Life In 19x19

Newbie wrote:Thank you for the incredible amount of information and background! Really learning a lot about this set and the craftmanship that goes into them. I have been moving round a lot recently and will unpack the set again and look at it with all the new information in mind.

I can’t identify the board but those old bowls are most likely chestnut

My more recent acquisitions of used go gear were found on Etsy,eBay, and craigslist. They each exhibit interesting effects of many years of engaged play but not necessarily the care these artifacts deserved. As they say on Antique Roadshow, don’t touch the patina! Let the buyer decide how to clean or rehabilitate the set.

You could always learn to play go. Takes patience. Guaranteed you would gain a new interest in the set.

Please post an update as this story continues to unfold.

Hey! I've been looking for something like this for about a year or so - I don't know if you're still hoping to sell it, but let me know if you'd want to discuss. I'm also a relative novice who's been getting into Go more, so I will definitely be putting it to good use, but I'm not an expert in how much it's worth.

I'd say the bowls are definitely chestnut. I have a pair of chestnut bowls that I "polished" using some kind of oil based furniture polish which we used on out dining room table. The bowls became a uniform brown color; the whitish following the grain lines was lost, something I don't mind at all. One thing to consider is whether oil polish has been used on the inside of the bowls. Any kind of oil will be bad for the shell stones. Indeed, the wood of any bowls intended for use with shell stones have to be well sealed so that resin from the wood doesn't stain the stones. The stones have normal wear and staining from skin oil, what you might call a patina of use. I couldn't say much definitely about the board. I wouldn't consider the set a collectible item, but the whole set looks eminently usable, a great set for regular playing.

edit P.S. I just looked at the face of the board in the close-up photo of the stones in a bowl and I see almost no grain lines on the face, which tells me the board is not kaya or spruce or hiba. It might be katsura or agathis. I saw in Japan a board of similar thickness, made out of ginkgo wood, that looked similar.

gowan wrote:I saw in Japan a board of similar thickness, made out of ginkgo wood, that looked similar.

I have a ginkgo wood board that has very clear lines. I'll try to post a pic later.

Take care

Sorry for the delay. don't have my camera right now (nor will I for a few days), so I had to make do with the smartphone. True colour is much richer, but the pattern should be useful.

O...kay. Sorry, phpBB doesn't like the images, for some reason, so I'm linking them at my GDrive. I have to admit they are not good pics. Anyhow, that's supposed to be Ginkgo wood (and I have no reason to doubt it, but I have to admit I don't have external confirmation).

Take care.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/194FPwe ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19EAMJJ ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18yLovZ ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/195ji8X ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18xsO00 ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nlvyZR ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dk14cF ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yPWBXB ... sp=sharing