To my children. To Cristian and Benjamin, to whom I have dedicated part of my collection as a preservation of their cultural heritage. And to Fabian, who is perhaps the only one in my family to have understood how much passion I have for collecting chess pieces.

To my wife who, despite the considerable time I have not spent with her due to the work on this book, has always remained affectionately devoted to me and has always been tolerant, patient and generous towards my passion.

And to my late aunt, who years ago made my first basic purchases possible and thus helped to lay the foundation for my collection.

Preface

Collecting is a strange pastime. Millions of people devote themselves to this idealistic occupation, according to estimates, one third of the population in America alone.¹ Yet, few people could probably say exactly why they collect. In my opinion, this is because collecting is not only an external process of collecting objects but a deep psychological process that reveals much about the collector's personality. And we collectors may not always reflect on the deeper reasons for our passion or how it relates to our respective personalities.

Some general thoughts on collecting

The German ethnologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Werner Münsterberger, who was a lecturer in ethnopsychoanalysis and ethnopsychiatry for many years, first at Columbia University New York and later at New York State University, and himself a passionate collector of ethnographic art, extensively investigated the psychological background of collecting. He summarized his findings in his highly acclaimed book "Collecting: An Unruly Passion, Psychological Perspectives".

„Child observation show us that the infant may look to alternative solutions for dealing with the anticipation of vulnerability, of aloneness and anxiety, and often will be looking for a tangible object like a comforter, a cushiony doll, or the proverbial security blanket to provide solace which is not, or rather was not, forthcoming. Thus, the collector, not unlike the religious believer, assigns power and value to these objects because their presence and possession seem to have a modifying - usually pleasure-giving - function in the owner's mental state.”²

According to Münsterberger, the more painful the childhood separation and related trauma, the more unruly the adult passions to collect anxiety-relieving objects. He also claims that his explanation of collecting is applicable universally to all cultures throughout history.

"Irrespective of individual idiosyncrasies of collectors, and no matter what or how they collect, one issue is paramount: the objects in their possession are all ultimate, often unconscious assurances against despair and loneliness."³

The essence of collecting is the value we attribute to a collector's item, so it is not the process of collecting that is so interesting, but rather the different values we attribute to the various collectibles at different times. In this way, the collection reflects the collector.⁴ This idea gets a little lost in Muensterberger's work. The psychological backgrounds he mentions are apodictic and singular.⁵ Thus he reduces collecting to a static state of mind. Admittedly, collecting per se involves holding on to something. Yet collecting is not a static process, but a variable one. The initial fascination with a collector's object may, over time, give way to a fascination with the essence of the object. The desire for possession may give way to a desire for more knowledge. Ideally, a transition takes place, from the world of the object to the world of information and ideas.⁶ All this is inherent in collecting. The transitional shows us that collectors need not be arrested characters.

Many collectors seek recognition and confirmation through collecting. They want to be in the focus of attention by means of their collection and hope for admiration. In return, they are willing to make great financial sacrifices. For most of us, the individual financial situation is a natural limit. Long before this limit is reached, other control mechanisms usually apply. First of all the respective life partner, who in most cases does not share the collecting passion of the other. If it does, it can end badly. Other collectors use their passion for collecting to seek a connection to their past by associating their collection objects with personal memories of "the good old days".⁷

Some collectors are downright archaic types in which the old hunting instincts revive. This hunting instinct can arouse enormous ambition in the search for special collectibles. The rarer a collector's item is, the more desirable it becomes for these people. In this context, the German writer Sigismund von Radecki accurately described collectors as people who collect rare items in the hope that they will become even rarer. In this respect, collecting is usually also an individual process. Collecting in a group occurs, but is usually not stable. The reason is that collecting is usually a competitive activity. Collecting takes place in a much narrower sphere than, for example, general consumption, which may make status competition more manageable and enhance the chances of success. Instead, however, this narrowing of the field of activity is not likely to reduce competitive fervor, but rather to enhance it. The narrower the collecting area, the rarer the collectibles and the higher the competition for them. The first curator of applied arts at the Louvre, Edmond Bonnaffé, described this fervor as follows, in reference to a Latin proverb:

"Man against man is like a wolf; woman against woman is worse; but worst of all is collector against collector."⁸

