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

Curiosities

Belgium. Sorry for the quality of the pictures this time. Have to make better ones. The 1st series (see picture 1&2) has 32 numbered pieces, forming a complete chess set. The other series do have only 1 for each different piece. I have series B,C,E and F, according seller. This suggests that there are more of these series. For instance A and D?

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  • Belgium, by Vieil Anvers (Oud Antwerpen)
  • 1960
  • Cigar bands with chess pieces 6.4×3.0

Belgium. Nice paper model for chess set and board.

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  • Belgium, by Casterman, design by François Craenhals, "De koene ridder"
  • 1991
  • Cardboard folding plate 65.6×29.6

Canada. Learning about chess openings while you are playing cards? Not sure that's such a good idea!

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  • Canada
  • 2000
  • Cards with chess openings
  • Box 9.4×6.2×1.8

England. Penbritin (Ampicillin) was the first 'broad spectrum' penicillin with activity against Gram-positive bacteria. In 1961, Penbritin hit the market, and soon Beecham's facilities were inadequate for the worldwide demand. A 35-acre (140,000 m2) complex at Worthing came on line in the early 1960s to produce phenethicillin, followed by 6-APA, the base for semi-synthetic penicillins. I have 2 boxes and 3 sets pieces of which one without pills.

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  • England, by Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline), "Penbritin" (antibiotic)
  • 1961
  • Plastic K 6.5; p 4.5
  • Box 38.8×19.3×3.4

France. These Jonchets pieces are often confused with chess pieces. Sometimes you see a complete chess set, but I doubt if those are real. It is supposed that the pieces were in use at the beach in the sand (at Dieppe? which has rocks!) or on a pillow. Once I have seen someone trying to play using a pillow, but after a few moves he stopped, being afraid to break the pieces because it needed quite some force to get the pieces into the pillow.

  • France, Jonchets pieces
  • 18th-19th century
  • Bone 10.4-11.5 (inclusive pins)

France. Another collection of Jonchets pieces, but still no complete chess set.

  • France, Jonchets pieces
  • 18th-19th century
  • Bone several sizes

Germany. Very nice antique paper model for a chess set. The company still exists today as part of the "Stuttgarter Klett-Gruppe".

  • Germany, by J.F.S.i.E. (Jakob Ferdinand Schreiber in Esslingen) "Mod: Cart:Nro: 1056"
  • 1895
  • Cardboard folding plate 42.9×36.0

Germany. A game as alternative for chess.

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  • Germany, "Wehrschach Tak-Tik"
  • 1941
  • Plastic and glass, 1.8-4.4
  • Box 19.8×19.8×3.2
  • Cardboard board 37.0×36.9
  • The note states that, due to the war, the usual quality of the material is not met

Germany. Another chess set to be folded from paper, in this case as part of a book.

  • Germany, Berlin, by Verlag Erich Klinghammer, "Das Große Spielmagazin"
  • 1942
  • Pieces folding plates 13+14: 14.0×20.7
  • Board folding plate 1: 20.0×28.9
  • Book has 18 plates from which 39 games, including a chess set, can be made

Germany. If you have enough of playing cards you can play a chess match with these. However you need a lot of space to lay out all he cards! The card set itself is meant for "Schafkopf", a German card game for 4 players, which is still very popular in Bavaria. The game has 4 suits: Acorns, Leaves, Hearts and Bells, and 8 cards in each suit: Ace, King, Ober, Unter, 10, 9, 8 and 7. Sometimes it is played with less cards, but also a 6 could be added.

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  • Germany, by Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg GmbH
  • 1960
  • Cards with chess pieces
  • Box 9.5×6.4×1.7

Germany. Creation of the chess board and the initial position while playing can lead to the most crazy Chess matches! See the pictures to get an impression of how it works.

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  • Germany, by Hexagames, "Staunton"
  • Design by Roland Siegers, "Schach plus"
  • 1986
  • Wood K 5.5; p 2.7
  • Box 29.7×13.5×5.2
  • Board fields 4.0×4.0×0.4 individually
  • The game starts with building the board, including an initial position

Germany. I do drink coffee without sugar, so it was easy to let these filled 😉 Now it is a complete chess set. More than complete: I have some extra pieces, also in different colour.

