Attention: Good Buys(?)

[knight_knight_zzz]

Purpose of this thread: To bring to the attention of fellow collectors, chess sets which appear to be fairly (or very) reasonable priced. Of course, "fairly (or very) reasonable priced" may be subject to some debate. (And of course, such sets are those in which we, ourselves, are not all that interested to buy.). 😉 Contributors to this thread realize that it is ok for all of the amicable / amiable members of this group to help each other find potential sets which may well elicit interest in purchase. This thread is not restricted to antiques sets or ivory sets or "low end" sets or "high end" sets. "All sets are welcome"! Let's start with: 130385155763. (Possibly Sandalwood? Tusks could well be bone. Size of chess pieces not identified. BIN and "best offer" is available! Appears to be original display/storage box. Probably made in India?) GO FOR IT! ;-) John. VT.

[knight_knight_zzz]

Kristjan,

I agree. Appears to be vintage (1950's +/- 10 years?). Nice design, wood, and coloration. Probably made in Mexico. Board is nice too (but my "guess" is that it is not likely original to the set). Question the "queen" size of 4". Suspect that the king may have the 4" height(?) Board is supposedly 12"x 12"; pieces fit poorly. Regardless, perhaps a good buy as you seem to suggest? Thanks for bringing this to all of our attention!

John, VT.

[ne0romantic]

150814172343 seems a good price particularly for one in rosewood with knights actually I think a little better than my "good" St. George set. I probably paid about this much for my "bad" St. George set but do I really need another St. George? I suppose I'd have a good St. George to have out of the display case to use if I bought this one since I don't have room in my display setup now for another St. George about the same quality as my "good" one.. . maybe if you all leave it alone I will snap it up for that. Otherwise I do think this is a good price for the set. It's not the best set of its style by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not the worst, common one either. It's a pretty good set somewhere in between (the other St. George's this seller has up, actually with higher prices than this one are the worst, most common ones, though maybe a little larger.)

(I don't mean this one: 160805944787 ... that one is not common, but it's not cheap either... I was referring to these: 150817762733, 150817759953, 150817757940... and not that there's anything wrong with those either. I suppose I shouldn't have said "bad" earlier. I enjoy my "entry level" St. George set. I'm just pointing out here I think 150814172343 is a cut above these simplier ones which this seller is asking slightly more for.)

-- Edited by ne0romantic at 05/27/2012 8:47 PM PDT

[d-baron]

I like the second one, it's a real beauty but, of course, it's also the most expensive one of them all.

[ne0romantic]

And again. The St. George is better than average but missing both Queens.  Those are Kings from an earlier set (which are pretty cool themselves, though not so much without the rest of the set) maybe Alan can make new Queens.

As far as the Stauton in most of the pictures I'm not a huge fan and I'm not sure all the Knights are original... the Black Knights look better than the White ones IMO, maybe it's just me.

But imperfections aside, both sets with a board must be a good buy for the price.

160813964514

[ne0romantic]

290731918600 ??

[noybear]

After bringing this up to a couple other collector friends, and the unexpected responses I got from them, I wanted to at least bring these 2 items up in case others missed them....170951544950 and 170950949207.....the first has an acrylic board and the second a cardboard board. The seller is the widow of the artist and the original 10 are in museums but I did not ask her if she knew how many of the second metal version had been made....these are the third version and the pieces are made of plastic. No, I did not ask how many of the third generation sets were going to be available but I will ask her both questions soon.

I haven't seen a second generation set for quite some time so this may turn out to be a somewhat rare opportunity ?

Clay Neubert

[d-baron]

Hmm, not only do I like those, at the very least, intriguing sets, but they are affordable too.  I can only hope they are still available after the first of the month and my next paycheck!

[ne0romantic]

321036895629

[ne0romantic]

271120462177

[ne0romantic]

um... 321040344902 ... lol.

[ne0romantic]

321041952044

[ne0romantic]

330848062011 I feel like these animaler "Safari" sets sets are more "touristy" than the more traditional ones (like the one being discussed in the misdescribed thread right now) but for some reason (intolerance of other styles of art?) I tend to like these much more (I guess in my case they succeed in appealing my Western sensibilities.) This is not the best one I've ever seen if it even is wood and not some kind of casting, but some of that may be the poor photography, and particularly if it is carved wood it's not bad at all. That plus the table and I think it's a good buy which I would have clicked myself this morning if I hadn't been buying too many sets and lately and wasn't currently at a lack of display space crisis.

[knight_knight_zzz]

Ty, I agree with you. I think this is a good buy - even with the shipping costs. John, Vt.

[noybear]

While I am not sure that this would best be considered a good deal, I would have a hard time not calling it a good buy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221186692156?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I admit that I am a bit biased toward this Man Ray set in that it took me over 4 years to locate 4 same sized violin scrolls to replicate the knights and if it had not been for other personal matters and timing I would not be looking so seriously at this authorized copy. Be that as it may, I noted the mention of these in the January CCI newsletter and intended to follow through by trying to contact the estate for one.....thank God for procrastination as I didn't need to go to such lengths when Rick posted his authorized sets. I guess that I got the first that he had and it arrived yesterday.....it took me all of 15 minutes to get it opened and unpackaged while drinking coffee.

The set appears in several of "our books" but this is another case of "seeing is believing" as it is one thousand per cent better in person than in all of the photos in the world. The only single negative comment is that the king and queen pieces are a little awkward to pick up and move but beyond that small issue, the shapes are eminently easy to identify and to play with. In person, this set is shy of a masterful stroke of inspiration and genius aesthetically!

This most recent buy has saved me time and effort and given me a prized set and I sincerely believe that it will appreciate in value the same as the Hartwig Bauhaus set in the future.....therefore I need to thank the estate people involved, Rick of Ancient Games and CCI for making this possible. I would hope that others grab one of these at the earliest opportunity.

Clay Neubert

[ne0romantic]

I'm sure that is a good price for that set. I would like one but it's a little on the pricy side for me just now considering my recent chess set splurge. Instead yesterday I went with: http://www.etsy.com/listing/109657227/robo-action-chessbot-toy-chess-set-hero which is no longer in stock but if others are interested obviously the guy will make more. A 3D-printed set in plastic, it's selling for next to nothing. The concept appeals to the part of me that loved transformers toys as a child. I'll inform the group of the quality when it arrives.