Original Chess Pieces: Materials, Styles and Craftsmanship

On a product listing, a chess set quickly boils down to a string of technical terms: “ebonised boxwood”, “rosewood”, “size 5”, “double weighting”, “hand-carved knight”. Yet each of these words points to a specific story: that of a species of wood and the rules that govern it, that of a design registered in London in 1849, that of a turner’s craft born in the mountains of the Jura. Le Royaume des Échiquiers gathers this knowledge into fourteen short, sourced pages that are easy to cite.

Why take an interest in original chess pieces?

Because two sets that look alike in a photograph can have almost nothing in common. A solid boxwood king 9.5 cm tall, weighted and felted, does not feel in the hand like a king in stained softwood, hollow and light. A knight whose head has been carved separately does not have the same presence as a moulded one. And a set in Rio rosewood is not subject to the same trade rules as a set in sheesham. Understanding the material and the design means knowing what you are buying, giving or inheriting.

Original pieces are not necessarily the most spectacular ones. The Staunton pattern, sober and legible, is itself an “original” in the strict sense: a registered design with an identified date, designer and maker. Conversely, many so-called “designer” sets are merely recent variations. This site helps you tell the difference.

Original chess piece

A piece whose design, material or making sets it apart from a standard set: an identifiable historical pattern (Staunton, Régence, Selenus, Lewis), a wood chosen for its colour and density, a carved rather than moulded knight, careful weighting and finish.

The woods: the benchmark material

Wood remains the premier material for chess pieces. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) even writes it into its standards: for its competitions it calls for Staunton-pattern pieces in wood, plastic or a material that imitates them. The classic pairing sets a pale wood for White, almost always boxwood, against a dark wood for Black: ebony, rosewood or boxwood stained black.

• Boxwood
• Ebony
• Rosewood
• Sheesham
• Padauk
• Maple
• Walnut

The pages devoted to woods:

• Which wood for a chess set?

  The species compared: colour, density, hardness, use, CITES status.

• Ebony and boxwood

  The historic pairing for the black and white pieces, and ebonised boxwood.

• Rosewood or bois de rose?

  Two names often confused, and what CITES says.

• Chessboard woods

  Maple, walnut, mahogany, marquetry and veneer.

If you would like to see these woods on complete sets, Le Palais des Échecs presents wooden chess sets in a variety of woods, from boxwood to ebony, which lets you compare the real shades once the wood has been varnished or waxed.

Patterns and styles: where the shapes come from

The shape of a chess piece has a history. Before 1849 every country had its own habits: Régence pieces in Paris, slender Selenus pieces in Germany, English styles such as the Barleycorn or the St George. The Staunton pattern, registered in London on 1 March 1849, gradually imposed a common design, legible and stable, which is now required in FIDE competitions. Much further back in time, the Lewis chessmen, carved in the twelfth century from walrus ivory, remain the most famous medieval chess pieces.

• The Staunton pattern

  1849, Nathaniel Cooke, John Jaques and Howard Staunton.

• Historical styles

  Régence, Selenus, Dubrovnik, Lardy: the great families of pieces.

• The Lewis chessmen

  Walrus ivory, medieval Norway, the British Museum.

Admirers of older forms will find at Le Palais des Échecs chess pieces in historical styles, which revive these designs from before standardisation, from medieval pieces to nineteenth-century patterns.

Making and use: from the lathe to care

A wooden chess piece is born on a lathe: a square of timber is roughed out, turned to the desired profile, the base is drilled to take a weight, and a felt pad is glued on. The knight, for its part, demands carving, and it is often the piece that makes the difference between two sets. Then come the practical questions: which size to choose, what weighting is for, how to look after a set that is meant to last for decades.

• Size 3, 5 or 6

  King height, base diameter and square size.

• Weighting

  Lead, zinc, steel, double weighting and felt.

• Making chess pieces

  Turning, carving the knight, ebonising, finishing.

• Saint-Claude and the Jura

  The French turning tradition, Chavet and Lardy.

• Marble, onyx, glass

  Sets in mineral materials, as a counterpoint to wood.

• Care

  Wax, humidity, felt and storage.

Key facts at a glance

How this site is written

Le Royaume des Échiquiers is an independent editorial site. Every date, every standard and every figure has been checked against an identifiable source: FIDE standards, museum notices, CITES texts, heritage inventories, encyclopaedias. When a piece of information could not be confirmed (a founding date, a doubtful attribution), we flag it as uncertain or leave it out. Links to a shop, where there are any, illustrate a point and do not amount to a ranking. To find out more, see the About page.