Identifying Drueke Chess Sets (and Boards)

Thank you KnightsForkCafe; very good to know!

Thanks again to all who have shared their expertise in helping identify the chess sets. 

Please see this Drueke 26” board. What year(s) was it made? Original Drueke or later model?

Thank you again!

@Pawnerai, after your message that showed the 35H, i was motivated to go to storage and dig out my various Drueke sets. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I actually owned a 35H as well as a 36H. They both weigh 48 ounces, so there is no substantive difference between the two sets as far as I can tell. @MCH818, you are correct in identifying the last board as a Carrom era Drueke. Another telling difference in the Carrom boards is that they used Aspen for the withe squares rather than Drueke’s traditional maple. The router bit they edged the board with is different as well.

I had some conversations with Bill Drueke III about 5 years ago where he indicated that the edge router that the Drueke company used for their boards was unique to them, and was in his possession — it was not passed on to the company that bought Drueke, who then sold to Carrom. The original molds for the Player’s choice sets also were destroyed and did not convey to the new owners. As far as those board stickers, they are both genuine. The top one dates from the late 60’s through the 70’s. The bottom one is one of the original stickers used in the 50’s, but looks too new to be anything other than new old stock. I actually received several of these from Bill when I bought a NOS set from him. You are fortunate… none of my Drueke boards have surviving stickers.

I've never seen one like this before.

Yep — peeled off of another Drueke product and put on this board. Looks like a sticker from a Model 100 Play-a-way set from the sixties. I’ve been looking at and playing on Drueke products for over 50 years. This isn’t a board sticker.

Nah I don't believe that board is 50+ years old, there is hardly any patina showing.

What we consider "patina" is a product of age and use.  If it was hardly/never used it probably won't show much, if any.

Don't know if it's hardly been used, but the original label fell off and there is clear distinction in the color of the wood where the label has been. That tells me it's been in the open for some time. 50+ years the light squares should have developed nice patina but I don't see that here, that's odd to me.

Still it has its box ? not a bad board
Then there this one ! some TLC & bingo / not that bad for the price https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294529816732?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20180816085401%26meid%3Df649e1cfce174e8a9182d8bb9f0def1a%26pid%3D100970%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D294529816732%26itm%3D294529816732%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DDrueke&_trksid=p2380057.c100970.m5481&_trkparms=pageci%3A0b4bceeb-5125-11ec-bc78-66fd54284186%7Cparentrq%3A6c35daf217d0a44c1f29ee37ffead298%7Ciid%3A1

MCH818  How  about you buy me this first generation Drueke board as a nice christmas present before lock down round 3 or 4 , As the shipping+ Import tax+ vat+ fee is way too much for me . LOL

How about my kurt cobain action figure in it packet ?

MCH818  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-59489553

Just think in time how rare this is !

I bet with the golden bikini pays a bit more.

A mysterious Drueke model. Please help to identify this.Take a look at this knight. It's different from any of the photos I saw here. Notice the unicorn mane and the indentations on the side are different. And there is a ring of plastic below the belly.
I bought this set new in 2003 or 2004 or something like that. It was sold as a set with a bag and mousepad board. Advertised as a Drueke Travel Kit. Here are two links to folks who sold it. I bought it from Chess Express.

• https://www.hayneedle.com/product/druekeultimatetravelchessset.cfm
• https://chessexpress.stores.turbify.net/druektravche.html

These pieces are true triple-weighted and awesome.

My story of woe: My dog destroyed a number of the pieces and I am searching for a replacement set. I cannot find it. Anywhere. I have been looking for years. And all the photos out there are not for this set.

Can one of you positively identify this set?

From Hayneedle (a vendor)

t0dd0000 wrote:

A mysterious Drueke model. Please help to identify this.Take a look at this knight. It's different from any of the photos I saw here. Notice the unicorn mane and the indentations on the side are different. And there is a ring of plastic below the belly.
I bought this set new in 2003 or 2004 or something like that. It was sold as a set with a bag and mousepad board. Advertised as a Drueke Travel Kit. Here are two links to folks who sold it. I bought it from Chess Express.

• https://www.hayneedle.com/product/druekeultimatetravelchessset.cfm
• https://chessexpress.stores.turbify.net/druektravche.html

These pieces are true triple-weighted and awesome.

My story of woe: My dog destroyed a number of the pieces and I am searching for a replacement set. I cannot find it. Anywhere. I have been looking for years. And all the photos out there are not for this set.

Can one of you positively identify this set?

From Hayneedle (a vendor) More pieces. They are of tournament size. Note the chewed up rook.

t0dd0000, That set was a Chinese or Indian import marketed under the Drueke name after Carrom bought the company in the early 1990’s. Carrom has long since discontinued all Drueke products except a couple of cribbage boards. The only way you may find one is to keep looking on Ebay. One may turn up eventually. As it happens, I have a Boxwood and Rosewood set marketed under the Drueke label about the same time. You can see some similarity in the knights. If you have any interest you can private message me on chess.com. I can let you have it for what a new decent plastic set cost… $4o plus shipping. Shown on a DRueke board with 2.25” squares. Obviously, board NOT included!

Alternatively, if you really want plastic, you might consider the Ultimate pieces sold by the Rochester Chess Center run by Shelby Lohrmann:

https://www.chessset.com/ultimate-chess-set.html

As per research Drueke made only player's choice chessmen and their famous boards. All other designs seem to marketing variants used by sellers.

Yeah. My bag, my pieces, and my board all say Drueke. It may be Carrom's Drueke, but … Regardless, it was the best plastic set I ever put my hands on.

I just bought a Drueke board and set of wood pieces. I am really enjoying it. Square is 1.75", King is 3" tall. Any information about which set this is appreciated!