Whoever collects is occasionally confronted with criticism. Collectors are often described as people who hoard things in an unnecessary way. But this view is too undifferentiated. In this view, collecting is equated with accumulating, without considering personal idiosyncrasies. There are of course people who accumulate and hoard things beyond the usual extent. But hoarders are fundamentally different from collectors, because they lack selectivity. Although they are possessive, they tend to view their possessions in a utilitarian way, i.e. for them the utility value of their possessions is in the foreground, whereas, for the true collector the utility value plays no or only a subordinate role. Rather, the collector develops a relationship to his possessions that goes beyond the utilitarian element, which is expressed in the care, cataloguing⁹, display, etc. of his collection, also referred to as the curatorial aspect, which goes beyond the purely acquisitive aspect.¹⁰ The late Nicholas Lanier has put it into words that could not be more beautifully and aptly expressed:

“Collecting for me is quite different from hoarding, which is the deformed outcome of greed and avariciousness. Collecting means appreciating artefacts as symbols of human activity, as milestones or mementos of certain cultural trends, and finally as museal remnants of lifes disappeared. It means cataloguing, delving into the origins, documenting if possible provenance and former owners, the uses etc. It also means preserving old things, as we are only temporary holders of them, and somebody will come after us to observe, preserve, use and question our collectors items. The more time one can devote to the collection the more one learns - about the things themselves, their background - and ultimately about ourselves as well!”¹¹

Personally, in my relationship with chess and chess collecting, I am similar to Thomas Hyde, who writes in Latin in his book ‘De Ludis Orientalibus’¹²:

„Hac enim otiando et quas ludendo scripti quamvis alias non sim egregius Ludo nec eo Exercitii genere delectar: quam autem alii voluptatem Ludos exercendo insectantur eaque fruuntur, eandem ego eorundem Historiam scribende, et Antiquorum de eis Vocabula et Sententias explicando et enucleando, amplector.“

Victor Keats translated this passage into English in Volume 2 of his History of Chess series¹³ as follows:

“I am not an outstanding player, nor do I get much pleasure from this kind of practice; but the enjoyment which others derive from playing games I get from writing their history and from unravelling the name of the ancients for them and from opinions of them.”

Neither am I a good chess player nor do I have an overly strong passion for the game itself. It is more the entire flavour around the game that appeals to me. For me personally the collecting of antique chess sets is always directly connected with a fascination for history. It is connected with the history of the respective set, which can be complex and diverse in itself. It is connected with the history of the person who created the form or style, which probably shaped and influenced many other sets later. It is connected with the history of the craftsman who made the pieces and with the techniques he used. These techniques may no longer exist today. Sometimes they go beyond our imagination when we try to fathom how such a delicate work could be made with such simple means and what talent it required. It is connected with the history of the previous owner. In many cases chess pieces are also linked with very personal experiences and memories. And last but not least it is connected with the historical environment in which the pieces were created and which had an influence on them. Beatrice Rosenblum has summed this up very aptly:

“Chess pieces, perhaps more than most art forms, are valuable historical documents, because they reflect the tastes and techniques of many lands and cultures over a long period.”¹⁴

And this special interest distinguishes the ambitious chess collector from the ambitious chess player. Thomas Thomsen described the different perspectives very vividly in his preface to the catalogue of the exhibition of the Bayerische Vereinsbank and Chess Collectors International in Munich from 10 June to 6 August 1988:

“Seen in this way, chessmen are always much more than just gaming pieces. As a rule, the player sees them only as symbols of active and mental forces that ultimately play his game. The more ingenious the player, the less significance the piece has as a figure. [...] On the other hand, those who see the chess piece not only as a symbol of power, but also - or even solely - as art or an object of decorative character, feel differently. Now it is a matter of execution, chosen material and craftsmanship.”¹⁵

The psychological backgrounds that motivate people to collect are obviously manifold. Most collectors probably have a little of everything. But there is one thing almost all collectors have in common. For them, collecting is first and foremost a leisure activity and a relaxation. In times in which professional burdens are increasing more and more and the demands on the individual are increasing more and more, collecting can also be an escape into a more manageable world in which the individual finds his way better. In collecting, many people discover a niche in which they know their way around and can make a name for themselves.

And there are many niches to satisfy a passion for collecting. There is hardly anything that cannot be collected: well-known collectibles include stamps, shoes, paintings, books, comics, porcelain, toys, minerals, shells, etc., but also exotic and unusual things such as beverage cans, crown corks, matchboxes, coffee cream lids, napkins and pacemakers.

Whether the collecting of chess sets and other chess equipment belongs to the "normal" or the "exotic" collecting fields, I leave to the personal assessment of the reader. When I came to it, I found it quite unusual, but at the same time fascinating. In the small village where I grew up there was no chess club, at least I didn't know one. My parents weren't chess players either. In my school there were probably chess projects, but I never really found the motivation to participate in them. My attempts to open up the high consecrations of chess through self-study quickly reached their limits. And yet the game has always fascinated me very much. But this fascination was not so much due to the game and its rules, but rather to the game material, the figures and boards and the overall aesthetics of the game.

