- Collection of The World's
Smallest Regency Pieces? -
Ok, so these are almost certainly not the world's smallest Regency pieces. There can always be a smaller set. Weighing at an impressive 1/2" king, though, these pieces seriously small!
I came across an incomplete collection of tiny red and white Regence pieces in a bottle for casting quite a while ago and had a terrible time copying the little pieces with pegs with the idea of making a complete set and commissioning a new egg like this one to house them.
I hadn't planned on making a collection page for these, but when a collector friend Jim posted this amazing set, I couldn't help the urge to 'one up' him with my miniature. It's incomplete and not nearly so fine as Jim's miniature, but I do believe it has his 'beat' on size being a great deal smaller. Hmm... Is that something I should be bragging about?
I can't tell what these pieces are made from. I assume some kind of plastic, but they could be bone or ivory. They appear to be hand turned and carved, as no two are identical, and I can see marks where the pieces were attached to a lathe. Who would hand carve pieces this tiny? Mice perhaps? As always if you have any information as to where and when this set made have originated and, uniquely in this case, if you happen to have an *even smaller* Recency set lying around, please Email me.
A wooden bottle which opens in the middle. ... but what could be inside?!
It looks like a collection of tiny French Regency chess pieces.
While its easy to imagine how several pieces might have been lost by previous owners, I'm not sure this was ever a complete set.
There are two red kings in this picture.
For comparison, the bottle is shorter than the regular Regence king...
but taller than an antique ivory bishop.
Six little chessmen, all in a row.
A comparison of rooks.
I wonder how many pieces I can fit on top of that rook.
Comparing kings with a white knight and bishop along for the ride.
Chessmen in the palm of my hand.
Here are the rest of the pieces. I had one of each separated off for a casting project I started quite a while ago.
I have over half a set copied in my faux-bone. They're not as sharp as the originals by any means, but pegged they might actually be useful.
How would they look inside of an egg? Maybe this page will give me the motivation to pick that project back up and finish it.