- Old Viennese Travel Set -
I acquired this little wooden set from eBay. The seller claimed it was made by a prisoner in a correctional institution. I've seen almost the same set sold recently as Persian. I don't think either story is true. I think these are Austrian. The design comes from there anyway, from Old Viennese or 'Alt-Wiener' coffeehouse sets. Opposite color bishop finials go a long way to giving this simple set its charm.
Coffeehouse chess anyone?
White pieces.
The dark side.
Representative pieces.
I believe it was Tartakower who said of the Vienna Game chess opening: "The beautiful thing about 2. Nc3 is it threatens nothing!"
Klaus Doblhammer has an impressive collection of Old Viennese sets along with information about the design here (click on the Alt-Wiener tab on the left to go straight to the coffehouse sets but be sure to check out the rest of the site, espcecially if you read German.)