When I started collecting antique chess pieces, I was not aware that this was possible at all. Until then, I only knew about the new sets that were available in large quantities in the shops, perhaps also the one or other vintage set on the flea market. But I wasn't aware that historical chess pieces beyond the Lewis pieces in the British Museum and other exhibits were also available for private individuals like me. I was all the more astonished (I almost want to say "moved") when one day by chance I saw an offer on the Internet for a historical Dutch chess set from the 18th century¹⁶. The pieces fascinated me immediately. Although the price was quite high and higher than anything I had purchased so far in connection with chess, I decided after a short period of reflection to spend the money and buy the set. I will never forget the moment when I received the package with the set, opened it and took out the wooden box in which the fragile pieces were well packed. The moment I opened the box, a wooden, slightly musty odor, as one usually only knows it from museums or churches, streamed towards me. So far I had only seen the pieces in pictures, which was enough for me to fall in love with them. Now I could smell the age of the figures in the truest sense of the word. It was wonderful! To hold them in my hands after careful unpacking was a very special moment for me. It was the moment when I was infected with the collecting virus.¹⁷ Unfortunately, I have been repeatedly assured and have experienced it for myself, that there is no effective antidote - perhaps with the exception of iron discipline, but most diets promise more than they are able to keep.

I've learned to live with the "disease". Although my family considers me to be only partially sane in this respect, they have also developed a loving tolerance for me. My wife in particular is extremely generous, even though I already know that she will accuse me of investing far too much time in my hobby and too little time in the family when she hears that I have written this book. So she won't know until it's been published!

About this book

Why am I even writing a book? Aren't there already enough books about famous chess pieces and valuable collectibles? I do not only collect antique chess pieces, but also books about antique chess pieces, exhibition catalogues, auction catalogues, etc. In the case of books dealing directly or indirectly with antique chessmen alone, I came across about forty copies when I last counted them. What could I write that has not already been mentioned, depicted, illustrated and literarily processed somewhere? Above all, my collection, as much as I value and love it, is at best mediocre compared to other collections. There are collections with hundreds and thousands of rare, extraordinary, valuable, partly also unique chess items, which clearly outshine my comparatively modest collection. The collection of Halvor and Astrid Jaeger, for example, is said to have comprised several thousand in part extraordinary exhibits.¹⁸ Many of the great collectors have already presented their most beautiful pieces to the interested public and written wonderful books about them.¹⁹

What else could I add? And yet there are two essential aspects which, in my opinion, are neglected or even completely missing in other books.

On the one hand I am asked frequently how to start a collection of antique chessmen at all. The desire to build up a collection of one's own is present with many chess enthusiasts, but the reluctance and uncertainty is great. Regular questions are:

Of course there is no single or ‘correct’ answer to these questions. Experience helps enormously. But no one can take this away from you. In order to gain experience, one has to deal with the subject matter. One should become familiar with the basic patterns and styles that were in use in the past. One should have heard of the one or the other manufacturer, retailer or craftsman. A certain amount of expertise in materials is essential, because one should know the essential materials from which chess pieces were and are made. In all this, the book is meant to be a help and at least to some extent a basis for further own research.

This also reveals the second aspect, which is only indicated in many books, but which is ultimately lost in the splendor of the showpieces presented.

The collecting of chess sets is not an exclusive question of money. But money is necessary in large quantities if one wants to keep up with collections like the ones mentioned before even to a minor extent. If you look at the books with the most beautiful and valuable chess sets in the world, you feel a great fascination, admiration, almost a little reverence. But you also feel discouraged, because you quickly realize that you can't keep up at this level. However fascinating these books may be, they may deter one or the other potential collector, because he instinctively knows that he cannot afford such a collection. And this is a deficit of all books I know about chess collecting: the hidden message that an attractive chess collection is only something for people who have sufficient funds. From my point of view, money should not be a deterrent.

Anyone can collect chess sets, because there are suitable collectibles for every purse. In the following chapters of my book, I will try to show diversity in this respect as well. Some of the sets described and illustrated are also rare, exclusive and expensive and certainly not affordable for everyone. But many of the sets shown are the exact opposite, because they can be found even by beginners with little experience and are within the financial scope of a less well-heeled collector. And exploring the story behind a simple and inexpensive Vienna coffee house set from the local flea market can be just as fascinating as admiring the skill of a "John Company" set purchased at Christies for a large sum of money. Sometimes there are only small hints, like an entry on the Internet about a certain manufacturer, for which no further information is available, or handwritten information about the previous owner, which one would like to follow up to see which stories are hidden behind it. In other words, what other books sometimes neglect is the incredible variety that comes to light when you take a closer look at the cultural history of chess pieces. Perhaps I can contribute a little to this aspect with my book.

