“Barleycorn”  (England)

England. Next sets are all "Barleycorn" sets. The essence, or origin, for the name is the decoration with the grain. But often you see leaves as well, or leaves only. Or a combination with other motives. Occasionally you see sets with an acanthus motive. The very rare "Ropetwist" sets, where the central drum has a decoration simulating a twisted rope, are considered as "Barleycorn" too, but I handle them separately, see the "Ropetwist" page. Undecorated sets are the most common and I call them "plain Barleycorn" in contrary to "true Barleycorn".

"Barleycorn" sets are characterized by the King and Queen having a fat barrel, the fat Rook without stem but with finial and often a flag, the Bishop with deep slit and the round Knight. The bases are usually plain. However, the edges of good set stems are often "cogged". The fanciest bases are called Van Dyke bases. German "Nuremberg" sets of similar shape are also called "Barleycorn", but their Bishop has a small or absent split and Knight is usually simple and slim. Bases are much smaller as their English counterparts. Usually, common playing sets are small and undecorated. There exist a German decorated type with faces and a German (or some say Dutch) decorated type where King and Queen lack a stem. The latter is not always seen as "Barleycorn". There exist also a German type with open worked barrels of King and Queen. See “Nuremberg”  (Germany) page.

English sets are mainly made of bone. Ivory sets do exist, but are only called "Barleycorn" if they have similar foliate decorations. Plain ivory sets are never called "Barleycorn". Rooks in ivory sets may have a stem. English wooden "Barleycorn" sets hardly exist. German sets are either bone or wood. I do not know of ivory ones. Bone sets may be decorated, but wooden sets are always undecorated. The undecorated bone ones are often mistakenly seen as English. Wooden and decorated sets never.

The type has been made from ca. 1820 onwards, when the technique for the decoration was available by the so called Holtzapffel lathe. Maybe there were some hand-decorated sets at earlier time. The end is less clear. True Barleycorn sets probably till mid 19th century (the decorated F.H.Ayres set is made after 1864) and plain Barleycorn possibly till end of 19th. German sets may have been made till WWI. Not sure if that is true for English sets.

England. Strictly spoken, the Jaques "Nr.24" set isn't a "true Barleycorn", because there is no real barleycorn grain motive except for some leaves. There is also a kind of ropetwist pattern on the barrel. But it is commonly accepted to call it a "true Barleycorn" set. The other 2 sets do have a clear barleycorn grain motive on their barrel and are "true Barleycorn".

England. Next sets are all "plain Barleycorn" sets. They are still called "Barleycorn", although there is no barleycorn motive. But the shape is alike the decorated "Barleycorn" sets. These sets are very common, except that the last set of the four has a less common pattern. Maybe it is not a "barleycorn"? In black they are very uncommon, but the black set here has been painted later on and was originally red.