The Five Knights of Lockdown

Thanks @Jacmater. I have had a number of insightful discussions offline - my current belief is that this is reproduction piece - maybe made in Italy during the 1960’s or 70’s to replicate the type of table made in the 1880’s. As I mentioned in my post, I think it is a lovely table and I am happy to have this high-quality piece to play chess upon.

Yes, it is Italian.

Very nice find my friend! Thanks for sharing this with us.

What a thread! The dickensian saga of a collector of chess sets! So Powder, it would be interesting (to me at least) to here tou offer a summary as of January 2024 about how your taste in chess piece design has evolved. What did tou love and value once that you no longer love? What has jumped ahead over the years? Are there any bog themes?

Can’t take him at face value. 🤓

Ha!! @baudouin27 - what excellent questions and I will answer when I have more time. Indeed, I could have sworn another person started a thread recently discussing their own journey and I was going to add to that … and yet, I can’t find that thread now.

I guess I am now a collector! Happy to share my thoughts and learnings, and be assured my tastes have changed markedly but I still enjoy curating a broad and varied array of pieces.

If there is one overarching theme currently - it’s a general move from complex and heavy to simple and lightly weighted ….

But there are contradictions in my own mind everywhere and everyday … one thing can be sure - I will continue to evolve and change my thinking as my knowledge and experience grows.

Powder, ‘ha’ indeed! I started that ‘journey’ thread yesterday, but thought better of it today, so deleted it! 😂 Then your thread appeared and naturally it drew me in. I’m looking to ‘compare notes’……. I started *not collecting* a little after you - and am still not collecting! [Although I did purchase some nice sets once upon a time in Poland.]

Like tables?

Ha! Oh this is going to be difficult…. 😆🤦‍♂️I should have clarified - “current theme about pieces” … I only have 3 tables now but many boards … alas … my collecting journey is full swings and roundabouts … trying clarify and bring sense to my thoughts may create more questions than answers. @baudouin27 - perhaps re-start your thread, I think it will be interesting to see many people’s journey.

@Powder. Agreed although intimidating with the many here who have written scholarly books and articles, and built museum-worthy collections.

As someone who considers themself a "non-collector", yet has a fairly extensive group of chess sets (though most of them are reproductions except for a couple of small sets from the late '40's I inherited from my grandfather) I can sympathize with @Powderdigit on this issue. I also have a basically inactive thread here showing a lot of my sets, but since I have not posted anything on it in almost a year and a half despite acquiring a few more sets, I understand the difficulty he faces. My own thread got a bit derailed when I joined a local chess club and started meeting a couple of times a week to play, and therefore started studying a lot more as I quickly found out how rusty my own game had become through years of inactivity.

As things are now, It is space which is limiting my chess expansion. If I am to purchase any large item in the future it would have to be a bookcase, as currently I have stacks of books on my table and the floor near the table. My sets are stored in my closet, except for whichever one I have currently rotated to my table for use. I don't think my embarrassing number of chess books on my Kindle counts, as they at least do not take up any extra space. Tonight, I will meet with the Beaverton Chess Club and will take my Tempest Chess set with the magnetic board and lovely bag and use my Reykjavik pieces. I will also be playing this Saturday at our secondary chess club which meets a couple of times a month at the Shute Park Library in Hillsboro, the next small town west of Beaverton. Also, this past December I helped our club founder at a Junior USCF tournament he organized. Working with the kids was a lot of fun, and this was the second year I have helped out there.

I also bought myself a Christmas present and decided to pay for the upgrade on Levy Rozman's Chessly website to the 2.0 version. As I already had purchased one of his courses individually, I was given VIP status and was able to get the year of use for $45. This includes all of the courses on his site, which has been greatly expanded, with more courses on the way. I have been studying every day, especially the opening courses which I have been recently playing. It all keeps me very busy, and since I am a retired old man, I can wholeheartedly say that having a hobby you love is a very good thing, even if it takes up too much space and a lot of your time.

p.s. @Powder. That is a very nice chess table, and it beats the heck out of my crowded Ikea table, and your chair looks very comfortable too. One of these days I will make time to get some photos posted of my Tempest set, Chavet pieces, or maybe my CWW Drueke board. One of these days...

