Bit of a Fellowship Foundry Chess Set conundrum.
13 April
2024-4-13 12:05:09 AM UTC
2024-4-13 12:05:09 AM UTC
Hello all,
I recently came across this pewter chess set (no board) and have been having issues identifying it.
It is a Fellowship Foundry Pewter chess set, that much I have figured out. All the pieces are stamped with 1978 on the bottom and have the names of the characters etched on the bottom and signed on the side with "K.S. O'Hare".
The characters are all from LOTR as opposed to the The Hobbit, 4 Hobbits, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, etc.
But here is the issue. I have not been able to find a matching set to completely identify it with. I have looked at The 1978 Hobbit Set and the 1980s Fellowship vs. Dark Forces (FvDF)set, and I see key differences.
1. All the characters are stamped 1978, though the 1978 set was based on the Hobbit.
2. There are no dragons, or eagles in my set.
3. The Nazgul look like pterodactyl chickens in my set, not like the more detailed dragon/griffin looking ones in either set.
4. The style of the sculpture of the pieces is much more like the Hobbit set, but does not include the Hobbit Characters.
5. The dark forces in my set are a bronze hue that has patined vs. the golden color on the FvDF set.
6. All of my pieces are labeled with 93/3000 which seems to be from FvDF set (which was a limited run of 3000 vs the 1000 of The Hobbit one.)
I have yet to see a set that matches all the pieces and am looking for any other information I can find on exactly which set this is. I thought maybe it could have been a mixed set from The Hobbit and FvDF but why would they all be stamped 1978 as opposed to the 1980s one?
I recently came across this pewter chess set (no board) and have been having issues identifying it.
It is a Fellowship Foundry Pewter chess set, that much I have figured out. All the pieces are stamped with 1978 on the bottom and have the names of the characters etched on the bottom and signed on the side with "K.S. O'Hare".
The characters are all from LOTR as opposed to the The Hobbit, 4 Hobbits, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, etc.
But here is the issue. I have not been able to find a matching set to completely identify it with. I have looked at The 1978 Hobbit Set and the 1980s Fellowship vs. Dark Forces (FvDF)set, and I see key differences.
1. All the characters are stamped 1978, though the 1978 set was based on the Hobbit.
2. There are no dragons, or eagles in my set.
3. The Nazgul look like pterodactyl chickens in my set, not like the more detailed dragon/griffin looking ones in either set.
4. The style of the sculpture of the pieces is much more like the Hobbit set, but does not include the Hobbit Characters.
5. The dark forces in my set are a bronze hue that has patined vs. the golden color on the FvDF set.
6. All of my pieces are labeled with 93/3000 which seems to be from FvDF set (which was a limited run of 3000 vs the 1000 of The Hobbit one.)
I have yet to see a set that matches all the pieces and am looking for any other information I can find on exactly which set this is. I thought maybe it could have been a mixed set from The Hobbit and FvDF but why would they all be stamped 1978 as opposed to the 1980s one?
Thank you for the reply,
They are all marked 93/3000...
...but an update! I have hard confirmation from the maker himself. When all else fails, ask the guy who made it. :)
I shot off an email to the Fellowship Foundry with my questions and I got this in reply from Mr. Kevin O'Hare himself
"You are right that this is the original 1978 LOTR chess set , our very first set we created and the reason why we are named Fellowship Foundry . The Hobbit set came out came in 1981 , a much smaller set ( see attached photo) . We later revised the LOTR set replacing many of the figures ( see attached photo) that was “Fellowship Vs Dark Forces” chess set."
They are all marked 93/3000...
...but an update! I have hard confirmation from the maker himself. When all else fails, ask the guy who made it. :)
I shot off an email to the Fellowship Foundry with my questions and I got this in reply from Mr. Kevin O'Hare himself
"You are right that this is the original 1978 LOTR chess set , our very first set we created and the reason why we are named Fellowship Foundry . The Hobbit set came out came in 1981 , a much smaller set ( see attached photo) . We later revised the LOTR set replacing many of the figures ( see attached photo) that was “Fellowship Vs Dark Forces” chess set."
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