Steiner Master Set c1950

What an amazing smell when I first unpacked this beautiful set - a whiff of expensive cigars arose, bringing me instantly into the original home of this set - a club in Hollywood circa 1950, filled with movie stars and glamorous people!

This is a rare original Steiner Master Set, designed by Herman Steiner. These sets were manufactured by K C Kittinger in Los Angeles (Kenneth Charles Kittenger), and were used in the Piatigorsky Cup Tournaments which included the Fischer-Reshevsky match of 1961. Kenneth Kittinger is listed in the 1950 US census as 39 years, born in Ohio but living in LA, and working as a woodworker (his wife, Madeline, was a beautician). Kenneth's workshop was just a 1/2 mile 10 minute walk from Herman's residence.

The Kings are a deliberately impressive 5 " tall. A nice touch is that the light side pieces have light brown felt, the dark side has dark brown felt.

I was fortunate to spot this set being sold by an "estates find" shop in Los Angeles - where Herman Steiner had established his International Chess Club and College, later merging his club with the Hollywood Chess Club.  Steiner started using a studio attached to his own residence at 108 N Formosa Avenue, West Hollywood to host the chess club (which is the address stamped on the inside of the box lid).  He had many Hollywood stars amongst his acquaintances, including Humprhey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Gary Cooper, and Carmen Miranda. to name but a few.

Very tragically Steiner died from a heart attack whilst defending his California State Championship title on Friday, November 25, 1955.

There is a very wonderful biography of Herman Steiner, which I would encourage you to read https://chess.com/blog/batgirl/steiner.