Richter's Anchor® Stone Building
Sets
Richters Anker-Steinbaukasten
(Vol. 6, # 7)
This month we return
to our usual format -- beautiful Anchor buildings. The picture to the
left is an indication of the two featured themes of this month's web page.
The church is an exhibition model built by
the Richter Art Department. The key indication is the roof
construction. Richter never offered stones to create this pattern,
but he used this construction in his first exhibition model in 1884. This
roof was described by Anna Roth, Gustav Lilienthal's fiancee, as melted-together
stones. Much more likely, it is made from stones glued onto a thin
sheet of wood.
The other feature this month is beautiful churches. The
builder's page this month features a
builder named Reich. I know nothing more about him, just his last name.
He sent to the Anchor factory photogrpahs of a number of his very fine
buildings, almost all churches. The churches were both copies of existing
churches and, one must suppose, personal designs.
The new booklets of building plans for set GK-NF
# 12, sponsored by the CVA, is now completed and available. It
costs $15.00, post paid. I have only a few sets if copies on hand,
so order now, without delay. When you see these books, you will be
impressed with the quality of the designs. Three CVA members contributed
design -- Fred Schlipf (USA), Dieter Wellmann (Germany) and Wolfgang Fichtner
(Germany). If you purchase this book along with one of the new building
sets, the cost is only $10.00 -- a special bargain price that is otherwise
only available to CVA members, and they always add postage costs. Just
look at the subpage on the new puzzles and
sets made by the new Anchor factory.
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 , but not 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
have only one more here in
the USA. I do not know whether more will be printed before the new
one is available -- late this year or next year. (It seems to me they
will have to print some more. 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 nine CD-ROMs in the Archive,
plus, for CVA members only, 6 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; # 2 contains the DS and # 34 building and layer plans; # 3
contains all packing plans, plus additional documentation such as catalogs,
covers, odd, cut-out figures, inserts and rulers; # 4 contains the
building and layer plans for the second series of GK-Br and Imperator, the
VE series; # 5 contains the KK building and layer plans and the web
site from its beginning; # 6 contains documentation including my book
in both English and German and various magazines (like the Anker Zeitung)
and magazine articles; # 7 contains the building and layer plans for
the series 100 (Neue Reihe), 200 (Modern [American] House Series), 300 (Landhaus
[Country House] sets), 400 (Festungs- und Burgen-Baukasten [fortress and
castle sets]), NS, Capital, Täfelchenlegen, mosaic sets, games, EF (first
series), VEB, Imperator (all metal), LaVelle; # 8 contains the building
and layer plans for the series GK-AF, A-B (American Bridges), Comet, Eagle,
Orion, Eisenbrücken, and the first series of GK-Br and Imperator;
# 9 contains various additional documentation like advertisements,
exhibits, factory (including Rudolsbad), Richter (includes his will and other
documents regarding his estate), Rudolstadt, other products (like Lebkuchen,
medicines and mechanical music instruments) and Personal Designs.
I will continue to scan more books and will add them to the CD-ROM
Archive. Only the members of the Club of Anchor Friends are
permitted to purchase 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 they are
going. CDs are inexpensive, so I do not see a problem if, at this
stage of the Archive, some CDs become obsolete due to relocation 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);
Kunst-Auktionshaus
Martin Wendl, (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 July, 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: (434) 295 4863
Fax: (434) 295 4898
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No Java. No music. No moving icons. No garbage. Ever.
Just Anchor.