“Régence”  (France)

France. "Régence" sets are called after "Café de la Régence", a famous chess café in Paris from 1718 till 1910 when it became a restaurant. In the café they used this type of set. Main difference with "Directoire" sets is the figural Knight. Note that Keats and some others call these sets "St.George". "Regency" is often used as well.

The "Régence" sets have been produced from a bit before 2nd quarter 18th century till even today. It was the most widely used pattern, certainly at the continent, as standard before the "Staunton" sets took over. In 1924 the FIDE declared "Staunton" as standard for their tournaments as well, after which the "Régence" style was used less and less.

It is not easy to date the sets accurately, because of their long production period in both France and its colonies as well as in other countries by many manufacturers. Generally spoken, the sets evolved from tender fragile pieces to thicker ones. This applies to all aspects like the stems and finials. Bishops did not change that much further, although they lost their cuts at the collar in due time. I think about  mid 19th century. Knights heads became less tall. Rooks became more straight, including a variant without separate base. Pawns evolved from having a very small, or even almost absent, collar to wider ones and to an extra small collar in the stem.

Most of the Régence sets have been made of boxwood, only occasionally combined with either ebony or rosewood. Ivory and bone sets are known as well. Ivory sets can be very beautiful. The one listed here is one of my favourites, and I do consider it one of the finest sets I do have in my collection.

The bone set was long time thought by me as possibly German, but other collectors convinced me it is French. The pawns without collar suggest an early set, but further it looks later to me. I cannot tell for sure.

The pewter set has turned pieces and hand-carved knights. You can see the turning marks on the pieces. The set was bought in England, but the shape is identical to the French Régence sets of late 19th century. Compare it with the wooden set just above it! I must assume it is French.

The 2 wooden sets, dated late 19th or early 20th century by me, are very common and were in use at homes as in chess clubs as well. The set of the Dutch chess player does have better knights than average. Sometimes I do see a set where the bottoms have a number. Chess clubs did that trying to keep sets together. That didn't work always, as sets with different numbers on the bottom proof. You see this mixture also at Staunton chess sets used in clubs, even at Jaques sets.

The last 4 sets are early 20th century sets. Although I recently (July 2026) discovered that the shape must have been existed around 1875, maybe even earlier. Maybe the large 1st set is late 19th century. I have put that set in a box that's made as in early to mid 18th century, but the box looks not that old and I'm not sure about the nails. Interesting is the small label of which one part is unreadable to me, but below that says 20f, which is 20 Franc I suppose. As we don't know what was in the box originally, we still have no periodic price indication of this particular Régence set. 

The Galalith "Régence" set is early 20th century because Galalith became commercially available from 1906. These sets are hard to find complete with cassette and board. That board is the only one I have seen! Some pieces are glued, but that does not distract from the beauty of this set, which is one of my favourites. At time of production these sets must have been expensive. The material was quite new and trendy and the pieces all had to be made by hand. Especially the knights are beautifully carved! No wonder you don't see much of these.

Finally there is a wooden set with glass eyes Knights which is told to me being more recent. Now I think that set could be a bit older as well.