Lot #648. William T. Pinney Tournament Chess Set, Small Club Size

William Pinney Chess Set, Small Club Size.

Here is a William Pinney Chess Set, featuring the hard-to-find Small Club-size Staunton chessmen. The chess Pieces are are weighted and felted. These vintage William T. Pinney chess sets were produced between 1933 and the late 1950s. The Chess set is black and natural lacquered Orangewood. The King stands 3-5/8″ tall with a 1-1/2″ diameter base. The captivating feature of the Pinney chessmen is the unique Knight. Somewhat slab-sided and simple, the Knights have an allure all of their own. To some, it is an acquired taste! The chessmen are housed in their original hinge-top cedar box with the manufacturer’s name and address burned into the underside of the lid. This particular William Pinney Chess Set was produced around 1945. The chess pieces are in like-new condition.  The set appears to have been unused. The chessboard shown is not part of this sale, but may be purchased elsewhere on this site. These chess pieces play and display best on a chessboard with 2-1/8″ or 2-1/4″ squares,.For a complete selection of our finest new and antique chessboards, please visit https://chessantiques.com/product-category/chessboards/

Background.

W. T. Pinney chessmen were constant fixtures in chess clubs and tournament halls through out the country from the 1930s through the late 1950s. The chessmen are often featured on the cover and pages of Chess Review, edited by Al Horowitz, throughout its three decades existence. Bill Pinney made his sets in four sizes. The Master size is shown here. The Club size had a 4″ King and a 1-5/8″ base. The Small Club had a 3-5/8″ King and a 1-1/2″ base. And finally, there was also a Library size which had a 3″ King.

William T. Pinney was a patternmaker by profession, having worked in the trade for over 18 years.  After the closing of the Charleston Navy Yard in South Carolina where he was employed as a patternmaker, Pinney, age 56,  turned to the manufacture of wooden chessmen. The making of chessmen in volume had interested him both as a player and a patternmaker. So, in 1933, he set up his shop at 811 Maltmen Avenue, Los Angeles, California. There, he started a long and successful career producing wooden chessmen. The machinery used for the mass production was designed and hand-built by Pinney. He was among the first U.S. manufacturers to produce chessmen on a mass scale. Prior to that, the majority of tournament size chess sets were imported from England, France and Germany.