Therefore this book is not primarily aimed at experienced collectors of antique chess sets who have already built up a valuable and interesting collection for decades and have penetrated deeply into the subject. For them most of the information in this book will not be new, even though I would be pleased if also for such collectors one or the other aspect is still of interest. No, the book is rather aimed at all those who are not yet aware of the diversity of chess pieces or who have not dared to start collecting because of misunderstood reverence for other collections. It is intended to show that - apart from a few atrocities - there is hardly a chess set that does not have its own appeal and is worth collecting. I hope that I can inspire you to enter the world of collectors; exchanging sets, thoughts and information with excitement and passion.

The discourse of thoughts and information is of great importance. Reliable sources about the history of chessmen are rare and not every collector has the same access to information. Therefore, research into the historical background behind the individual styles and pieces lives to a large extent from the swarm knowledge of the collectors. One should nevertheless be aware that collecting chess pieces is not an exact science. Especially if you, like me, collect predominantly antique chess pieces, you will quickly come to the conclusion that it is often very difficult to obtain reliable information about the respective set. While writing this book, I have come across information more than once which, on closer examination, turned out to be persistent rumors or at best unsubstantiated claims, but which were copied and multiplied over decades until they were generally accepted.

Sometimes even the question which material was used can be hard to understand and verify. I remember a conversation with a seller who offered a set that looked like ivory at first glance. However, she informed me that it was a very rare tropical wood that had an ivory structure. I suspected that it could be tagua nut. But she insisted that it was actually a timber. She had already presented the pieces at a specialist wood fair and the assembled experts agreed that it was made of wood. Unfortunately, nobody knew to which tree species this wood belonged. When we last spoke, she had given some fibres to a university institute for laboratory testing. Unfortunately, I never found out what the result was.

Just as difficult - but also exciting - can be the search for a certain manufacturer or the regional origin of a set. Secondary literature can be helpful, but should be treated with caution. Even at renowned auction houses, I have come across outrageous mistakes in their auction catalogues, which have been copied over and over again and distributed further. I myself advised an American auction house on a chess auction after all the details of the five chess sets offered in the auction were incorrect - neither the details on age, origin nor material were even approximately correct. In this respect, the collecting of antique chess sets is often connected with well-founded assumptions and educated guesses which do not always have to be correct. I therefore kindly ask for some leniency, if some of the information about the presented chess sets should turn out to be wrong.

While writing the book I wondered for a long time how I should structure it. On the one hand, I want to convey a certain basic understanding of fundamental issues, such as patterns, materials, makers etc. On the other hand, the book is not an encyclopaedia. Some chess sets that fall within my collecting focus may be over-represented, while others may be under-represented. Thus, the presentation is guided by my collection and at the same time limited by it. At the end of the day I want to show with examples from my collection how diverse the collecting of chess sets can be. Most books of collectors arrange the exhibits either temporally or geographically, sometimes both. There are books, e.g. the wonderful "Chessmen - Art and History" by Mathieu & Ine Kloprogge, which divide the presented chess sets first into epochs and within the epochs into provenances. Others go the exactly opposite way and divide the presentation basically into provenances and then describe the development of the individual figures and styles within the provenances in historical sequence.

To show the true diversity of collecting, I decided to take a different, less conventional path and choose a more chaotic system (if there is such a thing). I have been active in the chess collecting scene for years and have established numerous contacts all over the world. I have met an infinite number of different types of chess collectors. Each of them has their own passion and their very special fascination. And for everyone different criteria are important.

Most collectors are exclusively interested in Staunton pieces. These are the pieces with the best playing qualities and with the largest worldwide popularity since their development in 1849. Within this group there are collectors who collect exclusively (or almost exclusively) sets of certain manufacturers. Especially the originals of the Jacques company, the “Rolls Royce” of the Staunton sets, are highly sought after, but also sets of more modern manufacturers like the former French producer Lardy and others. Some collect only modern reproductions of historical sets, especially as you can be sure that they are in absolutely mint condition, which is often not the case with antique or used sets.

