Richter's Anchor® Stone Building
Sets
Richters Anker-Steinbaukasten
(Vol. 6, # 5)
Yes, event he best
Anchor builders have a collapse every now and then. I was sent this
picture by an Anchor builder (name withheld, as builders are often embarrassed
by such events). As we can see, this picture was taken
after the removal of a wall of the church to allow rebuilding.
Do not think this collapse was staged. No one would risk a 98A
arch, which is quite delicate. Stacking columns is a delicate task,
and must be done very carefully if problems are to be avoided. Certainly
the use of 1 unit (25mm) columns instead of ¾ unit (18.75mm) columns
greatly increases the difficulty.
This month's builder is Ulrich von
Blumenthal, who lives in France and works for the UN in Genève,
Switzerland. The building is of a most attractive tower, "der blaue
Turm", in Bad Wimpfen on the Neckar River in Germany. I have seen this
tower and can state it is well worth a visit. Perhaps AV von Blumenthal's
design will inspire you to visit Bad Wimpfen. A drive up the Neckar
from Mannheim or Heidelberg to at least Heilbronn, but preferably Fellbach
near Stuttgart, is well worth the time, effort and money. Hirschhorn
alone will make the trip memorable.
I have decided to eliminate "my page"
as a regular feature of this web site. When I build a new structure, I will
reinstate this page for a month.
If you have only a limited amount of time to spend looking at the Anchor
web site, I urge you to at least go to the
builder's page. This web page features
Anchor buildings by Anchor people from around the world. The pictures
are changed every month.
Richter's Anchor Stone Building Sets (Richters Anker Steinbaukasten) were
the world's most popular construction toy from the early 1880s through
W.W.I. These building stones were made in
Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany, (and
at the company's branches in Vienna, New
York and, possibly, St. Petersburg, Russia). Starting in 1880, Richter's
Anchor building stones were covered by international patents and trademarks.
Today, there are many collectors and
builders using Anchor Stone Building
Sets. These collectors often participate in setting up Anchor displays
at various exhibitions. A
number of them are members of the international
Club of Anchor Friends (Club van
Ankervrienden), a Dutch club with members from the Netherlands, Belgium,
France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain and the USA. The
meetings of the Club of Anchor Friends has been moved to the
Hotel Lapershoek in Hilversum.
Over 600 different Anchor Stone Building Sets were produced in a number of
different series. In addition Richter offered other "stone" products
such as puzzles and laying games.
Information on these building set
series is provided here, but one can
e-mail me on other Richter
products. People who would like to know more about a specific set,
including value, or are only interested
in additional general information are urged to contact
George Hardy. All
e-mail questions will be answered, to the extent of my knowledge.
Sets and puzzles are being produced
again! The quality is high. I urge people interested
in starting Anchor building, and those who want to provide their
educational benefits to their children,
to consider buying new puzzles and sets.
Also I may have available a limited selection
of old sets, including a new set and some special prices. Anchor
Stone Building Sets are great presents, and the supplement sets make wonderful
follow up gifts. These new sets recently won the
1997 Parents' Choice Gold
Medal. In 1999, the Anchor sets won the
National Parenting Publications
Award. For an 1880 toy to win in 1997 and 1999 says
a lot about the quality of these sets and Anchor in general. These
sets are a perfect supplement to computers.
For those who are really interested in Anchor stones, I have written a
book about them. (I just
got tired of either looking up the same information again and again, or trusting
my memory on specific details such as dates and names.) It is expensive,
$70 (or 100 DM) ppd, because I print it myself on my PC and color ink is
expensive. The book undoubtedly contains far more information
about Anchor stones and sets, the Richter company, etc. than you'll ever
want to read. This book is a lot of work to print (I print about a
dozen at a time, in either English or German, and it takes a week, full time.),
so please don't think I am urging you to buy one. The book is also
available on CD-ROM. See below.
The CVA has published its Stone
Catalog, which covers all of the stone shapes Richter made, plus shapes
made by other innovators. Metal parts and most other accessories are
included in the catalog. The contents of the sets are also listed.
Because of popular demand, some more catalogs were printed. I
still have two, so if you want one,
contact me. These
looseleaf catalogs, pages only - without hard covers, cost $25, postage included.
All Anchor people need, and will want, a copy.
Web Page Notes: Most subpages
do not change from month to month. The
"builder's page" is revised every month.
A few people have asked me to number the "issues" of the Anchor page.