  • Germany
  • 2000
  • Sugar boxes with chess pieces 3.4×1.7×1.0

Hungary. Just some promotional ware. With a couple of miniatures that Adorjan won!

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  • Hungary, Budapest
  • 1980
  • Promotion material; pieces plastic Ø 1.6
  • Board 20.6×15.8

Italy. I do not dare to eat this chocolate today!

  • Italy
  • 1960
  • Chocolates with chess pieces 2.5×2.5×1.2

Japan. This a nice netsuke of 2 playing men. They are not playing chess however, but I think it is go. It is a very nice piece of carving.

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  • Japan, "men playing chess (go!)"
  • 1940
  • Ivory netsuke 3.7×2.8×3.3

Japan. A "Chess" set from Canon Creative Park. It can be found online where it can be downloaded. You must print it yourself.

  • Japan, Canon Creative Park
  • 2009
  • Paper K 3.9; p 2.5
  • Box 9.6×9.6×2.4
  • Board 21.7×21.7

Netherlands. Make you own pieces out of this plywood (triplex) using a scroll saw. Then glue the pieces together and paint them either in a solid colour or in multiple colour following the lines. At last you can make a 40x40 cm chessboard of plywood (triplex) as well. The latter not included however. The plate was found in a shed and had suffered from moisture and mold. Could not remove it all without damaging the print.

  • Netherlands, by Petunia production, design by Jitske Struik
  • 1975
  • Triplex 42.0×29.7×0.6

Netherlands. There exists a whole range of different games put in a CD box. Chess is one of them. Here some variations, all from Netherlands.

  • Netherlands, by Epini
  • 1980
  • CD boxes with chess set pieces Ø 1.0
  • Box/board 14.1×12.5×1.0
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  • Netherlands, Reader's Digest
  • 1990
  • CD boxes with chess set pieces Ø 1.2 and 0.4 thick
  • Box/board 14.1×12.5×1.0
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  • Netherlands, AD compact magneetspel
  • 1994
  • CD boxes with chess set pieces Ø 1.2 and 0.4 thick
  • Box/board 14.1×12.5×1.0

Netherlands. Cees van Olst, who passed away in the night of 9-10 November 2014, was a glass artist and owner/director of the "Glasmuseum Hoogeveen" (now closed). He made chess sets which were used by the "kroongroep" during the first years  of the tournament in Hoogeveen. That tournament did have several sponsors: VAM (1997-1999), Essent (2000-2008) and Univé (from 2009). Cees van Olst made also some giant glass pieces. The small pieces, which can be used as pendant, were made by him as example. There were several different ones, but I do have only a pawn.

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  • Netherlands, by Cees van Olst, pawn
  • 1980
  • Glass 3.4
  • Cees van Olst, director of the "Glasmuseum Hoogeveen", made this as example for his glass pieces for the Essent tournament

Netherlands. Just a single large bishop for decoration or being used as paperweight.

  • Netherlands, "Staunton" large bishop
  • 2000
  • Taxus B 13.0; base Ø 6.3
  • Bishop made by "HANS" (J.J.Buikema)

Netherlands. A "Paper Chess set" by Piet Design to make by your own.

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  • Netherlands, "Paper Chess set" by Piet Design
  • 2019
  • Pieces about 4 cm
  • Board about 24x24 cm

Poland. These crowns have never been used and I do not know whether these were ever found on top of a bottle. It would then be promotional for having people collecting the whole set and increase turnover.

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  • Poland
  • 2000
  • Crowns with chess pieces Ø 3.2

By Saitek. These old chess computers are not to modern standards any more. Very slow and not strong!

  • by Saitek, "Kasparov Team Mate Advanced Trainer"
  • 1990
  • Plastic K 4.8; p 2,7
  • Computer/board 33.5×25.2×4.0

Spain. These matchboxes could be bought in supermarkets in Spain in the 60ies. Probably they are not for sale any more!?

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  • Spain
  • 1960
  • Matchboxes with chess pieces 5.2×3.7×1.2
  • Box 30.3×21.5×2.1
  • Board 41.5×41.3

There are several versions for playing chess with 3 people. I do not have the rules for this specific one, but am sure it can be found on the internet. The sets are still sold today.

  • Unknown origin and age
  • Chess for 3 players