This is my favourite thread in the whole forum, and I'm glad, it's still alive. And I'm looking forward to other 'journey' threads. 🤗

Glad I'm not the only retired old man here.

My chess collector's syndrome has dramatically slowed down.Firstly, no more reasonable room and secondly, other fun hobbies. Not to mention my tastes tend to run on the pricey side.

Then, there's an understanding wife who I don't need to piss off with my spending sprees.

Sometimes enough is "really" enough.

Happy for all of you folks though.

A real pleasure seeing your treasures.

That sounds interesting! What´s more to your taste than hoarding chess pieces? Music? Fast cars? Drinking? Chasing women? Philosophy? Please tell!

edit. Sorry, I didn´t see that you mentioned your wife so chasing women, of course, is a non starter. What about fishing?

Ha! Besides chess, I have an extensive collection of alpha binoculars, of various magnifications and aperture sizes, which I mostly use for astronomy. Even with a small hand held bino there's a ton of cool stuff up there. Very relaxing after a blunder peeves me.

Music on a good sound system is something I've always loved. Good T.V. and sports....Tennis, MMA & boxing and American Football. I played guitar for years, before hand pain caused me to halt. Now, I spend a good amount of time in the gym, which I've done for 40 years.

Old but really fit. Have to stay that way to keep up with 5 little grandkids.

Btw, I should mention that I get real pleasure seeing the enthusiasm and sheer joy many of you folks seem to have as you share your sets, boards and cool chess finds.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit you've cost me a few dollars.

Thanks Magic and all. @PDX_Axe - hopefully you revive your thread and post more pictures of sets in your collection. 
Life is throwing some big curve balls at me at present - so my time for commentary is limited. However, I’ve mentioned in the past that the connections, conversations and friendships developed through collecting are one of the great aspects, for me. This was highlighted over the past week when I met a local french couple with whom I had great chat and picked up a couple of wonderful 1970’s Lardy’s. My delight was then compounded when I received some wonderful vintage (1960’) sets from a friend who lives in France, including a Size 6 Henri Chavet in Rosewood and Olivewood with glass eyes knights and a Size 6 Ernest Vincent too.

[Edited to correct an attribution. My apologies - I am moving too fast with a lot on in life at present and I seem to have made an incorrect attribution below. I think, rather than “Ernest Vincent” - that set may be better attributed to “Pichon and Vincent”.]

In a separate thread, I listed my favourite playable pieces. I copied this list below. This will need to be changed to accomodate these new pieces … the Size 6 Chavet will find its way to the top of the tree … in the meantime.. a few pics … I am fortunate to have these and grateful to my friend.

My list below will be updated in due course 😊
1. GM Sandor Biro - Romanian Hungarian - red stained maple 2022

2. Henri Chavet - No. 4 - green stained Jura (wood from Jura mountains) - circa 1970’s.

3. Royal Chess Mall 1950’s Dubrovnik Reproduction - mahogany stained boxwood - 2023

4. Chess Villa - 1849 Jaques Reproduction / mahogany stained boxwood - 2024

5. Philippines Staunton - kamagong and Narra wood - 1972

6. Bakelite ‘magistral knight’ - Caramel and Maroon Bakelite - circa 1950’

7. Slim Stem ‘dogface’- Jura wood (wood from Jura mountains, I think) - early 20th century

 

Special mention

- Lardy -1974 Olympiad edition- Size 3.

- Danish Union - wooden circa 1950’s

- Austrian Coffee House - fruit wood and black stained - circa 1900

 

The way to treat those is to hit them out of the park. Do that and be back soon!