Help matching chess set colour

Hi, just hoping someone else has purchased these sets and can help with a question about the colour. The picture below shows three plastic Fischer series sets I purchased in the chess.com shop and I'd like to order another 4" set, but only want to do so if the color is likely to be the same as the 3.75" set.

The color selector bar in the shop shows exactly the same color, but you can see they seem to be a very different shade in practice. I'm not complaining, I'm very happy with the 4" set I have now, but trying to figure out what to expect on my next order. 

I prefer the darker shade and only want to place a new order if there is a good chance that the colour will be the same as the 3.75" in the photo.

So my question is, has anyone else purchased both sizes, if so were the colours the same or were they different?

Just trying to figure out if it's worth placing a new order, or if the variation in colour is typical. Don't really want to spend more and get the same as I already have.

I'm posting here in the hope someone else has both sizes and can say if they are the same or not. I'm guessing that is better than asking customer services because I suspect they don't actually see what is being sent out on every order, while other customers know exactly what they got.

Thanks.

I am sorry but I don't own any of the sets you mentioned. Have you considered emailing chess.com and asking them for photos of a pawn? You can ask them to take a photo of the pawn with a piece of white printer paper as a color reference. That way you can compare their photo to what you have. Btw, I stole the idea of the color reference from another member here. I don't remember who it was exactly. Good luck!

You might do better contacting House of Staunton directly.  I'd send a good-quality photo (similar to what you posted) of the 3.75" Natural and 4.0" Natural and ask if they have a 4.0" Natural in the 3.75" Natural shade.  Worth a shot...

Looking at them on the HoS site, yes they look very different.

Thanks, I emailed the image above to HOS and the very helpful person there went and got a set and compared it to the image and told me it looked more like the the one in the centre. Must admit that exceeded my expectations! So it seems as though the lighter shade wasn't typical. I understand that judging color is not easy and perceptions can vary depending on the color of the light the pieces are viewed in, but I'm ok with that. I've ordered another set, and hopefully will get the darker shade, but if not they are still very nice and very reasonably priced so it's all good. 

I've got both so check out this photo. The main visual difference I see is in the Bishop and slight difference in the queen's coronette, and of course the color. In this picture the 4" pieces look almost white, but in reality they are more like the other image I posted. However, the plastic is also different, the 3.75" pieces have the harder shiny plastic that tends to be a bit more brittle, while the 4" is softer plastic with more of a matte finish. 

I actually prefer the harder shiny plastic because I think it looks better when I use them on a wooden board, but I use both mainly as mobile sets with a vynle or silicone roll up board where the matte finish looks better. 

The only caveat I should mention is that the 4" set I have may not be typical, because the color doesn't seem to be so who knows what else might vary. 

I now have another 4" set on the way and should have it later on next week so I'll let you know.

Hope that helps

Very good, let us know how it turns out.  Color constancy in plastic seems to vary, well, constantly, hahaha!  I've had two reds be significantly different - same design, same size.

Both the 3.75" & 4" Fischer plastic sets from HoS are different from each other. This is why there is a different shade of natural between the 2.They are not only different in height but also design.

Thanks, I'm just discovering this stuff the hard way. In my naivete I mistakenly assumed that pieces with the same name would be the same and the only difference would be their size. 

That's the first set I've ever had in both 3.75" and 4" so my question now is... Is it also true for other designs that the difference between 3.75" and 4" applies to more than just the size?

Most of the sets with same name but different size are the same except for size. For instance the Library sized sets and bigger tournament size sets are the same. I personally don't hang my hat on the names of sets. Different vendors call sets by different names. Unless it is a name that is used by everyone.

Update, my second 4" set arrived today. I'm always impressed, From Huntsville, AL in USA to Bristol England in under two days for a Chess set that cost less than I spent in the coffee shop yesterday.

Anyway, it was exactly the same as the first. So I can safely assume that the color is consistent within sizes and only seems to vary between the sizes. At least I know now that they only use a generic color selector on the web site.  

Not sure now why I expected anything different, I guess you could call it hope shopping  

Either way, another nice chess set makes me happy regardless of the color, I'll match this one to a roll up board and keep it in a Go-Bag for the park.

What you have to understand is the factories overseas do their best to match colors, but from batch to batch they can vary significantly.  I know, I import sets all the time and they can vary up to 4 shades on the pantone chart between them.

Hope this helps!

Shelby Lohrman

American Chess Equipment

That's interesting, that would mean that if I buy another set of the same size in the future, it might be yet another shade of natural if it comes from a new batch and checking a pantone chart I notice that 4 shades is a lot.

Forewarned is forearmed... Thanks for the information.

It will be close, but very rarely exact.  there will be subtle variances everywhere.

thanks

Shelby Lohrman

American Chess