While marble isn’t the most common material for a chess set it does represent a significant portion of the chess sets we sell here at The Regency Chess Company. We buy all of our marble and Alabaster chess sets from Italy where they have very strong traditions of turning and working with marble as a raw material. Marble is a naturally occurring material with often stunning patterns and grains present in the surface. No two pieces are identical and with the naturally occurring shades of marble you can make great chess sets from it. So, if you’re looking for a chess set that is both functional and visually stunning, the onyx and white marble handcrafted chess set is an excellent choice; this is for you, whether you’re a serious player or just enjoy the occasional game. plus, with its unique handmade design, you can be certain that it will be a conversation starter and a treasured possession for yea...

Marble chess sets, however, are a bit of an exception. While these are also manufactured overseas (Most of the marble sets you’ll see for sale are from Pakistan), we work directly with the factory and actually have started imported the marble pieces on their own in both the rustic and European styles. This means there is a solution for all of the folks who have marble boards without pieces or are just looking for marble pieces to compliment the wood, metal, glass, or other chessboard they display in their home. Of course, there are some other considerations to keep in mind when purchasing stone chess sets. Unlike wood sets, they are much, much more fragile. A marble or onyx chess piece dropped from a few feet above a marble board could cause them to break. Obviously a drop to a tile or wood floor can do the same. This fantastic marble chess set is another stunning product from the Italian producers italfama. It's been hand crafted in Italy by this established company and the result is as you would would expect. The pieces have been expertly turned from high grade marble and have been finished and polished to a very high standard.Of course, there are other styles of stone sets beyond marble and onyx that interest collectors. They range from extremely expensive alabaster chess sets from Italy to really unusual theme stone pieces from Mexico made of Malachite. There are even soapstone and Jade theme sets manufactured in east Asia.

The European design is much more similar to a classic french chess set. These stone pieces are smooth, and very carefully done. You can see from the photos above they have a lot more detail than the rustic design. There are of course other other materials very similar to marble in appearance and feel. Examples include Alabaster, onyx, quartz and granite. Each of these materials posses it’s own unique qualities but they are all naturally occurring minerals. Onyx became extremely popular some years ago with a multitude of products being made in this tactile and attractive mineral. Onyx chess sets became very popular during the craze for onyx products, these days however they are just one of the many types of chess set on the market. Italian Made Marble Chess Sets With a size of 15 inches (38cm), this chess set is large enough to make a statement in any room. it is not just a game but also a work of art, and its weight of around 8kg confirms that. There are two designs of marble chessmen – our rustic style and our European style. The rustic style is quite rough. Each piece is different because they are all hand carved. These pieces are still quite obviously traditional, yet charming in their simplicity.Each piece in this set is lovingly created by skilled artisans, ensuring that no two pieces are exactly alike. while this may result in slight variations in the finish, it is precisely these imperfections that make each piece unique and give it character There is not a right or wrong with the chess piece design – they are simply two different options. Just like the sets, they come in a large variety of color combinations. Each of the Marble chess pieces are 3 1/2″ tall. This size works well for 1 1/2″– 1 3/4″ squares. Downside to Marble and Stone Chess Sets Marble is a material that has been utilised for chess boards for centuries, it’s a beautiful natural material that’s extremely hard and lends itself well to the production of chess boards and pieces. We have managed to source a stunning range of marble and alabaster chess sets from Italy. They come with matched boards and each one is unique due to the natural variations of marble. Generally speaking marble chess sets are decorative, ornamental and not used for every day chess playing, but they make a great gift and are the perfect accessory for any classy home interior. We have deliberately avoided cheap imports of marble chess boards from the Far East, instead we have sourced all of our sets from Italy. Italy has a deep tradition of marble craft so it comes as no surprise that their chess sets are superb quality. Marble Chess Set The wide range of options combined with the relatively affordable price makes marble a great option. Not only do these chess sets come in a lot of different color combinations, they also come in a few different styles, ranging from rustic, hand carved marble sets where each one will be unique to machine made, mass produced sets out of Asia where they will be clean and modern. The different options allow marble to be a great choice for any home display. Other Stone Chess Sets The one saving grace is most of the time these breaks are clean and some superglue can repair the piece – at least in marble chess sets. One of the most common problems with the onyx sets from Mexico is that when you arrive home, some pieces have broken and they are not easily repaired or replaced.

Marble replacements, at least, are much easier to come by – we import literally several hundred of these guys each year, so it’s easy to take a piece from another set and worry about getting our own replacement later. However, as it is with any natural material that is hand carved, sometimes a replacement piece is slightly different in color or carving. While this does not tend to be a huge concern, it is something worth mentioning!