Golden Castle Master Set, made in Japan c1960

The largest size for a Golden Castle set, with 4" kings.  This is a beautiful staunton set in outstanding condition, with the usual "golden" glow to the white side pieces and slight variation in carving of the knights (which is so much better than the mundane uniformity of more modern sets!).

The set comes in its original, large slide-top box with a rather faded label to the bottom of the box - you can still make out "Golde* Cast*" on the bottom line, and "Staunt*" on the middle line, along with the "by" line - which would have carried the craftsman's signature.  The top line, with the model name for the set, has a very large "A", which I presume is the A from MASTER.  The four inch sets were originally called Grandmaster sets, and later changed to simply Master.

The set came from a vintage shop in Eureka, California.  The set has the name "Don Baumhardt" written in a child's hand to the felted underside of the lid, and also "Don" to the label.  On some research, I think this was Don Gregory Baumhardt's set, who lived in Eureka (which I've got to say is a fantastic name for a town).  Don has since passed away, with an internet source giving his age as 76 (whether when he passed or now, it is not clear).  Assuming now, then Don would have been born in 1949.  I would guess this was a present to him, and I would hazard a guess that his handwriting is that of an approximate 10 year old, giving a dating for the set of the late 1950s into the early 1960s.  I haven't been able to find out much more information about Don, other than he wrote a couple of books of poetry in his lifetime.  I would love to know more about him. Antiques and vintage sets with provenance are always a good reminder of our fleeting time on this Earth.