Some collect only chess sets from certain materials. Historical ivory is naturally at the top of popularity here. But also sets made of porcelain are very popular. The materials are manifold. Wood is of course the most widespread, but there are also great differences. Ebony and ebony species, such as the Philippine Kamagong, have a very special look and feel. But also bone, horn and metal are popular materials. And considering the reduction of plastic of any kind for understandable reasons of environmental protection, one day perhaps plastic chess sets will be in great demand because of their rarity.

A very obvious collecting criterion for many is a certain regional origin, i.e. chess sets of a certain country or a certain region, e.g. the USA²⁰, the Soviet Union, etc. For me due to private connections these are the Philippines, which represent a separate area within my collection. In this context, chess sets are often influenced by cultural peculiarities of a region or an ethnic group²¹, the religion, the local craftsmanship, the common regional symbolism, etc. Some admire the outstanding craftsmanship with which e.g. craftsmen in Indian Vizagatapam or in Chinese Canton created delicate works of art in the 19th century without the use of modern aids and tools. Many figural sets were and are not intended for practical play, but have always served to deocrate and showcase the craftsmanship of their creator. Still other collectors are fascinated by chess sets with abstract and simple forms, such as the Muslim chess sets, but also very modern variants, such as the so-called "Bauhaus" sets.

The age can also be a suitable collecting criterion. Many collectors of historical chess pieces set a time limit. For example, there are collectors who only collect pieces made before the 20th century. I myself concentrate on the time up to the Second World War, although I do not slavishly keep this up, but also have a few pieces from the time afterwards. Linked with age, a certain historical significance of the respective chess pieces can be a criterion for their collectability. Some collectors concentrate exclusively on those sets that were used in international tournaments and match their collectibles with historical photographs. Another type of reference to an era is made, for example, by sets related to the First or Second World Wars. These can be sets that have simply picked up a certain optical reference to war, sets that were especially designed for use at the front, sets that were created in military captivity with the simplest means, or those that incorporate a certain political programmatic, such as the Bundesform sets of the Nazi era.

Some collectors are only interested in travel and pocket chess sets. And other collectors do not collect chess sets at all, but are exclusively interested in chess clocks or chess books²². In other words: there are no limits to imagination. There is something for everyone. And in the following I want to show this variety. Chess is a game with infinite possibilities. After just two moves, 72,084 different positions can emerge. This variety of the game is partly reflected in the variety of the game material.

Thus the collecting of chess sets is without beginning and without end, rather a never ending fascination, of which I try to illustrate a part with this book and the examples shown therein from my own collection.

I will start with a somewhat more extensive discussion of the most common and well-known patterns and styles which I believe every serious chess collector should know. In my opinion, the true variety can be seen in the available materials that were and are used for the production of chess pieces. I think it is worthwhile to take a closer look at these materials. To pass on some of the fascination I feel for the artistry and craftsmanship behind the pieces, I will also give a small overview of some famous manufacturers. These first chapters make up by far the largest part of the book, as they are intended to provide a basic understanding of the subject matter. The other chapters, which are considerably less extensive in terms of content, are intended to build on this and give examples of a possible collection focus. Numerous types of focus can be considered. The few examples I will give are therefore not intended to dictate content, but rather to show how one can develop a possible focus or specialisation based on one's own preferences and interests.²³ In this respect, we shall look at other cultures, because the influences that foreign cultures and religions have exerted on chess and playing materials are also extremely diverse. War events have also had a strong influence on chess. I want to show this, inter alia, by means of some exhibits from the time of the 1st and 2nd World War. Fascinatingly diverse is also the wealth of ideas that was used to adapt the game material for special uses. I try to show this by means of some travel chess sets and chess sets for the visually impaired. So there is a lot to look forward to when reading and browsing further.

Nevertheless, all this must not hide the fact that the variety of chess collecting is still many times greater than this book is able to show. My collection does cover some areas and is suitable to give a feeling for how varied chess collecting actually is in some areas. And yet it shows only a very small part of what exists in chess sets. If my book arouses a certain curiosity in this respect and is able to inspire the reader to start looking for chess sets which fascinate him or her in particular, no matter how expensive and valuable they are or how inconspicuous and uncollectible they may appear, or even to start a small collection of chess sets himself, this book has fulfilled its purpose.

To put it in Marc Chagall's words: "You don't recognize the real collector by what he has, but by what he would be happy about."

Chapter I

The Variety of Patterns and Styles

As mentioned in the preface, there is an almost inexhaustible variety of chess pieces. Chess has always been more than a mere game. Due to its nature, its popularity and its long tradition, chess is not only a game, but also an indicator of culture that reflects the respective civilisation in its era. In that, chess has always been an art form as well. This also applies to the playing material.

