Formerly known as a “Pique-Sable” chess set, these attractive French games pieces were thought, somewhat romantically, to have been used to play chess, either in the sand of a beach, or stuck onto a cushion. Recent research by Alan Dewey has revealed that actually they are from the old French game of Jonchets, which dates back to the 17th century.
Jonchets is also known as Spillikins, a pick-up game which features carved heads, similar in many ways to a chess set: King (50 points), Queen (40 points), Flag (30 points), Servant (20 points), Rider (10 points) and Soldier (5 points).