This probably speaks for itself... so, when your birthday falls on March 1st, you can probably have a real treat at least once, with a real Staunton ;-)
How did I miss this? I am assuming you treated yourself to a wonderful Jaques set. Congratulations. And the following set is interesting too. Lovely. 👍
Among the Jura turners
DORTAN, A UNIQUE VILLAGE IN THE WORLD, ONLY MAKES CHESS GAMES.
They are called Lect, Moirans, Villards-d'Héria. Les Ronchaux, Etival... Sometimes buried at the bottom of the valleys, sometimes isolated in the middle of the meadows, sheltered at the edge of the forests. These are the villages of turners, at the foot of the foothills of the high Jura ranges.
What are we “turning”? Everything that can be: pipes, coils, toys, household items, spare parts, so many things that we sometimes don't even know exist. The country is like a huge bazaar. And just as each object has its own radius, each of these villages also has its specialty. I even visited one that only made pot handles, another only made tom-tom handles.
Even more curious, and even unique in the world, it seems, is the village of Dortan, at the confluence of the Ain and the Bienne: it only makes chess sets.
I knocked at one of the houses, on the town hall square, and was shown into a large room, bustling with leather belts that moved large steel wheels. Five or six workers. They modeled small boxwood stems rotating on themselves with the sound of a top, using a special chisel, curiously cut, having the same profile as the pawn.
- Here, we only make kings and queens, the boss told me; next to it are the rooks, further away the pawns.
- And since when did the village adopt this game?
- The factory belonged to my grandfather, once..., he said, and I believe that it was already founded long before him. It is the only village in the world where chess sets are made from boxwood, boxwood which is not from the country, moreover: we bring it from Algeria.
- Do you export a lot?
- Almost all. Especially America. Before the war (1914-1918), we also had Germany, and especially Russia. But today, Czechoslovakia is giving us very strong competition. They only build with ash and therefore sell much cheaper.
- Have you never tried to build in ash too?
- No. It is indeed sometimes hard to sell, but why sacrifice quality and thus lose reputation?
- Obviously. But then, how do you survive? Can't you sell chess sets every day?
He raised his arm in the direction of the Behind the gray tiles, the countryside stretched out, with its meadows, its woods, its herds, its crops.
Geoffroy de Thoisy, Royal Mail n°18 of November 2, 1935.
This is a wonderful history to read. Thank you. 🙏
@walterbiensur Thank you so much for sharing this article. The insights it provides are incredible. Such a rare thing to find - great research as always.
So in this period they got all their boxwood from Algeria?! I didn't expect that one.
And I never knew that they exported a lot to Russia before WWI. I haven't seen anything offered from that region that I would attribute to Dortan.
Alain Chavet 1990 in the Toshiba Chessnews N°3 :
"We want to reposition our image internationally. That's why we're here. 30 years ago (1960) we supplied 99% abroad, mainly to the United States, to the USSR via Finland. We supplied all the games for this World Championship, and we want our logo to be shown as often as possible on foreign television."
© Chessly (Chess Lyon)
Magnifique! 😍😍
Arthaud - H. Arthaud & Cie (ad from 13/10/1884 - La justice) - Maison Arthaud (since 1864)
1930 - Catalogue jouets Le Nain bleu
They moving out the 1st october 1913 to rue St Honoré.
But are they Chess makers ?
After 1913 ;-) Staunton size 10 - 2 pieces knight
After 1913 :-)
http://www.chessantique.com/chess/chess_pages/french/AuNainBleuRegenceSet.htm
There are more and more questions! The wooden set you posted above I've not seen before. A familiar knight (the blocky style), but very precisely carved, as are the other pieces. Beautiful patina on those pieces. You think it's made in Dortan?
I just love your red/white regence set (made of Galalith?). Can't get enough of it.
Red/white = galalith 
I'm not going to make any conclusions for the images that follow, but I imagine we think the same thing.
Maison fondée en 1854
"Au petit homme gris. E. Nautré. 26 Bd de Strasbourg à Paris."
Probably had a second store at 56 Rue de Rivoli. Did not manufacture chess sets according to available information but rather chips for games. Selling all kinds of items. Was taken over before 1922 by P. Aldebert, manufacturer of bakery items…
1895
What a piece of beauty !!
Finally here is 173/5.
I illustrated it with an ad from the early 2000s - post #436.
The only difference with the standard sets are the knights, so we like it or not, it has already found its place in my collection ;-)
And what a collection!
The knights are quite special, it's the first one I see with nostrils on the side and a such a (atypically) finely carved mane! Beauty!
Thank you for sharing Walter!
Then this other somewhat special set… Xiangqi.
It dates from the 1980s-1990s. Its design is the result of the collaboration between Charles Wohrer and the Chavet house.
Size 4
Thanks to @broomstuck for showing me the way to it ;-)
Walter, I was going through many of the "Jura sets"-related posts again when I came accross this post and was stricken by the similarities of the set with the 1932 Staunton model you posted some time ago.
Your image:
Although not the same set, they appear to be at least cousins. What do you think?
A beautiful set.
Walter, what do you make of this set? It's label identifies it as a model 253/10 with weights and tetes fines.
Very nice set !
I immediately think of Chavet. The number 253 corresponds to the finish, and it is also a 253 (lacquered, felted weighted).
Comparing* it to other Chavet models from the same period (60-70), I would swear that it is not the size of a 10, but rather of what I call a 7 or 9, a king which measures 102mm or 114mm…
Ad 1979 french revue - size 5
* https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/chavet-ndeg-8?page=16#comment-85590243
Superbe!