eBay

firewall_xl5 · ‎03-04-2012

I've noticed my recent Sundays have developed a bit of a theme....

You scan eBay to look for any new entrants. Study them for a bit. Look what races/auctions are coming up and place a few quid on them. Often for next week's enjoyment.

Settle back with a glass of simething and enjoy the races 😉

corptaxman · ‎03-04-2012

Quite right!

I tend to place low initial bids just in case I later see something I would prefer. If you don't, you can always put a higher bid(s) in - but it's difficult to back out of an upfront high bid, just because you have 'bidders remorse' and fancy something else more!

There are those who condemn this practise vociferously, but it makes complete sense to me. Unlike a true auction, you have no idea of what else will be available in there at the end of the first listing - why burn your bridges?

firewall_xl5 · ‎03-04-2012

He hee, my first horse just romped home and I'm the proud owner of an old Jaques set for £27 !!

Ok ok, half of it is badly mangled... but I'll enjoy fondling the rest of it just the same 🙂

I occasionally put in an early low bid, but usually I like to keep my hand hidden and use a sniper site. That also avoids the temptation to keep bidding a litte bit more in real time as the auction culminates. The other advantage is you can change your mind and kill the snipe late if something else takes your fancy.

corptaxman · ‎03-04-2012

I saw that one - a bit more than half-damaged! But even so, a good price - enjoy it.

Now I personally won't use sniper sites, they seem unwholesome somehow; but that's my own prejudice, and others are free to go their own way.

firewall_xl5 · ‎03-05-2012

Aw go on, spoil my dreams why don't you 😉

I'm curious to see the carnage in all it's gore, and I'll document and Picasa the frightening remains when they arrive. Look if you dare 🙂

corptaxman · ‎03-05-2012

No - you enjoy them! I have two very mixed-up sets of Jaques/BCC/other pieces and enjoy them very much - you can 'easily' tell the composite nature, but they are great to take along to my chess club with no worries: and - to put us afficionados in our place - the 'simple' (in the sense of 'just') players there admire them and don't see the flaws!

As they say, too much knowledge can be a two-edged sword, and can take away, as much as give, pleasure.

PS - anyway, you outbid me for those pieces. I forgot to go back in, or you might not have won them! I had the idea of giving them to our grandson.

firewall_xl5 · ‎03-05-2012

Oops.. I hadn't looked at the other bidders. Oh well, it'll be well enjoyed and yes that's exactly what I plan to do - make up a mongerel set.

Forgetting to go back in is annoying, particularly when you see something going for below what you'd have probably bid. That's why I prefer setting a fixed maximum and then stepping away from the keyboard. Mind you, I got caught out last week when something went for way more than I'd expected and I'd set a foolishly high bid earlier in the week, confident that 'the market know best' and it would close much lower. It didn't 😞

Oh heck, I just noticed you'd bid on that too....

firewall_xl5 · ‎03-06-2012

Keith, I've just posted photos of that 4" set if you're interested. It's not stamped so I've no real idea other than that it might have some Ayres characteristics, but don't shoot me down for that. It came from an ebay seller in Liverpool, so who knows, maybe it was born there? Whitty?

https://picasaweb.google.com/106891515994002508996/CH08Unknown4BoxwoodAndEbony

FwJ

corptaxman · ‎03-06-2012

I left a comment on your set on Picasa lat night before seeing this. It does looks 'Ayres'-like to me in many ways, and I do have a set with similar knights. The battlements on the rooks are unusually thick for an 'Ayres', but, again, I do have a set with similar (and with the 'Ayres' crown stamp).

For some reason, many seem to expect these 'Ayres' sets to be of an identical design throughout their production run, despite most other makers changing elements (at the least) on the fly! Why?

firewall_xl5 · ‎03-07-2012

Oh indeed. One only has to look at the variations of the Jaques sets over the years to see how styles evolve. That and the potential differences between turners/carvers. And again, the potential for variance when scaling up to club sizes, it's a given that there will only be a loose Ayres 'style'.

I'm waiting for the postman to bring me the BCC research CD, and I hope that gives me a handle on the period BCC were in business and more of an understanding of their output. Jaques seems to be well documented, so identification and dating is easy, but perhaps what's needed now is a similar document on Ayres. Yes let's have that, and the moon on a stick 😉

Clearly they were a major player over some period (I've yet to understand this - I need to re-read the magazine articles on your Picasa site) but real information is scant.

Right now I'm fascinated by British Staunton sets. Before I start on my personal gathering of available knowledge to help me wade into the Ayres mystery and who-made-what-for-who, are there any published works on British chess manufacturers of the last 150 years or so? I'm still at the beginners stage and this feels like Freshers week.

corptaxman · ‎03-07-2012

Unfortunately we can't even say for certain whether, or the period during which, Ayres made Staunton sets, and this could be important on the constant-design issue; clearly Jaques were producing for a much longer period than anyone else, so a greater range of diversity is likely - but it seems to go deeper than that.

There is very little actually published on the British chess makers per se. Get Alan Fershts book(s) and the BCC disk and then work your way through the various Picasa etc sites and the various comments made - not all will be in agreement with each other, which isn't unreasonable given the paucity of detail available on some issues: you will need to keep an open mind and form your own opinions taking everything into account.

Joining CCI - if you haven't already - will enable you to get access to years' worth of past publications (from the members only section of the website) that can provide a lot of useful stuff: but very little out there will tell you all you want to know or in a convenient, readily-digestible form!

firewall_xl5 · ‎03-07-2012

I have Alan Ferscht's recent book and I'm awaiting the BCC disk. Similarly, I've sent off my cheque and application form but awaiting access to the hallowed CCI vaults.

It's a bit like discovering a band, having missed them for the first few years, falling in love with their work then buying all the back catalogue. Except the band never released under their own name, and they jammed with other band members and most of what's available is on white labels or bootlegs.

No, it's actually a lot harder than that 😉