From an artistic point of view, the individual chess piece can also be of interest. However, it always acquires its special significance as a complete set of chess pieces. Gerhard Pommeranz-Liedtke writes about this:

“For the player it is first and foremost an object of use, never in the singular but always in the plural. Even if, according to the rules of the game, each piece has its own special task, it can only fulfil this in cooperation with other pieces. To the same extent, the individual figure, both as an allegorical bearer of meaning and as an artistic object, is only one part of the ensemble, which consists of the entire set of figures and often also the accompanying game board. The individual figure derives its meaning and form in each case from the meaning and form that determines the overall design.”²⁴

There are those chess pieces that we all know from everyday life and that were essentially developed and optimised for practical play. On the other hand, there are numerous chess sets that have an exclusively artistic claim and serve purely decorative purposes. I will also show various examples of these in the following chapters.

In the area of the material used for the actual game, there is, despite all the diversity, a certain degree of standardisation in that certain patterns and styles of chess pieces have prevailed over others over time. It therefore makes sense to start by familiarising oneself with the most common and well-known of these patterns and styles.

Every serious chess collector should know them, even if nowadays only the Staunton-type plays a role. This is true not least because the Staunton form did not arise by chance. Rather, it was the result of a long development that had justification due to the inadequacies of earlier forms. In order to be able to better classify the individual styles historically, it is also useful to look a little into the concrete history of their creation. In most cases, this means the history of the club or café where these sets were first used and became known to a wider audience, which at the same time also provides a fascinating insight into the chess life of past times.

Selenus

One of the oldest patterns according to which chess pieces were made until the late 19th century is the so-called Selenus pattern. It is named after Gustavus Selenus²⁵, in whose 17th century book "Das Schach- oder König-Spiel" (Chess or the King’s Game)²⁶ a copper engraving is shown on pages 216 / 217, which shows two noblemen²⁷ playing chess with special pieces. These pieces are distinguished, among other things, by the fact that the king has two crown-shaped galleries, which have become an essential feature of the Selenus type, sometimes called "crow's nest" in its distinctive form.²⁸ A comparable design was also known from earlier sources. Almost all works on historical chess pieces support - at least indirectly - the thesis that Gustavus Selenus not only gave his name to the pattern in question, but also developed it.²⁹ Mathieu and Ine Kloprogge, however, have done extensive research on this and have come to the conclusion that there is no solid evidence for this thesis.³⁰

I consider it plausible that Duke August II brought the pieces depicted with him from Italy. It is known that the Duke undertook various journeys to Italy, Sicily and Malta in the period from 1598 to 1600, during which he became acquainted with the game of chess. As mentioned, especially in Italy, king pieces with crown-shaped galleries were already known at that time. If we look at the further development of Italian chess pieces, we will see that a style of pieces developed in Italy until the 19th century that was very comparable to the Selenus pieces, but ultimately unique.³¹ Whether, against this background, Gustavus Selenus can actually be considered the developer of the eponymous pieces may therefore indeed be doubted. However, a strong relationship between the pieces illustrated in his book and the chess sets later known as Selenus pieces cannot be denied.

Hans Holländer saw the origin of the figure type in the design of the fountain basins of medieval marketplaces. He wrote about this:

“A very common type of figure, the so-called Selenus type with the multiple stacked baskets, crowns and crows' nests, which is first attested in the 15th century, probably owes its gestlat to the staggered fountain basins of late medieval marketplaces and the variants of refined table fountains that are widespread in graphic art.”³²

In Germany, at any rate, the Selenus style subsequently prevailed and enjoyed widespread use, not only in Germany but also in Denmark in particular, until at least the middle of the 19th century.³³ Various sample sheets of turned game pieces from Nuremberg from the 19th century prove that this type of set was generally known and in demand. From the estate of the poet Friedrich Schiller, who died in 1805, administered in his German birthplace of Marbach, a chess set is known that has the essential characteristics of the Selenus pieces described above.³⁴ The chess set with ivory pieces, one side of which is darkly coloured, and which has a king height of 12 cm, dates from around 1800.³⁵ This proves that such sets were not only widespread in the 19th century, but were also produced and traded already in the 18th century.³⁶

Numerous chess pieces of other types, such as the toy sets mainly produced in the Erzgebirge, show a kinship with the Selenus style, even if they do not, strictly speaking, belong to it. They also have some of the characteristics of the Selenus type, including the basket or crown-shaped galleries of the kings and queens, which are, however, considerably smaller here. The Erzgebirge, especially the region around the towns of Seiffen, Grünhainichen and Annaberg, is still considered - along with Nuremberg - to be the centre of toy production. Old pattern books, such as the pattern book of Johann Simon Lindner from Sonneberg, dated 1831, vividly prove that such chess sets were already part of the usual assortment of local toy makers in the early 19th century, probably even as early as the 18th century.³⁷ They were usually made of turned individual parts that were later assembled and glued together.³⁸ The materials used were often light wood, especially local fruit wood, but sometimes also coniferous wood, which was not otherwise common in chess piece production.