Well, they started in August, 1996, (with Vol. 1, # 8, to keep the
number of the month the same as the issue's number). The number of
this "issue" is shown at the top of this page. All web pages are found
in the CD-ROM Archive, CD-ROM # 3. See below.
CD-ROM Archive: I can supply
the CD-ROMs of the CVA's CD-Archive. More scans are being added all
of the time, and the "holes" in the documentation are being filled. Of
course, more scans means more CDs, and as scans are added some files are
moved to other CD. As of today, there are 8 CD-ROMs in the Archive,
plus, for CVA members only, 5 additional CD-ROMs of the old MLBs.
(Do not try to buy these MLB CD-ROMs unless you are a CVA member. I
check the membership list.) All of the scans are JPG files.
# 1 contains the GK-NF building and layer plans, excluding #
34, plus advertisements; # 2 contains the DS building and layer plans,
plus documentation on the Richter factory; # 3 contains all packing
plans, building and layer plans for # 34, VEB, neue Reihe (100), Capital,
Comet, EF, plus various additional items like figures, inserts, covers, rulers
and information on F.Ad. Richter, plus the web site; # 4 contains
the building and layer plans for the second series of GK-Br and Imperator,
the VE series and the all metal Imperator; # 5 contains the KK and
Modern House Series (200) building and layer plans; # 6 contains the
building and layer plans for the miscellaneous series (300, 400, A-B, Eagle,
Eisenbrücken, exhibits, games, mosaic, LaVelle, Orion), plus Richter
catalogs; # 7 contains the building and layer plans for the NS, Special
Sets, and the first series of GK-Br and Imperator, plus Personal
Designs; # 8 contains documentation including my book in both
English and German and various magazines (like the Anker Zeitung) and magazine
articles. Sharp eyes will notice that GK-AF is missing. I
will be scanning many more books this month in the Netherlands and will add
them to the CD-ROM Archive, expanding the Archive to nine CD-ROMs. I
will also add more DS and KK-NF supplement set packing plans. Members
of the Club of Anchor Friends only can also obtain the six CD-ROMs
containing all of the MLBs, including both the English and the German language
translations. If you want to buy one or more of these CD-ROMs,
please send $2 for the first CD-ROM and $1 each for the rest -- postage included,
no matter where it is going. CDs are inexpensive, so I do not see a
problem if, at this stage of the Archive, some extra CDs become obsolete
due to location of files.
Please note that this home page is revised monthly. Most of the graphics
are JPEG, which improves quality and reduces file size. The URL name
-- ankerstein.org -- indicates that this site is the official web
site of the Club of Anchor Friends.
My e-mail address is
georgeh@ankerstein.org.
That address is an alias for my 'real' e-mail address, which is
georgeh@ankerstein.org.
But if I ever change the ISP for the web site --
www.ankerstein.org -- my 'rlc' e-mail
address would change, but my 'ankerstein' e-mail address is (more or less)
permanent.
Another web problem connected with the change of ISP has been the loss of
a reference on most of the search engines. I am putting the page back
up, but it takes time.
Many new graphics, and additional text, are uploaded once a month, as close
to the first as possible. I do not change the full set of graphics,
as most people never read beyond the first page. If you only have a
little time, I urge you to take a look at the
"builders" page. And please plan
to drop by monthly to see the new pictures. In the restricted space
of my home page, I can provide only a limited view of the wonderful world
of Richter's Anchor stones.
Other web sites with Anchor pictures and
information:
new
Anchor factory in Rudolstadt, Germany, (in German and
English);
a German
retailer of Anchor sets, (in German);
the best retailer of construction
toys in America, includes Anchor sets, of course;
an English retailer of Anchor
sets;
German
Museum in München, (in German);
Stephen Wessel's Anker
page, (in German);
Construction
Toys;
Lego on Long
Island;
Architectural
Toys;
the
puzzle web page
is a must for all puzzle collectors, although not much on Anchor puzzles.
For the month of May, 2001.
Anker-Steinbaukasten, auf deutsch.
Anker-Steenbouwdozen, in nederlands (und auf Deutsch).
Anchor Stone Building sets, in English. (You found it.)
Thank you for visiting the CVA "Anchor" web
site.
georgeh@ankerstein.org
or you can write to:
George Hardy
1670 Hawkwood Ct.
Charlottesville, VA 22901
Tel: (804) 295 4863
Fax: (804) 295 4898
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No Java. No music. No moving icons. No garbage. Ever.
Just Anchor.