed, mahogany boxes. Not exactly sure what these boxes are made of, but it's a soft wood. And pretty thin. Yes, they've lasted 40-50 years, but I'm sure they've been sitting on a dusty shelf, untouched for the last 20 years. 

And lastly, the pieces are all loose and rattling around in the original boxes. I'd rather store my "fancy sets" in compartmentalized trays, to minimize dings and scuffing. My "daily play" sets (German Knight, Chavet, Ultimates, etc) go in zippered pouches, I don't care as much if they are rattling around. Hah.

I recently got this large club size Lardy set with 4.75” Kings. Its box has the 1974 Olympiad sticker but it is outside unlike the other samples I have seen. This makes me wonder if this really commemorative set, or has someone just put the sticker on it later? (It doesn’t really matter as I love the set, just wondering)

@ramip  I am by no means a Lardy expert but, it looks to me like someone removed and repositioned the label from inside the box lid to glue felt along the interior of the box.

Nice board! What's the size of the squares? Is it new or vintage?

Thank you  I also immediately grabbed this when I saw it on eBay, especially as it doesn’t have much Lardy lean. 

I just came across one of these. Looks like it has never even been opened before. Also got it for next to nothing (luckily). Way too big for my sensibilities - but it's nice to have.

Thanks. I also have another Lardy Olympiad 74 set - but quote small - too small, actually. So I have I e huge one and one tiny one. Feels.like a tale of the three bears!

While researching the matter I found out that @countertheory hasn't taken a good look at his set, as it is actually not the giga lardy that he is claiming it to be . Unless it is a set we haven't seen yet on the forum - pics? I'm still jealous at that price though.

I found myself in a bidding war ending up winning one today (not the olympiad set, but very similar vintage). Not that I have a board that even fits those pieces, but It was the one that was still missing - It never ends does it...

@Broomstuck I don't think I ever claimed that I had a 74 Olympiad 4.75 - looking back at what I quoted from the other poster, I think I meant that I had just picked up a 74 Olympiad 3.75. Sorry for the confusion - now I see that it is ambiguous. HOWEVER, I do have two of these 4.75 inch King Lardy sets, just not 74 Olympiad. At least, I think that's the case - I'm living abroad at the moment so I can't check straight away.

I also just picked up a 74 Olympiad 3.75 set with the glass eyes, which is another animal altogether.