On the subject of chess sets

[telophase]

yhlee has a new interest in chess, and someone commented in a post that you basically end up collecting chess sets. Which is true: I don't play, I have zero interest in chess, and yet I still have three sets, inherited from my dad, which I have no intention of giving up.



Here is the one I have the least emotional attachment to, a touristy set of Maya-themed pieces from Mexico.



Dad probably picked them up on one of his collecting field trips down there in the 70s (he was an ecologist and field biologist). They are useless to play with because as you can see, it's difficult to tell the pieces apart in the best of light, and in the cavelike gloom that encompasses our house, pretty much impossible when actively playing.

Amusing note: on our very first cruise, we went to see Maya pyramids on one of our port days. We stopped halfway there at a tourist trap/souvenir shop. myrialux thought he might get one of the chess sets there but not realizing that we wouldn't also stop on the way back, decided to wait until then so he wouldn't have to leave it on the bus while we wandered around pyramids. So he didn't get his chess set. And a few years later, we got married, Mom moved from her house to an apartment and downsized, and we got this set, so myrialux has a Maya chess set after all.

Now for set #2. This is a "Gothic" set from, I presume the 50s or 60s, going by the art style of the box. No idea when or where Dad got it.



Despite the stonemason on the box, the set is actually molded plastic. No picture of the board because there's nothing special about it.



And now the pièce de resistence! This set comes in a box that unfolds to become the board.



Dad got this set when we lived in Tanzania. It's probably a piece of tourist tat, but I like to think it's a level higher than the tourist at we get nowadays. (That may be sentiment talking)

The pieces have always been kept in these Ziploc bags that are so old the zip no longer locs.



Here's the black side (not the Black side, to be pedantic, as both sides are, technically, Black). Both in the light I took the pic in, and lightened up so you can see detail. No, I have no idea why I didn't line the white pieces up as well. Anyway, I'd always thought they were made of ebony, but I'm not so sure after hefting them and thinking about it.




And some closeups.

A pawn.



The Rook and Knight or, as they are portrayed in this set, the Boma and Giraffe.



A rather self-satisfied Bishop.



And in order, the Queen and King. The Queen carries a water jug on her head. I have no idea of the significance, if any, of the conical cap on the King.



And the Queen, Giraffe, and a pawn from the white pieces so you can see some detail carved into them. I didn't take more pics because I knew that the more pics I took and had to process, the less likely it was that I would actually make this post.



So there you have it: one of the more unique chess sets I've seen. Not that I've seen a lot. And you can see why, although I don't play and have no desire to, you're going to have to pry this set away from my cold, dead hands.