How did you start collecting chess items?

In my case I started searching for an old nice set and board when I began to play chess.  If I would know what would happen I would perhaps go to a shop and buy a beautiful tournament set and board, a smaller board for analysis and a digital clock. I am not sure if this would be great or bad.

My “search for s nice board / set” ended with me purchasing all kind of things related to chess. Colleciting is something funny. You are basically hunting / gathering. You can of course with the time be a specialist, knowing all kind of things about the history of chess, having a website or publish books or articles about the topic. But actually you are not more and not less than the hunter/gathered, perhaps with an intellectual touch, perhaps only to justify the amount of money you spent with this hobby.

Yes, through your activities as a collector you can assure that some very nice chess items will not land in the rubbish. How many museums were build up with the things found by avid collectors? And I can imagine worst ways to spend money, like buying expensive cars every year.

And you can even make a business out if your hobby, buying and  reselling all kind of chess related things.

What is your story?

The chess sets in my collection are mostly ones that I picked up for cheap at thrift stores.  Each one that I buy has some "pro" that sets it apart from all of the others (e.g., vintage, size, style, portability, etc.) but then also has some flaw that makes it less than optimal (e.g., the colors of the pieces are too similar, the shapes are not distinguishable enough,  a pawn is missing, the king has been chewed by a dog, etc. - there's usually an obvious reason why it was donated to the thrift store).  I usually refurbish the sets as much as I can to make them usable, and sometimes give them away to people that I know will use them. 

I haven't yet graduated to the really fancy sets (the most I've ever spent on a chess set is $35), and my wife makes sure that my hoarding doesn't get out of control.  A new chess set coming in the door typically means an old chess set has to go out the door.

I don't know what it is about chess sets.  I've always collected something (e.g., toys, coins, etc.) - there's something about the thrill of the hunt and occasionally finding something rare/unique at a bargain.  I guess this is just another one of those things.

One set in, another out is a perfect approach! The idea of refurbishing the set is great, I often do the same. I gave some of my sets to winners of chess tournaments I organised for my students. 

UGH... Yes, I too suffer from life-long acute chronic Hunter/Gatherer Disease!!

Today, my Study/Den is literally overflowing with Vintage Paperback Books from the 60s/70s, Vintage Stage Magic Props from the 50s-80s, Vintage Hardback Books on Gambling and Salesmanship, Pool Cues and Cases, and Vintage Slot Cars in various scales... And now, CHESSBOARDS and CHESSMEN. It's insane; but, I love it!

However, I never felt the need to own more than one Chess Set at a time, until I retired a few years ago.

As a preteen kid, we had a typical border-less folding box type set with the German Staunton Chessmen which vanished during a move. Then, around 1982, I bought one of those Green & White Soap Stone Chinese Figures (Buddhas, Temples, Judges, etc) 'Imported Asian Gift Store' Chess Sets with the super-ornately carved drawer-boards, fake pearlized squares, which looked like it cost $1000, It retailed for about $20 dollars at the time, and because it was so weird on the eyes, had a play value of about $2.

When I became VERY serious about mastering Chess - like quitting smoking, this happened many times through the years with many false or aborted starts and stops - back around 1984, I splurged and bought a Fidelity Electronics' Sensory Challenger '9' Electronic Chess Set, which cost about $100 at the time (about $300 in 2020 money). This was serious cutting-edge technology for it's day; and, became the ONLY chess set I used for years and years and years; until, it too got lost somewhere in-between moves, during a Chess 'down cycle'.

I must have played about 2000-3000 games on this bad boy in one year, as my part-time weekend job back in 1987 was as Night Watchman at gated senior retirement community from 11pm - 7am; with absolutely nothing going on from Midnight to 5:30am, except for playing endlessly on this guy.

 

Funny thing about the Fidelity unit, it had 10 Levels of "Thinking Depth" IIFC; but, I could not even hope to beat it on Level One. Perhaps the programming was faulty, as I could see no determinable difference between Level One and Level Ten. It would just whip your butt all night long. HOWEVER, it was awesome for setting-up Chess Problems and letting the computer show you the best series of moves from the positions you would offer it to solve.

This remained my one and only Chessboard and set of Chessmen, UNTIL I discover HoS...

My first purchase was a very basic Mahogany & Maple non-folding Tournament Board with 2.25" squares, and, a set of their Master Series Triple Weighted Plastic Chessmen, with the 3.75" King. 

Things stayed that way until the Hunter/Gatherer Collecting Bug started biting; and, the idea of "only needing one chessboard" went right out the window.

Now, I have collected a small Battalion of Chessmen (Zurich, Fischer, Reykjavick, etc). Wooden wind-up Chess Timers, Digital Chess Timers, Wooden Tournament Boards, Paper Tournament Boards, Silicone Tournament Boards, Mouse Pad Tournament Boards all in the 21.25" with 2.25" square-size, along with an assortment of 'cheapy' wood Plain Jane Notation Analysis Boards in various smaller square sizes from Amazon.

And now... the HoS indulgence I ordered yesterday - I swear I only went online to buy some replacement Plastic Analysis Chessmen!!! - I am currently awaiting delivery of:

 

found my dads old stuff

Great story buddy,  yes, it is funny,  but collecting chess is something most people don't understand.  Even my wife enjoys it  especially after some amazing findings like a great German metal set, some very collectable clocks, a signed book by and signed by Alekhine  (now in a museum), several old tournament boards from chess club Bern (we found several of those in different times), and so on. 

