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Check out this chess set
Karen Mackintosh reporters@nsnews.com
Albert Englmann thinks that his father's chess set is worth more than a few million dollars.
The North Vancouver resident said that he was offered $3 million but turned down this potential buyer, who he won't name, because he can get more money at a New York City auction. Englmann hasn't contacted an auction house but expects the bidding to start at $3 million.
He hasn't had the set appraised or insured.
Englmann said that the chess set is stored in a secure safe in his basement.
"No one knows where it is," he said. "And even if they found the safe, they would have to get in and then they probably wouldn't be able to get out."
Englmann's father, also Albert Englmann, won the hand-carved wood set and box at a tournament in Straubing, Germany in 1926. The felt-bottomed brown and black wood pieces have some small scratches from use. The kings are approximately three inches high.
The set's claim to fame is that it was used for a match between Humphrey Bogart and international master George Koltanowski, said Englmann.
Koltanowski, who died in the United States in 2000, was famous for playing blindfolded chess, once taking on 34 opponents simultaneously. The game against Bogart and one between Koltanowski and Englmann's father are annotated in Koltanowksi's 1955 book Adventures of a Chess Master. Englmann has a copy of this book as well as the paper record of his father's game against Koltanowski.
Nathan Divinsky thinks that Englmann's claim of a $3-million offer is ridiculous.
"If Humphrey Bogart touched a piece of toilet paper that doesn't mean it would be worth a million dollars," he said.
Divinsky played on two Canadian Olympic chess teams. He has written several books on chess, including Life Maps of Great Chess Masters, published in 1994. He has been involved with international chess collectors and owns several collectable sets, including an ivory set from 19th century India that he purchased for less than $4,000 at Christie's auction house in London.
The catalogue from the 1993 auction lists 75 chess items. The most expensive item is an early 19th century Rajahstan ivory set. The kings, carved as elephants transporting figures in howdahs, are 51/2 inches high. This set has an estimated price of œ9,000-10,000, or about $22,500-$25,000.
"We don't comment on property that hasn't been given to us for sale, said Suzanne Davis of Christie's when asked about the $3-million offer. "I would advise him to get in touch with either Christie's or one of the other international auction houses."
Englmann said that he is selling the set because as an inventor he needs money to finance his projects, among which are a turbine engine and a laser cigarette lighter. This chess set is the only one his father ever owned.
Englmann's father came to Canada from Bavaria in the 1930s.
Born in 1936 on the Lower Mainland, Englmann has been driving a cab for North Shore Taxi since 1957. According to the taxi company he is their longest-serving driver and the only one who has never received a traffic or parking ticket.
He also plays chess - but not competitively.
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