These are some of my favorite things.  Real treasure!  The first is the one I love best, a Chinese Checkers board that belonged to Vivian, my great-grandmother on Mimi’s side.  She says it’s over 100 years old.  I played it to bits when I was little, unfortunately all the marbles have been lost or eaten, I need some more but I’m trying to hold out until my youngest nephew is passed the putting things in your mouth stage.

These chess sets are the most impressive of the collection, Dadave bought them during his years in the air force.  The pieces in both sets are ivory, which I’m not a huge fan of, elephants are my favorite animals.  But I can’t deny the beauty of these hand carved little statues.  On the larger set, each person has a different face, hairstyle and weapon.  They remind me of the Terra Cotta Warriors I saw on display this summer in Houston.  They are self contained with little compartments for each piece, one lined in velvet and the other silk and the darker pieces are dyed with tea.  He actually got to watch them making a set.  We acquired these when we were helping my grandmother clean out my grandfather’s office, she wanted to throw them away.  We would not.  In saving the first set, Dadave pulled other out from a cubby in the closet and sent it with us for safe keeping as well.

This last one wins the kids choice award with my nieces and nephews.  They have no idea how to play backgammon(me either!), but they love to play with the latches and roll the dice.  I remember being fascinated with it when I was little too, my mom has a set that looks just like a little briefcase, I would use it to play office.  This set was Mimi’s and it looks more like chic luggage.  Love the plaid!

PS, I took tons of pictures of the chess sets, if you’d like a better view, check out my Flickr.  And next up for “My Grandparent’s Attic”…books!  You know they’re my favorite favorite. ;)