- Horn Coffeehouse Set -
I'd wanted a good example of this design for years when I ran into this charming set. I love the look and feel of carved horn. Aquiring this set was like two birds with one stone that way, a fairly high quality example of this too often pedestrian style... and it's made out of horn! A post on some collector forums got me only the suggestion these might be Uhlig. An email to Nicholas Lainer of the chess-museum, who I feel is quite knowlegable about this style of set, got me these ideas: "I have certainly not come across anything alike before. If there weren't these odd rook tops; I would venture the guess that they are German or South German. Please note that these forms were also apparent in pieces made all over the Hapsburg empire, so this might be from Czechia, Hungary, even Romania or Poland, let alone Southern Germany. Coffeehouse sets were also made in the Erzgebirge area in Borstendorf by Uhlig, Wittig and Louis Arnold, possibly anywhere were there was demand for them." I still don't think these are Uhlig, though I can't say anything for sure. If you look at an old Uhlig catalogue (brought to you by Alan Dewey,) you might see what I mean. It's clear that Uhlig made Coffeehouse sets. It's clear that Uhlig made sets out of horn. It's not too imaginative an idea that they may have made a few Coffeehouse sets out of horn. I just imagine if they did these sets would look much more like their wooden Coffeehouse sets. Of course there's a lot of variation over the years, not every Uhlig set looks like those pictured in this catalog, but the differences in King, Queen, and Rook tops as well as the odd hexoginal bases seem a bit much to me. My guess is this set doen't come from anywhere too near Vienna. It looks more like an outside 'take' on this design than even the German Uhlig 'takes' which are not so far removed from the Austrian piece shapes, so we're left with Mr. Lainer's educated guesses. I'm always surprised when I encounter a set no collector I know has ever seen. It's either an incredibly rare set, or so unextrodonary it's flown "under the radar" of so many collectors. I can't imagine such a lovely set not being noticed even as horn is undervalued as I feel it is. Of course if you know anything about this set I'd love to hear it (even as it may shatter my illusion that I have something quite rare.) Here are some pitcures of my Vienna style horn set. Kings 3 1/8 inch. A Coffeehouse Style set made from horn, (on a marble board that I thought matched the texture of the horn.) Oppose color Bishops pin on opposite sides in this sharp position from the French Defense chess opening. ...and of course we need to play the Vienna Game opening with this set as well. The pieces have more breathing room on this board, and the high contrast squares set off the Bishops. ...shiney. White Bishop. More Bishop shots. Minor pieces. There's a chip in the white horn of the Bishop near the ball and the camera is playing a trick with it.That's not a dab of paint. The tops are seperate pieces of dark horn. Rooks and pawns appear to be the only monoblock pieces. Bishops and knights aside, the seams are well hidden. King's almost perfectly matched. Queen's oddly matched. They're close to the same height, but the individual segments are all in different proportions. Those high contrast Bishops. (The middle right piece has a replacement felt.) I've talked a lot about the Bishops. Of course the knights are a large measure of the quality of the set. These are certainly better than most Coffeehouse knights out there, but by no means the best. Their gentile rounded faces make them kind of cute, in my opinion, and they fit the set well. The eyes are rhinestones. The knight on the right is missing one eye. Rooks. Again some of the proportions are off; the rook on the left has a tall base, but the height of the overall pieces remain constant. Pawns. The linup. Light felts appear to original.Two different replacements are pictured, the one on the left is much newer than the others. Three or four pieces have the replacements. I peeled back the newest one to look underneath. The hollow inside is natural. All of the pieces were made from the tips of hollow horns. Of course the hexagonal bases are another oddity of this set. So many lovely textures in horn. Odd rook tops with rounded cuts... anyone ever see rook like this? Knight heads heads appear to be carved from the hardest sections of the horn. They lack the translucency of most of the rest of the material and have a more noticable grain. This material was probably selected to hold better detail. Cyclops. The grain of the dark pieces resembles an oil slick in the sun. More Bishops. This is my favorite shot of the set.
