Help with identifying a Chavet Boxwood Chess Set

Hi,

I have in my collection this Chavet Boxwood chess set ( echecs en buis as it's written in French). I would be grateful if you could help me identify this chess set ( date of manufacture, worth ) as I have extensively looked online and I couldn't find anything similar. 

This is marked as a "B200". King measures 47 mm and base diameter about 20 mm. Please see attached pictures. 

Hello, Well I'm a fan of Chavet pieces and there are lots of other fans out there. Your set is an odd one! The label on the side suggests it is 1990s or later, There are things which don't make sense to me though. First, I have never seen Chavet produce this style before. The pieces have felt bases which Chavet only put on pieces which are also weighted, and I would have thought it unlikely they would add weights to pieces which are so small. Are they weighted? As for value, pieces generally fetch the most when they are weighted and when the kings are between 3 1/2 inches and 4 inches tall. I have seen a couple of B200s sell on eBay - not for much though. Around £10 but they were more classical Chavet style pieces and were unweighted and unfelted. I'm still puzzled about the felt though. Are they magnetic travelling pieces I wonder? The Holy Grail of Chavet pieces is the B210 witha 3 3/4 in ch king. Sets of those rarely appear on eBay and when they do the whole world descends and they fetch hundreds of pounds! I hope that's a help

I would very much doubt if these are Chavet pieces. First, I have never seen Chavet pieces in this style and second, the black pieces look to be made from some kind of darker wood (sheesham?). As far as I'm aware Chavet almost exclusively used boxwood, coming from the Jura region of France (occassionally they used olivewood etc in some specialist sets but not often).

Dear Friends:

The Box, yes Chavet, but...

The Pieces: Polish chess pieces by Wegiel $10/$15

Dear Friends, 

The box is authentic, but the game as the assembly gives a false... 

By the way, I have just bought this Chavet prewar box, pieces could be Chavet in general but Knights are unknown to me.

What Do you think?

Thanks rcmacmilan!

I just paid 10€ for it and the box is Chavet for sure, the pieces surely are, as you said, second class... and not Chavet

Hi everybody,

i think this is the first time i'm writing in a forum but i need the help of connoisseurs : 
i don't know anything (yet) about chess, but i would like to offer a chess game to my boyfriend for christmas. After few hours of research i had a crush on a set name "Chavet set", the pieces are so beautiful and fine carved... I discovered that those "Chavet set" are kind of rare, and are in high demand. I also found out that Chavet set have been replicate a lot...

You see me coming: would you say that this set in pictures is a real one?
I asked the seller about the sticky label (with the number) and he said there is none (maybe it felt from the box?). He is selling the set 75€. 

Thank you so much in advance for you answers  
Clémentine

Oh here are more details of the game: 
Dimensions:
Box 17x9x7cm
King 6,8 cm
Queen 5,7 cm
Bishop 5,3 cm
Knight 4,8 cm
Rook 3,6 cm
Pawn 3,5 cm
Base of the King 2,7 cm
Weight of the set + box - 350 grams.

Hi Shooby - Yes I believe you do have a small version of the Chavet set. Tetes simples & no weight/felt . Congrats  

Hello Ron,
thank you so much !!
I'm so happy, it looks amazing <3 

Just i'm not sure to understand (my english is poor sorry) : what do you mean by "no weight/felt" ? Is it something you can add by yourself under the chess pieces ? 

Oh and out of curiosity, i didn't find the information : did Chavet made chess board as well ? 

Another question : would you know which "serie number" could have this set ? 

Hello shooby94, Rondo is the Chavet connoisseur in the forum so I'm sure he'll be able to tell you exactly the reference number of your set (very nice, by the way.) There's something very special about the Chavet design that makes them stand out for some reason. My favorite chess maker by far.

I have never found a good source of information about Chavet sets on the net (other than asking on this forum) except for the current catalogue of Jura Buis (pages 43 to 49,) the owners of Chavet since 2014. This catalogue obviously only shows current sets being sold but it's a good starting point. Yours looks like it's a recent set if we consider the shape of the King. A weighted/felted set means metal cylinder inside the pieces so they are heavier and more stable on the board and felted means the pieces have green material on the base to avoid scratching the surface of the board. I think you have a Ref # 101/2 or N.2. And yes, Chavet also makes chess boards as you can see on the catalogue.

I'm going to gather as much info as possible and start a guide tonight so people know what they have. Hope Rondo doesn't mind if I take some of his pictures for reference

Hi Animaitor, 

thank you so much for all the precious informations !! You are totally right, Chavet sets are special. I fell in love at first sight.

About my new set, yes, it totally looks like the version on the catalogue ! I'm a real vintage lover, i love old objects that's why i'm a little bit sad my set is not older, but i love it anyway  

What a great idea to make a guide! I spent few hours looking for informations, but yes, there is nothing on the internet which is really surprising. Luckily i found this forum and i'm really thankful

Looking forward to read your guide ! 
Best,

Clémentine 
  

Hi These sets came in two styles. Without felt on the bottom or weights. And with felt and weighted. The knights heads on the weighted ones had more carving (eyes) . Here is a picture of a vintage Chavet knight with the eyes and the modern version without ...

Interesting detail noted about the eyes, Rondo! Is this something related only to how old a set is or it only happens on newer set below lets say #2 or #3?

Another difference is the absent of carved lines for the hair and maybe nostrils (can't see it clearly from the pictures) on the newer set.

There's something I still don't understand about the evolution of the Queen. On shooby94's set, the Queens "nipple" are small, as if her set is somewhat not that recent. Not sure if these changes only affect bigger sizes or on the entire range.

As for the guide, it might not be as complete as I would like to mainly because the information is so scarce it makes it almost impossible to state facts on the time certain sets were released and such. I'll open the thread tonight and see how it goes.

Thank you for the explanation, i understand. New or old, its a beautiful set anyway  

Animaitor, i'm curious to see the answers to your questions. 
For the guide, i guess you will need time and help from other Chavet chess lovers. Step by step !! 

Hello shooby94, the guide is up. Sorry it took so long. I'm very busy at work at the moment. The guide is very simple for now but I hope it helps people somehow.