Unbenannt-1

Unbenannt-2

Fig. 8 shows a set made of polished bone in the typical Nuremberg Selenus style of the 19th century. The king height is 10.6 cm. The chessmen essentially correspond to the type listed under "N 3" on the pattern sheet shown above. The following detailed description of such a set is taken from Holländer, Schach - Partie durch Zeiten und Welten, p. 218 and translated to English reads:

"On a baluster the king carries two, the queen one high basket, leaf-like incised and serrated on the edge, above which the central stem widens once more in a chalice-like manner and ends in a longitudinal oval, multiple incised spike. The bishop and the knight have similar baluster bases with a flat serrated disc, above which the bishop bears a cup-shaped finial, the knight the horse's head. The outline of the Nuremberg horse heads usually shows a curved back line and a chest line pushed forward. The slender rook rises with a ball at the top also on a baluster base."

In my view, there is nothing to add to this apt description.

Fig. 9 is showing a Selenus style chess set, which I believe was made in Germany in the early to mid 19^th century. The kings are slightly taller than 10 cm. The pieces are finely turned and carved from ivory and wood, one side natural, the other side black. What is interesting is the fact that this seems to be a set, which at some point suffered some severe damage, as full parts of some of the white ivory pieces were replaced with matching wooden parts. The quality of the replacements is extraordinary, however, making the set a valuable example of extraordinary craftsmanship despite the mix of materials. One of the interesting features in this set are the rooks, which are shaped in the form of cupolas surmounted by a crescent moon finial.

A chess set with a lot of similarities to the previous one can be seen in Fig. 3. The pieces are turned and carved from bone, one side natural, the other side red. It is again a German set, which I would equally date as early to mid 19^th century. The kings and queens of tiered form with pierced galleries and open work hoop crown surmounted by cross finials in the alternate colour. The bishops with baluster or urn shaped finials in the alternate colour. The knights as carved horses heads. The rooks again as open work cupolas with a finial in the shape of a crescent moon in the alternate colour. The rooks finely turned with a wide collar.³⁹

Chess sets of the Selenus type did not only occur in their pure form as described above, but also mixed with design features better known from other sets. In the case of the chess set shown in Fig. 4, which was presumably made in Germany in the first half of the 19^th century, some typical Selenus features, such as the tiered form with galleries on the kings and queens, are visible but are supplemented, for example, by laterally tilted hats on the bishops, which are more typical for chess sets from the Biedermeier period.⁴⁰

Fig. 12 show an ivory chess set, one side natural, the other side stained black. The pieces are a Northern German or Danish variation of the "Selenus" pattern. The kings with triple galleries on a baluster-shaped stem and with a drop finial. The queens of similar shape, but with double galleries. The bishops with a hat-like finial with brim. The knights as horse heads. The rooks with brickwork and with a very unusual cross finial. The pawns with elongated baluster bodies and a teardrop-shaped finial. The king size is 84 mm.

Victor Keats is showing a set from the Harbeson and Hafler collection that is of a slightly different but still comparable design.⁴¹ In particular, the design of the knights is almost identical. While Keats sees the origin of the set in France, I am sure that sets of this type are of Danish origin, not only because I have bought sets of this type mainly from Danish sellers, but also because this particular kind of knight design is typical for Danish sets and thus one of the (in my eyes unmistakable) indicators for the set’s true provenance.

As for the age, Keats is suggesting the early 18th century for the set he is showing. Although it is not entirely inconceivable that sets like this are really that old, I tend to be more cautious and would rather date this set to the mid-19th century (c. 1830-1860), thus following the opinion of other experts, the majority of whom have dated such sets to the early to mid-19th century.

A very comparable Danish chess set can be seen in Fig. 6. The pieces are made of bone, one side natural, the other reddish in colour. Once again, the Danish origin is, in my view, clearly recognisable in the design of the knights. In addition, the shape of the bishops and rooks and especially their finials in the respective other colour are typical for sets from Denmark. This is a very small, delicately crafted set, the king height of which is only 57 mm.

