Brazilian old chess set

This chess set was purchased in the middle of last century in Brazil by my grandfather in law. He was born in romanian territory (when it was austro-hungarian empire), but he had hungarian passport when he came to Brazil in the 1920s, as a young baby, fleeing with his family from poverty and war in eastern europe.

As everybody knows, chess is very popular in this region of the world, specially Hungary. 
So after establishing a family, he bought this set to play with his kids (one of them is my father in law). The board is small (4.5 cm squares) and super light, there is a very thin plywood sheet beneath the veneer. The pieces are felted, unweighted and the king is 10 cm tall. They show several battle scars from 3 generations of users and the white pieces are lacquered. The black pieces are not ebonized but painted in black. Both from the same wood (the only broken piece is the black king’s cross). Seems like an ordinary set from the past, no special design, no intricated carving or fancy box. Just sentimental value.

Just for fun and curiosity, I tried to find out the manufacturer but the sticker on the back of the board is very worn. I could read a few words in portuguese “Fabrica” “Jogos” “Luiz”.

Appreciate if anyone can help me identify this manufacturer. 
Thanks in advance.

That is a gorgeous set! It’s amazing how much variety there can be in such a standardized game - it’s one of the things that makes chess a sublime form.

The knight carving at the back resembles the Romanian-Hungarian sets, by the way.

Little reaction here to this nice thread!

I have some Brazilian sets. Usually they are easy to recognize through the unique knights, which have a large head. They are other typical features too. 
Check in this link the Brazilian set, which shows similarities to yours

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5197005427058994&set=gm.5118278231603719

Um abração 

Yes, I thought the same.

Very nice posting and pics! Thank you letting us all take a peek and enjoy the journey as well. 

Thanks guys for the kind and nice messages! Specially from my fellow countryman @Brasileirosim living in Switzerland. Always with good insights about Brazilian pieces!
Take care everyone!

Very nice set...Lots of character.

One of my best Staunton I found in a antique shop in Rio de Janeiro. Tournament size, very heavy with a wonderful patina. It is really difficult to find such a beautiful set, and the price was very good.
I will let you know if I publish a thread about it.

It's most elegant!😍

  Hey, ferpesan, I believe I found the manufacturer. More info on this link.

I have found a set very similar to yours, as you will see on the following pictures, not identical but truly very similar. It was sold online in Germany and I still wonder how it waited for me even half a day. The seller gave me no info except for "Ah, I thought if it made it all the way from Brazil it will make it to you. Sorry about the broken finial, I had it packed and didn't want to reopen when your message (about padding with newspaper) arrived. Alas, it is in good hands now."

Re-glueing finials, collars or ears are the goldsmith moments in collecting, and while I have messed up a Philippinian kamagong horse I succeeded with this half a square millimeter of black cross. I put in the coloured felts into the box. But for taking it along with me it would take serious anti-rattle padding- and a cushioned box to put the box in, really! I consider myself very lucky I can play with this old set. Maybe someone from Sao Paulo can date it?

First Brazilian Grandmaster Henrique da Costa Mecking (*1952)

The game set up is Browne-Mecking, Mar del Plata 1971. Browne annotated this in his 'The stress of chess and its infinite finesse' (2012) lauding Mecking's active opening play, presenting the instructive ending. Both finished mid-field, Polugaevsky taking 1st ahead of Panno and Savon).

Position after 17.f3 .. Mecking chose Nf6

Position after 58.Ld2-e1

Nice set, thanks for sharing it!

Dear Till / Ungewichtet / Unweighted,

Congratulations on the acquisition. Nice chess set. “Xadrez Alma” means Chess Soul, very suggestive name. You can also identify in the label a printed “VAT excluded item” and the law number and year (1938). Which means the set was produced some years later, in the 40’s probably. My father in law set is from the 50’s. Enjoy the new item of your great collection! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

pS: Henrique Mecking a.k.a “Mequinho” is sort of our GOAT brazilian grandmaster, who trapped Bobby Fischer’s queen in one of their matches. National hero!

Thanks a lot, Fernando! The label is on the chess board and it is uncertain if board and pieces were acquired at the same time. While, with their resemblance it is quite probable that these pieces are about as old as your father-in-law's from the 50ies! And if the connection Marco drew between the "Luiz" labels- the set in the link being like another sibling- our chess shops would have been only 9 kilometers away from one another