Jugendstil, space age, what else?

I found this set twice, slightly varying. The second time I did not get it, because the woman offering it wrote 'pick it up for free'. It was several hundreds of kilometres away and somebody else got it, of course. 

I post it because it's great, out of the ordinary and I don't know anything about it. What do you think of it? How would you date it? Have you got it, seen it, do you know the folks who made it? Thank you very much!

The set (board not related)

And finally the other one, the variant I could not get ahold of

The chessmen style is originally Australian. I recognized the distinctive forms immediately.  @ungewichtet  The images you posted may be of German reproductions made after WWII. 

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/what-is-a-c-f

And here is a wonky looking attempt at a reproduction of the original Australian ACF set by chessbazzar.

I agree with the comments above. The original of this style seems to be the Australian ACF set. However, there seems to be a German version of this type, which is called "Deutsches Schlicht-Schach". Apparently, it came in two versions. I have version "B", so maybe the set in post #1 above is type "A"? Originals of all these sets are very rare.

Here are the pictures which are also included in my book:

ACF set

Deutsches Schlicht-Schach "B"

Thank you all very much for your comments. The solution to the mystery is very well illustrated, great revue, thank you, guys. 

I found my set on ebay in Germany with the info 'from my grandparents' from the seller, I believe. The form of the knights identic in #6's Schlicht-Schach "B" and #1, #1 could be Schlicht-Schach A, indeed. B is relatively compressed, may be smaller- and has different styles of bishop, king and queen, of course. 

The one picture that went with that offer I happened to miss (last pic in #1) shows a knight with features just like in the ACF shown in #4 and the ACF set (or are these two?) in #6. Same for the queen, but the king is new- round finial- the bishop is a broader-ringed version of the rocket bishop in the thread-opening set, the rook, again, is a tad smaller like in Schlicht-Schach "B".

Giving rise to the hope there are more sets to come.

In fact, there seem to be two different versions of the ACF set with the main difference being the bishop. As you will have noticed the head of the bishop shown on the label is identical to the ACF set in #4, but different from the actual pieces in #6.

 utpic hat geschrieben:

How do you know it came in two versions?

Hi Porat, good to hear from you. I actually do not know for sure that it came in two versions. However, the box of my set is stamped with "Deutsches Schlicht-Schach B", so I assumed that there is also an "A" version of the set.

Holger, who am I to argue with you, I nonetheless would personally not take that as an indication of two versions of this set (why would they have two versions?) but rather if B implies there was an A (and there could have been a C and a D too) - then I would think it would be rather an indication of two types of "Schlicht" sets - i.e. basic, elementary, simple sets and all the word "schlicht" implies. In other words, two different sets altogether but common in their "schlichtness"

The one thing I want to add to this discussion is that this set is distinctly Aboriginal in design. The change of the bishop may have been (a complete conjecture) a "European" intervention in keeping with the convention of stylistically linking the bishop with king and queen.

That is actually what I meant, i.e. two types of "schlicht" sets not necessarily similar in style. But there must have been something else.

Yes, very good observation. I think the bishop's style in this example is more in line with the aboriginal design, no?

Looking for something on my computer, I came across these photos I once saved after I missed an offer. -Value or excuse the melancholy of photos typical missed offer-style

These are the same pieces EfimLG47 posted in #6, and they come in exactly the same box as the taller pieces I started this thread with in #1. Now if you want take a closer look at this box here, I tried b/w for better contrast:

I cannot read all of it. In any case, we have a small Deutsches Schlicht Schach in the same box as the taller set (from #1) which has no stamp in its box. Dear Efim, does your box of type B look the same? Even if the pieces from #6 lie in another kind of box, the box connection made between the sets posted in #1 and #17 makes it probable that they made a tall and a small set as versions of the same style they called 'schlicht'. That does not exclude there are 'Schlicht Schachs' C, D, E.. of different types. And after all, they seem rare enough they might even all be prototypes. In that way, the other missed set, pictured in #1, last pic, could be a 'Schlicht Schach A' or 'C', as well. -While we must not forget it could also be a third Australian version! Let me reprise it here:

It has the knight that is directly from the Australian original versions given in #4 and #6/#16, as well as the queen. And it has the bishop much like the would-be 'Schlicht Schach A' tall version.

Dear utpic, would you mind telling us something about which features you meant when you said 'this set is distinctly Aboriginal in design' (#14)? That would be very kind.

Thank you very much everyone!

When I saw the Chess Bazaar version, which was my first encounter with this set, I was struck by its modernism, and the "primitive" (art historical term, rather than a pejorative) knight form I attributed to the use of tribal forms in early modernism, like in the work of Picasso. I bought the set but found it still a bit strange, esp the knight ... something didn't seem right.

Then I saw a photo of the original and immediately the pieces came together, so to speak. It was clearly within the tradition of folk-tribal crafts, and the problem lay with the reproduction not quite picking up that aspect ... perhaps because one needs the irregular hand-made feel of a genuine craft.

The website where this appears confirmed this link. When you ask me to describe specifically what it is that makes it aboriginal, that is a bit more difficult. The simple forms, the human face like knight, the smaller size, non-felted, the hand craft-like feel to it ... (the rook and bishop have that simple paired down sensibility ... it is hard in words to describe style :-)

That said, it would be wonderful if an Australian collector could unearth the exact history behind this set, who commissioned it, where it was first produced and who the craftsman was or which company developed it ... there must be a story behind it

My ignorance declared earlier in this thread … the world works in mysterious ways. I now have this set and it is quite beautiful. I think Steve Jobs once noted that simplicity is hard to achieve and yet - here we have something so simple yet utterly classy and could have come from any time - perhaps the future even. I’d love to know who originally designed it … as a novice collector I am not sure I’ll have much success but if I ever find out, I’ll provide updates.