“Staunton”  (France)

France. "Staunton" No.3 size set made of Galalith, most likely by Henri Chavet. The cassette says "Made in France". I think these rare sets are very collectable, although many collectors do ignore them!

France. These 2 sets are listed as "Galalith or Bakelite" and ca.1920, but could be of some other plastic (Catalin?) and of some later date (1950?) as well. I'm not sure. I noticed that the disks at the set with checkers could be of another plastic as the chess pieces. Need some more investigation here...

This small No.2 size "Staunton" set is most likely made by Henri Chavet in 1910-1930. The picture below can be found in the 1912 catalogue of retailer Henri Delaire and in an advertisement of Jaques in 1930, where they sell it under number 5062:

Maybe the set is made by Ernest Vincent, but hope is that today’s Mr. Chavet can tell whether or not he knows if his grandfather made them...
The set is weighted and felted, has 1 black pawn replaced and has some damages. It has beautiful Knights in the old Cook style.

This small No.2 size "Staunton" set is most likely made by Pichon-Vincent (trade mark Phidias). It matches the following picture:

This picture existed in 1890 already, and was also used in an advertisement by Ernest Vincent in 1933. But if you look at the set more closely, it would be more recent or even after the Second World War. Before this period, the blanks of the Knights were much more pronounced. According to the shape of the bishop it is rather a set of Pichon-Vincent. Around 1950-1960

France. This Staunton chess set from 1968 was a gift of my parents and I used that set many years to play with. I simply did not have another playable set! It was not my very first one, that one is lost, but the longest present in my collection. I'm almost 100% sure it is made by Henri Lardy, but there is no Lardy label, only a sticker on the bottom of the box stating "Made in France".
In a 1977 ad in Europe Echecs magazine and in the Lardy catalogue of 1987 they called the Knight "Parisiens en une pièce". The typical Lardy pattern Knight is called "Tète fin", a name already in use before Lardy, and the simple Knight as in next set is called "Tète ordinaire".

France. This 1970 chess set is an ordinary boxwood "Staunton" No.3 size set, probably made by Henri Lardy. In their 1987 catalogue the Knight is called "Tète ordinaire". These sets were very often used in tournaments in the Netherlands in the 60’s-70’s. Lardy made these sets also for the Dutch company Revanche.

This set is equal to my first set that I used to learn chess with. Or maybe it is just a bit larger than my lost set. In my childhood I could only afford a small set!

France. This Chavet chess set, listed in their 2014 catalog under number 521/3, was a gift of Nicholas Lanier when I visited him august 2016.