The World Chess Hall of Fame features a variety of chess sets throughout the year. These will highlight different chess sets in our own collection as well as chess sets owned by “friends” and chess lovers who have special stories to accompany their sets.
Do you live in the Saint Louis metropolitan area and have a chess set with a great story? Submit it for inclusion in our Featured Chess Set project! This program highlights chess sets with interesting backgrounds borrowed from chess lovers and fans of the Hall of Fame. Featured chess sets are displayed for a period of one month at the World Chess Hall of Fame.
If you would like to participate in the program, send a photo and the story of the set to Emily Allred, Assistant Curator, at [email protected].
January
Avon Chess Set and Board
1971-1978
Silver-colored and amber-colored glass bases, plastic lids
January’s “Featured Chess Set” is loaned to us by Saint Louis native Phil Natta. With a fascination for the game of chess and a love of collecting sets, Phil is a great friend to the World Chess Hall of Fame as well as one of our enthusiastic Gallery Attendants. After discovering one of these pieces in a house where he moved, he sought to locate the entire set. Searching antique shops, online sellers, and using friends to help seek them out, he has amassed all 32 pieces created between 1971 and 1978.
Produced by the Wheaton Glass Company of Millville, New Jersey, this complete set was a collector’s dream in the 1970s. Perhaps by coincidence, Avon began selling these after-shave and cologne-filled gifts during the time that chess became extremely popular due to Bobby Fischer’s win over Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship. A board was created in 1976 and was only awarded as a bonus to high-selling Avon Reps. In a 1973 Avon Representative Catalogue, the seller earned 15 bonus points for every bottle sold and the incentive read, “The Queen Decanter makes a winning gift for Father’s Day. In Öland or Tai Winds Aftershave, The Queen is Avon’s third decanter. Tell customers, ‘At a moderate $2.99, The Queen is smart strategy for a man who likes chess, or decanters or aftershave.”
February
Wood and Masonry Anchor Chess Set
early 1990s
Our “Featured Chess Set” in February was donated to the World Chess Hall of Fame by Saint Louis County residents Bud and Marlene Dale. The pieces, comprised of wood and masonry anchors, were a product of Ackerman Johnson Fastening Systems, Inc. of Addison, Illinois, where Mr. Dale was a sales representative for a number of years. Hand-crafted sets and boards like this one were presented as Christmas presents to the sales representatives by the company president, Gerald Hagel.
Ackerman Johnson Fastening Systems was purchased by Simpson Strong Tie Co., Inc. in 1995.
March
Islamic Chess Set
Mid-19th—Early 20th Century
Bone
Collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame Donated by Vivian and George Dean
This month’s featured chess set was donated to the World Chess Hall of Fame by Dr. George and Vivian Dean. The Deans have been collecting chess sets together for over fifty years. Their collection numbers over 1000, and contains sets from many of the countries they have visited in their travels. The World Chess Hall of Fame showed many of the exquisite pieces from their collection in the exhibition Chess Masterpieces: Highlights from the Dr. George and Vivian Dean Collection, which was on view from September 9, 2011–February 12, 2012. The Deans also donated a Paul Morphy presentation style set to the World Chess Hall of Fame. It is currently on view in Power in Check: Chess and the American Presidency, open through April 21, 2013.
This lovely Islamic set features simple bands of decoration comprised of circles, dots, and lines. The abstract forms of the pieces evoke the soaring spires, minarets, and massive domes sometimes found in Islamic architecture. The avoidance of figural representation conforms to the belief that artists should avoid making figurative artwork, as creating forms was the work of Allah.
April
Vila Coli Vino Rosso Chess Set
1968
Silver and cream ceramic
April’s featured chess set has been loaned to the World Chess Hall of Fame by a private collector. It was purchased at Rothschild’s Antiques, a store that operated for 43 years at a location at the intersection of McPherson and Euclid, near the World Chess Hall of Fame’s home in the Central West End in Saint Louis. The store received fame for its celebrity shoppers and being named the best antiques store in the country in 1974 by Esquire. Though the location at Euclid and MacPherson has closed, Rothschild’s is reopening at a new location in the Central West End.
This charming ceramic Renaissance-style chess set was created as a promotional item for a wine company in Florence, Italy. It features a regal court of figures led by a king with his hand raised, and a rearing horse as the knight. At the base of each piece is a space where liquor distributors could affix labels promoting their brand—this set features a sticker for D & D Wholesale Liquors in Reno, Nevada, but others sets have advertisements for companies in other states.
November
Ronzan Giuseppe and Figaro Jungla
Chess Set
c. 1968
Bassano del Grappa, Italy
Ceramic
King size: 5 ½ in.
November’s featured chess set has been loaned to the World Chess Hall of Fame by Mary Scannell. Mary and her late husband, Ray, a chess enthusiast, purchased the set from an antiques dealer in the Central West End in Saint Louis in 1983. The set has held a place of pride in Mary’s home since that time, entertaining her children and grandchildren, who have now played with the set. Mary enjoys the joyful memories evoked by this unique set.
A male lion, the “king of the jungle,” rules over his fellow animals in the Jungla Chess Set. The anthropomorphized animals sit with legs crossed, while monkeys caper playfully as the pawns. This endearing set is number 27 of 200 that were produced in Bassano del Grappa, a location in northern Italy known for its production of beautiful ceramics.
December
December’s featured chess set has been donated to the World Chess Hall of Fame by Hartwig Inc. Founded in St. Louis in 1960 by Paul and Juanita Hartwig, the company has since grown to become the largest distributor of metal cutting and inspection equipment in the Midwest and Mountain regions. Hartwig Inc. stocks machine tool products created by the Okuma America Corporation. One of these machines produced the pieces in this industrial chess set.
Okuma America Corporation, Application Engineers
Machined Commemorative Set
American, 2007
Machined aluminum board with machined aluminum and brass pieces
King size: 2 7/8 in.
Board: 15 x 15 x 1 5/8 in.
Collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame, gift of Hartwig Inc.
Manufactured for display at a September 2007 trade convention, this chess set showcases the intricate carving capabilities of the Okuma LT2000 EX. Controlled through a computer, this machine allows for precise shaping of metals. Each of the pieces was made using a lathe, a machine that turns a piece of metal at a high speed while it is carved by a sharp tool. The board, which bears diamond-shaped decoration, is made of plate stock. The logo of the Okuma Corporation is engraved on the bases of many of the pieces.