A type of set related to the Selenus pattern are the so-called toy sets, which were essentially produced in the Erzgebirge mountains in the southern part of Saxony on the border between Germany and what is now the Czech Republic. Fig. 7 is showing such a set with a king size of 10 cm, which was probably made of fruitwood. The two sides are marked by white and black highlights. The kings and queens have painted faces. The galleries, which follow the Selenus type, are partly coloured in red. The rooks have brickwork decoration with a serrated crenellation and a button-like finial. The knights are depicted as carved horse heads on raised galleries. The bishops also have painted faces and caps with feather decoration. The pawns as slender pieces on baluster-shaped bases.

Fig. 8

Ein Bild, das drinnen, festlegen, mehrere enthält.

Automatisch generierte Beschreibung

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Régence, Lyon & Directoire

The Régence pattern is one of the oldest forms of chessmen still in use today, although its importance has diminished considerably since the introduction of the Staunton pieces. Régence pieces were produced until the first half of the 20th century and are nowadays at most common among collectors. Nevertheless, the pattern still enjoys a certain popularity, which is why the major manufacturers and dealers of chessmen also offer reproductions of Régence pieces in their product range.

The origin of the Régence pattern lies in France. It is possible that this style was created by Charles Cressent (1685-1768), a cabinetmaker and son of a sculptor. His specialities included the manufacture of gaming tables. Experienced in the art of turning as in marquetry and sculpture, he was one of the rare craftsmen of the time capable of designing and making all the pieces of a Régence chess set.⁴²

Café de la Régence

The pieces are named after the Café de la Régence, which was founded in 1681 as one of the first coffee houses in Paris under the name Café du Palais-Royal. It was initially located at the western corner of the Place du Palais-Royal⁴³ in the Rue Saint-Honoré. In 1718 it was renamed Café de la Régence by the previous owner, a Monsieur Lefebvre. The new name referred to the period of regency (La Régence), which lasted from 1715 to 1723, when the Duke of Orleans ruled over the young King Louis XV, who was still under age. In the course of the European revolutions of 1848/1849, the French seat of government, the Chateau d'Eau at the Palais Royal, in the immediate vicinity of the Café de la Régence, was stormed and severely destroyed by revolting forces on 24 February 1848. In 1852 Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, the later Emperor Napoléon III, appointed the then provincial prefect Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann as Prefect of Paris. Haussmann was to transform Paris into a monumental capital. At Haussmann's initiative, the traces of the devastation were gradually removed and large parts of the city were radically rebuilt with great effort (which in the poorer quarters included expropriation and expulsion). The Place du Palais-Royal was enlarged in the course of this work, so that in 1852, at the instigation of the then owner M. Vielle, the Café de la Régence also moved for a short time to the Hôtel Dodun located in 21 Rue de Richelieu, before reopening in 1854 in a newly constructed building at 161 Rue de St. Honoré.

Since about 1740 the Café de la Régence was considered the centre of chess in Europe. It was made famous by the best and most famous chess player of the 18th century, François-André Danican Philidor. Philidor was born in 1726 and came to Versailles at the tender age of six, where he received a musical education in the pageboy corps of the Royal Chapel of Versailles. In 1740, at the age of 14, when he was already an accomplished chess player, he came to Paris, where the Café de la Régence quickly became the centre of his life. It was certainly no coincidence that he had just chosen the Café de la Régence from the many cafés in the city.⁴⁴ Philidor possessed a rare double talent, as he was not only a chess player, but also an extremely well-known musician and composer.⁴⁵ The Café de la Régence thus offered him the rare opportunity to combine both of his passions - from the café he had a direct view of the opera.

Philidor quickly increased his playing strength and became the best and most famous player in Europe, which also made the Café de la Régence famous in chess circles. It attracted well-known players and famous personalities such as Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Philipp Stamma, Benjamin Franklin, Maximilien de Robespierre and Napoléon I. The chess masters François Antoine de Legall, Lionel Kieseritzky and Daniel Harrwitz worked there as professional players. In 1843 the Café de la Régence was the scene of Pierre Saint-Amant's fight against Howard Staunton. The latter was, besides well-known chess personalities like Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa, also honorary member of the Paris Chess Club (Cercle des Échecs de Paris), which had its seat in the Café de la Régence. And the American Paul Morphy also made guest appearances there in 1858 and 1859.

We owe to the Hamburg landscape painter Adolf Konrad Heinrich Mosengel (1837-1885), a later friend of Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche, a detailed description of chess life in the Café de la Régence in the middle of the 19th century.⁴⁶