"chess set", "chess sets", "chess pieces", "chess museum", "schaak"
 

“Coffeehouse”  (Austria)

Austria. This compendium, which is most likely from Vienna, contains a very nice "Coffeehouse" set with board. Further it has a 45 pieces domino set made of bone and ebony as well as a 2x16 counters set of wood. Some counters replaced. There are 4 little boxes with card suits shields and 4 cups. No other things. I have added a double Vienna card set of more recent date. Nice feature is that a spring will lift up the chess set when you open the box!

« of 10 »
  • Austria, "coffeehouse" compendium
  • ca. 1900
  • Wood K 6.1; p 2.9
  • Box 34.0×25.0×12.6
  • Board 23.7×13.1×3.1 (closed)

Austria. This Coffeehouse set is from Vienna. It is very rare to have urns on the bishops. I would consider this the "missing link" between Biedermeier proper and Old Vienna style. Absolutely the best and most interesting set of this group, in spite of its damage.

« of 3 »
  • Austria, Vienna, "coffeehouse"
  • ca. 1900
  • Boxwood? K 8.4; p 3.7

Austria. These 2 sets are normal Vienna coffeehouse sets, but any of them could have been made in Borstendorf. The 1st of these 2 sets was purchased in Vienna and the 2nd at eBay from a German seller in Pulheim. The latter came in a peculiar carton box with a logo consisting of a triangle with "PWS" in it and the text "Echt englische Schach-Figuren Nr. 1". No idea what the logo means. There existed a pipe making company named "Philipp Weiss & Söhne" in Vienna, but I could not link the logo to that company. I doubt if that box is original to he set as well, because the description is weird for a Vienna coffeehouse set.

« of 4 »
  • Austria, Vienna, "coffeehouse"
  • Early 20th century
  • Wood K 7.3; p 3.3
  • Could have been made in Borstendorf as well
« of 5 »
  • Austria, Vienna, "coffeehouse"
  • 1st half 20th century
  • Maple K 7.4; p 3.5
  • Box 14.4×8.4×6.9 (most likely not original to set)
  • Could have been made in Borstendorf as well

Austria. This is a series of 6 early plastic sets. Some, or all, are made of Galalith. Pieces of that material have been turned and cut like the wooden and bone pieces of that time. If you take a close look at the pictures you can see the marks of the turning on these pieces. It was not possible to use moulds with Galalith. One or two of the sets may be Catalin or another plastic. Catalin requires pieces individually polished. The small size suggests they were made for game sets or for compendiums.

The first 2 sets in the list are part of a nice wooden casket compendium with pieces that have holes in the bottom, in order to fit over pins on box and doors or the tray that can be used to lift them out the box. One could think that motivation for using plastic is always making it cheaper to produce and improving the commercial margin. That is true for later polymer plastic, which easily could be made in moulds without later additional work. But I believe that wasn't the reason for using Galalith or Catalin. The amount of work with these material is as much as with wood or bone, and I do not believe that the material was cheaper. In contrary! Another indication is that these sets, in spite of the amount you see here, are extremely rare and seldom offered on the market. This is particular true for the small travel set you see here.

Condition of these sets is good, but there are some missing pieces: 2nd set misses black pawn (replaced by white wooden!), 5th set misses red Knight (replaced by wooden) an 6th set misses white rook and 3 white pawns.

« of 4 »
  • Austria, "coffeehouse" compendium
  • Early 20th century
  • Galalith K 5.0; p 2.8
  • Box 32.7×23.7×13.0
  • Board 26.5×26.0
« of 4 »
  • Austria, "coffeehouse" compendium
  • Early 20th century
  • Galalith K 5.5; p 2.9
  • Box 37.5×21.3×11.9
  • Board 29.0×28.8×1.1
« of 5 »
  • Austria, "coffeehouse"
  • Early 20th century
  • Galalith K 5.8; p 3.0
  • Box 14.9×12.0×5.9
« of 7 »
  • Austria, "coffeehouse"
  • Early 20th century
  • Galalith K 2.8; p 1.4 (without pin)
  • Box/board 12.8×6.4×3.1 (closed)
« of 3 »
  • Austria, "coffeehouse"
  • Early 20th century
  • Galalith? K 5.8; p 2.9
« of 4 »
  • Austria, "coffeehouse"
  • Early 20th century
  • Galalith? K 4.3; p 2.6

Austria. Striated bishops balls are typical on Viennese sets. Also the size is typical for sets used in the coffee-houses in Vienna. I believe these sets were in use in the coffee-houses till the mid 60ies of the 20th century.

« of 4 »
  • Austria, Vienna, large "coffeehouse"
  • 1932 (date in box)
  • Wood K 10.2; p 5.3
  • Original box/board 41.5×20.8×6.4

Austria. The last set is a post war Nekvasil set with the unspeakably primitive knights, made for coffeehouse use or as part of a compendium, considering the size and the fact that pieces have a hole in the bottom.

« of 4 »
  • Austria, Vienna, by Nekvasil, "coffeehouse"
  • Mid 20th century
  • Wood K 7.0; p 3.5
  • Likely this set is of a compendium