Sample many odd, eccentric pieces (8)
I believe the answer is:
specimen
'sample' is the definition.
(specimen is a kind of sample)
'many odd eccentric pieces' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'many' could be 'm' (Roman numeral for a thousand) and 'm' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'pieces' is 'specie' which is present in the remaining letters.
A single letter 'n' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for specimen that I've seen before include "blood sample" , "Example of type" , "Test sample" , "Object serving as an example of its class" , "Representative sample" .)