As luck would have it, my friend Tony Fisher made a chess set out of 2x2x2 puzzles. He initially intended to sell it at DCD but because that has been postponed yet again, he sent me a message asking if I was interested in it. Of course I jumped at the offer and am the proud owner of the first one made.
Tony spent the past 9 weeks releasing videos of his build trying to let people know what he did and how he went about making the pieces. I was particularly interested to hear that he used paperclips in the necks of the pawns to keep them from breaking if accidentally dropped.
In part 2 Tony continues to develop the Pawns. I wonder what type of glue he uses for those pieces.
Part 3 covers the Bishops. Part 4 is the rooks. When Tony gets to Part 5, we learn about the Queen. I like that he finally showed the bottles of the material he used. One has to wonder how many times he can use each mold, and how many full chess sets he actually sold.
Part 6. Thanks a lot Tony! I had to go watch a movie to get the pun. It's a good movie by the way. Highly recommended.
OMG! Finally! The Tony Fisher puzzles I know and love are back. He's returned to sculpting pieces and this one is amazing! While I don't want a night to remember with Tony, I'll take this KNIGHT to remember.
Next up is, Knights in white resin. And finally, there is episode 9: Board of puzzles. It was only at part 6 that I realized all of the titles were a play on words. Oh am I slow!
Tony texted me on 29 May with a video of his top secret project and asked not to show or tell anyone about this. He also knows me well and instead of offering up one of 3 sets he made, he sold me the #1 set. Complete with chessboard and signature. I sent a wire transfer and on the 20th of July I recieved three packages in the mail. He waited until the set was complete using the same material so the colors would match. Wonderful!
I realized when looking back on our conversation that we have a number of puzzle chess sets in Puzzle Palace. Tony's is joining a fine collection.
 |
| Hanayama silver and gold on Lensch's Dudeney board |
 |
| Wooden Charles O Perry set |
 |
| Very large wooden Charles O Perry set |
 |
| Franco Rocco set |
 |
| Franco Rocco set |
 |
| Franco Rocco sets in plastic and original metal |
 |
| Marcel Gillen pieces |
 |
| Gold, silver, black Hanayama sets all on custom boards |
 |
| Think fun puzzles |
As you can see from the above photos, we have a number of different chess puzzle sets. The only non-puzzle set is the board under the Franco Rocco sets. You can also see we are missing the bishop in the Gillen originals. If anyone has one for sale, do let me know. I won the gold and silver Franco Rocco set on auction here in Palm Beach County and a week later, the other set showed up in the Dalgety Collection. James kept the wooden one in his set of 500 reserve puzzles. Perhaps one day in the future it will join the rest of the collection. Should you have any news on other puzzle chess sets please send us a message. This is a collection we would like to keep adding to.
I would like to add, the person who scrambles that set will be the first death in Puzzle Palace.
Because we were at my daughter's wedding for the past two weeks, I did not post about any puzzles. Nor did I do any updates to the museum. I'll be back to normal next week.
Happy Puzzling All!
DCD is happening this year, although later than usual
ReplyDeleteThe Maryhill Museum has an extensive collection of chess sets. They might be a good resource, both to see if they have any puzzle sets they could let go of, and also to see if they would show your chess set puzzles as a temporary exhibit, if that's something you're interested in.
ReplyDelete