Time for Ganine

Here are some pieces that I recently picked up for the price of slab of beer. They break all my own rules!! It’s not wood (… it’s Bakelite). I generally don’t buy these sort of figural/facial sets but some time ago, I saw this Ganine design online and I was taken by it …the faces are so stern and menacing. I was able to inspect the pieces before purchase and for a plastic set … the pieces are beautiful and tactile - they feel great and are lightly weighted. 

I love that the set is 60-65 years old …and in spectacular nick. I am fair dinkum stoked and for a bit of fun, I have matched them to my restored antique board. For those interested, the photos of the whole board represent the colour of the pieces most accurately. 

Thats cool, they look good on the board.  

Congrats! I hope you enjoy this set a lot.

Thanks for sharing the info and pics.

Very nice set in excellent condition, Sir!  Welcome to the club - soon you'll be hunting for a nicely marbled 1471, an elusive red & white Superba, and one of the original-original red/black designs, hahaha!

"They break all my own rules" I know a thing or two about that...Great looking set. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome pictures! So… when does the new room addition begin construction? 😉

That's a very nice set and goes great on that board,of which I remember it's story.I used to see very similar sets in NYC when I worked there years ago(a lot).They were commonly found in many of the tourist stores around mid town Manhattan....Clearly a desirable set of chess pieces.

Darn! How much is a beer in Aussie Town?

These pieces are a joy. They sit on refurbished 60’s chess table and like now, sometimes I just pick ‘em up and admire them. Weird, I know. 😳Yet, here is a cheap set…but, so beautifully moulded (in Bakelite) that they are quite captivating - even under the evening lamp light ….quite cool, I reckon. 

I think I remember reading that these sets were made of melamine but I may be mistaken.  Yours is a Salon, right?  And in great shape, too!  Now starts your search for a nicely marbled Tournament set...  

What even is that???

The pieces have faces!!!! 

Just some observations:  The salon edition is made of a common plastic (not melamine and most certainly not Bakelite).  The board is gorgeous! Fantastic colored woods.  I like the Ganine gothic chessmen a lot (own a number of variants).  But something more classy needs to be up on that great board.  A Universum modernist design wood (pun intended) go well with it.  A flashy red and butterscotch Bakelite Staunton set would also be nice.  (A little gaudy, but that's just me).  Enjoy your fine board and set.  One last comment: the salon edition also came in red and ivory color combo.  Oh, and a marbled white and jet black.  Oh, and a marbled brown too.  Oh and some bizarre color changelings (I'm just showing off).  I'm gonna go now.  

@dwolf359 - Thank you for your observations and for correcting the nature of the material. My apologies for misleading folk with my lack of understanding. The board gets a few sets on rotation / here it currently stands with more traditional, vintage pieces.

@PowderDigit That wood combo looks really good.

Yeah! I give you two years before you're making one like that.