Lardy appreciation thread.

Here's a tiny pre-WWII French set - possibly made by Lardy. King height is 6.3cm, the set is unweighted. Few chipped ears, all original felts.

Nice little set and equally nice box to go with it!

Nice! I like the patina!

@BrownishGerbil I also quite liked the box. The locking mechanism actually still works properly.

Catalogue Lardy, 1987.

Tête ordinaire, tête fine, cavalier parisien monobloc

Ordinary head, fine head, one-piece Parisian knight

Size 0 to 10

These catalogue copies are awesome, thank you Walter!

This is fantastic! Sizes, boxes, locking mechanisms, types, woods - really useful. Thanks Walter.

Is this Lardy? King is 9 cm. Set is weighted. I can't find this model on photos.

I tried the pieces today while playing with my son and I am surprised how good this set is. The proportions, the height of the pieces/width of the base, and the weight are perfectly matched. The touch of the pieces is also very pleasant.

I made few more photos. It was photographed on a board with squares of 55 mm.

White side:

Black side:

The pieces are in almost perfect and new condition except for the famous "Lardy lean". It can be most noticeable on the black king:

But it can also be seen on the black queen and white king:

Knights are very beautifully carved in detail,with glass eyes:

the queens have a nice wide crown:

and the wide collar stands out on the bishops:

Very nice set @Suboseg! Congrats!

@Suboseg this is a pretty rare specimen, which I believe to be made by Lardy in the 20s/30s. I own 2 of these sets - one very similar to yours with glass eyes. The other one came in the red box typical of this period. The chess-museum featured this type of knight

@broomstuck

Oh, thank you very much. I looked at that site several times, but I didn't notice this set.

I have recently acuired some interest in French Lardy Chess Sets. Upon reasearch, what is it do with the lean on the lardy?

Was it intentional or just poor standards of manufacturing by the Lardy Chess Company.?

Good question. I don’t know.

I would guess that demand for their sets led to use of wood that was still green (not properlt dried). As the wood dried after manufacture, the pieces lean.

My favorite chess set: à Lardy n° 5.

Thank's to @Walterbiensur who provided me the chess set for a friendly prize!

Il like especially these lovely naive art style knights , somethnig simple and nice to play.

Pics with a chessboard crafted by myself from wood and an old leather stored for more than 30 years, which gives it this beautifull patina that I really like. Squares are 50x50 mm

Nice chess set. The board looks great.

Thank you @Bamboo58 .

You're welcome Jouss ;-) Encore du très beau travail !!!

Merci beaucoup @Walterbiensur!

Hi everyone,

I have been seeing some supposed Lardy sets poping lately on some french second hand websites. And I have been a bit suspicious about some of the pieces design —king, especially its top and finial, queen, especially its top part—, as well as about the whole set composition, more specifically the knight’s design seems to be of a different generation compared to the bishop.

The King’s finial is what troubles me the most, I can’t think of some similar ones, from this thread snaps, chessmuseum, or from the Lardy 87 ads kindly shared by @Walterbiensur in post #165. But maybe I am wrong.

What is your opinion?

Thank you in advance.

(pics below come from 2 different sets, size 6 and 8)