I found this same chess computer in an alley. I was a teen obsessed with chess in the early Eighties. It didn't have instructions. I think the pieces were in a compartment in the back. I played around with it until I was able to figure out how it worked. I loved that chess computer. It stopped working. It was taking too long to move which is probably why somebody tossed it out for me to find.

For me, it started when I got back into chess in 2018. I was all about just learning chess at first. Then one day I thought about buying a chess set for study. I started with a 12” magnetic from Chesshouse. Eventually it wasn’t big enough so I moved up to a 14” board and a French staunton set from Chesshouse. Again after awhile it wasn’t big enough so I moved up to the HoS 3.75” Players Series on a torunament size board from CWW. You would think this is where it would end. Nope! Now I wanted just one nice set. This is where the problem began. I went with the HoS 3.75” Collectors in paudauk/boxwood. That was 2019. Since then the “just one” became “just one more”. I now have 13 tournament sets 2 more on the way.

I think it is the usual way to start collecting 🤔 

Yeah I agree. It like that little rock that rolled down a snowy mountain side only to become an avalanche half way down.

I only collect chess books (which I do actually read) and chess sets/boards (which I do play with); I wanted "just one" very nice set and board for play/study, so I purchased a Noj set (BCE) and Ulbrich board...unfortunately, there are many beautiful sets/boards out there, and I was bitten by the "chess bug" which compelled me to acquire more. I don't really consider what I do "collecting," per se, because I use what I buy for play/study; I liken it to collecting different sports equipment for use in sport (e.g., different baseball bats or golf clubs), which can be used to change or enhance the sporting experience. It is nice to be able to play with an eastern (e.g., Dubro) set on one day and a western (e.g., Staunton) on another, for example, to mix things up.

I also started this with the claim that I was a player first and foremost, and not a collector.

When I hit the point of owning over 35, nice wood sets, I grudgingly admitted to collecting.
We recently moved and my wife realized how many sets I owned.  Well that totally stopped me getting more unless I sell stuff first.

The problem is that I do play with these sets.  Looking at them, I cannot see selling any of them.

I think my interest in chess sets might have started just before Covid. But the lockdown years and finding this Forum certainly accelerated my problem. 😀

Fortunately for me, I'm physically prevented from owning any more chess sets/boards because I do not have any more space available to store them.

I think I don’t have problems selling, as I really have a lot of stuff. My apartment looks more like a museum than an apartment.  I will make some pictures to show some things.

 

Do you see what I mean? For example, tomorrow  a guy will come to buy a Mickey Mouse swing from the 1950s and a design couch - part of my attempt to reduce things.

Next year probably I will sell for the first time in an antiques market part of my chess items and other things. The idea is to reduce the collection, improving the quality. I will sell probably try to sell most or even all my clocks (2 Solora, 2 Heuer from the 1980s, 2 Garde Electronic, and many many others, some really cool but unknown).
I will probably sell also my Novag Adversary in working condition (at least last time it was working), and a lot of chess books, new and old.

I also have a lot of chess boars and sets. I will sell part of them. However, the decision what to sell and what to keep will be quite tough. I think I should only keep things that I can display in the apartment, without giving the impression that the apartment is overcrowded. I know what do you think - the apartment is already overcrowded! 😂 But with less books (I have something like 8 to 10 k) I will definitely have more space, more walls.

Yes, next step will be to sell part of my library. But to be able to do this I have to finish a project, to be concrete: finish to write a book, probably more than one, on human evolution and history of science.

As you can see, next year will be quite exciting in many ways. I am 60, so I have to be ready to move back to Brazil when I am retired with 65. 

By far the biggest part of my collection is on swimming, diving, bathing, everything related to human interacting with water. Only very few items in the pictures are related to this topic.
One is the African figure under the tv. It is a bronze depicting an Olokun with mudfish legs. His name means “owner of the sea”.  
We have pictures, sculptures, bathing suits, swimming goggles, books. Hundreds of old postcards.
We also have objects related to mythology (for example mermaids). One you can see in the last picture, a woman holding a snake over the shoulders, a so called Mami Wata, a water spirit. She is depicted as a beautiful lady with quite white skin or as a mermaid. The history of the Mami Wata is fascinating. In Brazil we can it Yemanjá or Iemanjá.

A third piece also in the last picture is the black guardian angel protecting two kids walking over a bridge (danger of drowning). I will not be surprised if we have one of the biggest collection on guardian angels worldwide: uncountable pictures and postcards.

Your place looks cool as-is.

Fantastic thread, fantastic apartmuseum or
Museument.

Me - I started collecting in lockdown. First playing online with a friend and then wanting a physical set.

As I move into my late in career phase, I am continuing with old and experimenting with new hobbies - some old… I continue to play golf, dabble with a guitar, curate a few bonsai, love and eclectic array of music. I try to remain active - running, gym and golf … and newer hobbies are chess and woodturning… I’m a long way from retiring … 10+ years but I don’t want to finish work and wonder “what next?”

I want to have a few different interests to keep my mind and body young… and I want to explore and experiment to end up with a few core hobbies and an array of social connections as I age.

And hey, when I was young, I collected Smurfs and then I gave them away to a relative and who knows where they went with the passing of time.

Chess pieces are my adult Smurfs! 😆

Thanks guys. Yes, this thread giving us the opportunity to auto reflect our hobbies. We are also learning each others.