eBaywatch, 16/8/26: Chess Sets
Category: Buy Secondhand
Do you play chess? I’ve become obsessed over the last few months having discovered chess.com and its phone app.
It turns out chess is - or has been - having a moment. There was Queen’s Gambit, the Netflix hit during lockdown, a moment also credited with the huge surge in users on chess.com. YouTube is predictably a place for acres of chess content (Levy Rozman aka Gotham Chess, the biggest chess YouTuber, enjoys the support of nearly eight million subscribers.) You may have caught the scandal around alleged cheating that erupted a couple of years back. And, yes, there’s a Netflix documentary on that too.
So chess, a truly global passtime, is being enjoyed by more and more people in many different ways, many of them involving a screen. While I love how you can play people from Mexico to Margate on chess.com , I want to be able to sit across a board and have an old fashioned analogue experience occasionally, perhaps with the Faye Dunaway in my life.
Happily, there are thousands of used sets available on ebay. What should we look for?
Top of my want list is, obviously, the Bauhaus set by Josef Hartwig.
The genius is not just in the simplicity but also that way the shapes of the pieces (mostly) indicate the way they work. The knight, for example, is shaped like an L, mimicking the way the piece moves.
There are plenty of reproductions on ebay right now, all of them overseas - except this one - and all of them looking a little schlonky. I’m waiting for my lottery win to buy the approved version.
I say “obviously”, but the more I get into playing the game the less I want one of these undeniably beautiful sets. I think I’m gravitating towards a more classic look. More on this later.
There are different styles you could go for. Chess has been around for hundreds of years and during that time there have been many designs. One of the most famous is a set found on the Isle of Lewis but, according to The British Museum, “probably made in Norway, in around 1150-1200 AD.”
If this is your thing, there are loads on ebay.
Regency is a style that appears to have originated in France. There are many variations of this style alone, the unifying theme being that the pieces tend to be tall and skinny. The set in The Thomas Crown Affair clip above might be a version. (There’s an introduction to the different variations here.) On ebay right now there’s this set of pieces that look in good condition.
Popular in the UK and US in the first half of the 19th century, the barleycorn design is also a possible candidate for the set in The Thomas Crown Affair. There are very few on ebay right now, possibly only one that is complete, but what a lovely thing it is: an antique bone set from 1850.
At the opposite extreme, there are numerous themed sets. If that’s your bag, you can choose from a long list of licensing deals including The Simpsons, Looney Tunes, Star Wars, Minecraft and Harry Potter. There are piles of historically themed sets, like Roman figures or Napoleonic. My favourite is this 1970s set of political figures. The Kings appear to be Ted Heath and Jim Callaghan.
Best of all, the pawns are a worker in overalls and a flat cap for The Labour Party and for the Conservatives a city type in a bowler hat.
There appear to be a number of examples of this glass set. I played on one recently and wouldn’t recommended it if you want to do more than just look at it.
I found many random sets from a time when kids weren’t conjoined with their devices. Some lovely packaging. They might be “Ideal for folk of all ages” but unfortunately most come with grotty plastic pieces.
(If interested, you can find these here, here, here and here.)
To bring things full circle to a more modern approach, what about this set designed by Michael Graves, former Memphis group member? I really want to like it but the King and Queen remind me of rabbits sitting up on their hind legs, Watership Down style.
Or to go with your Patrick Bateman hifi set up, perhaps a set like this?
So I mentioned that I’m leaning towards a classic style, in other words the Staunton Pattern. First sold in 1849 it is still the standard design for international competitions. Even if you’re not a Grand Master, it’s probably what’s used at your local chess club and features in the Queen’s Gambit ad above. It has a pleasingly familiar look to it and there are loads of lovely vintage sets available on ebay. I have my eye on this one, complete with a slide top box.
There are over four hundred Staunton-style sets currently listed on ebay UK. There might be one there for you .
That’s it. Happy hunting.
Want to be more Decmatic?
Want a nourishing shot of inspiration and ideas like this injected directly to your inbox every week? Subscribe from free here >