A Bevy of BCE Stage 1 Eastern & Western style Blitz sets from Ifekali and Noj.

I had made the transaction for the new Noj set on Wednesday, June 17th. 

On Thursday, June 18th the package was accepted for delivery pickup by a DHL courier at the Noj workshop at 2:54 PM NYC time.

On Friday, June 19th the parcel was in my hands at 4:09 PM.

That is fast service from Slovenia via DHL!

I just have these two photos to show for now but when my boards come in from Brad and Chesshoue I'll post some more detailed closeup shots of the set. It's quite a stunner!

I just wanted to show the appreciation of the hard work put into the crafting and staining of this custom set I ordered from Mr. Gregor Novak, his brother Ziga, and his father over at their company Noj.  Thank you, sirs, for a job well done!

You could say the pieces, especially the pawns, look as they were hand blown little works of glass art the polishing is so smooth and gleams in the natural sunlight.

I'll show the set in both the Western and Eastern style displayed on 3 different boards, maybe 4, to give any member on this site or a friend, relative or acquaintance who would like to obtain a set a for their very own, a better idea of how the set will look with different types of wood boards used for enjoyable game visual pleasure. 

I want to obtain either an inexpensive laptop or tablet or I just may go with purchasing the DGT PI chess computer clock and play and record games that way. A video screen with a 64 square playing grid would be such a  cooler addition though...

https://www.chesshouse.com/collections/electronic-chess/products/dgt-pi-computer-for-dgt-eboards

Yes sir, they will be arriving in due time, new chessboard arrivals due time that is...

My e-board arrived and I just wanted to post some photos of the DGT enabled new noj Western Stage 1 Blitz set made in a light Chestnut Brown stain. It's awfully tough to take sunlit pictures with an iPhone in bright sunlight when vision is compromised. My apologies for not getting the full set in the shots. These pictures weren't altered at all. Shot just as they were standing on the board at noon in New York City and transferred into my computer for archiving. Enjoy. 

Thank you MGT88. No, I was well aware that I had made a statement of posting more pictures when certain boards arrive. I will take a series of new photos but indoors with other boards and when my full array of Jonas 3D printed blitz sets arrive I will show how they match up against those cool colored sets.

I think many will be knocking on Jonas's door for some of his sets when they see what I had ordered from him. I didn't order the Purple version because it just wasn't my taste for that type of chess set color. The others will be considered "Classics" someday down the road. I guess when I see something of interesting quality that will probably rise in value it's a good practice to buy a few of the same, such as in comic books, stamps, coins and the like...it's just my way of thinking about these collectibles and in this case both playable board games. IMHO.

Here are just a few more to show you the beauty and quality of the light brown Chestnut staining and the Kingside stamping on both the dark army's Knight and rook piece. I'm very pleased with the job noj did for me. 

Here's basically the full Western and Eastern pieces. Only the Western Pieces are DGT enabled much lighter in weight than the 20-gram Eastern pieces. Individual closeup shots of all the significant pieces in both colors. 

Thank you EG3, it will be a pleasure playing with this new set. The indoor lighting seems to really show how well the staining took and how well you can see the wood grain of the hard maple as in the first photo of the knight's base pedestal. I was quite impressed when I purchased my first 3 sets from noj and this new BCE Stage 1 Western & Eastern Blitz set takes it to a much higher plateau if that's possible. I now own 4 of their sets. I do admit it's a pricey investment but in the long run in my opinion, WORTH IT! This is just my 2¢ and my opinion which is shared by many noj owners. Those who care not to purchase from noj, this is your prerogative and so be it. Enjoy what your money and tastes pleases you in the long run. I see great beauty and craftsmanship, particularly in chess equipment, I seek to obtain and purchase. I'm not in Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates's income bracket, far from in reality, but considering what some vendors or owners charge for original Jaques of London sets this isn't a bad deal at all. Again, IMHO.

You know I really haven't given that second shot that much attention but now that you mention it the shadows do show a gradual elongated gradient form of enveloping the pieces in a shadow down the line of each piece, Good eye EG3!

Jorge, this is excellent.  This set and the others will give you a huge amount of pleasure in Chess.

You are correct in that those who own Noj sets not only do not complain about their sets but say many positive things about them.  The ones complaining are those that do not own a Noj set at all.

Their biggest gripe is the high cost of Noj.  They focus on spending less money on a set. As long as the set has a resemblance to the better one in pictures, they say the extra money spent on Noj is foolish and wasted.  I believe this is because they have not handled or otherwise experienced the sets in real life to be able to tell the difference.  Yes, they focus on the money, not the sets.

Focusing on this set though shows really nice stuff, enjoy.

Indeed, Ron, I say the money shots in this post are of the indoor closeup lighted shots of the knight and rook pieces. There you can really appreciate not only the smoothness of the final polishing but the manner in which the staining lets you experience the beauty of the wood grain running throughout the pieces, stunning in my opinion. I have no regrets whatsoever and I'm currently waiting to obtain a Windows-based computer to match up with the DGT e-board and have the full experience playing with the Western DGT enabled pieces to really have some enjoyment playing the game. I like Apple products but since DGT only operates relatively in Windows I'm going with the flow and get a moderately priced laptop or even a 2-1 machine combination. Perhaps a Labor day sale is looming around the corner for such a purchase, time will tell. 

Thanks, I call it as I see it...

What many fail to understand is that the cost of refinement is not linear; it is Exponential!

The price jumps higher by ever increasing amounts the more you chase perfection.

I have a NOJ Minceta dubrovnik, and the new HOS Fischer Dubrovnik.  They are very similar sets.

But when you compare them side by side in the flesh; the Noj set is just better refined and finished.

Keep in mind you are also comparing India labor costs vs. Eurozone labor costs.

To some, the extra refinement is simply not worth the jump in cost.

My opinion:  It is great that NOJ exists for those of us that like nice things...

Exactly!  That is why I had to have one NOJ set in my collection.... and.....Glad I finally splurged!

A second set would be a hard sell to the wife.She is literally a gourmet cook and I prefer my stomach to my chess.-

The trick with wives is to have so many chess sets that they cannot tell what is old from what is new...

"What? This set? I've had it forever, just haven't brought it out in a while..."

Also the haters tend to be rather hypocritical in their price comparisons. Pitting NOJ against the cheaper indian manufacturers. Not against their actual market competition - Flagship sets from HOS; where the price difference is almost negligible...

Your posts are spot on in terms of fact.  We don’t see the haters on here at this time, and that is good.  
Awhile back, there were at least three of them criticizing these better sets and the people that bought them.  And of course they were only looking at the costs.  The one guy, KnightsForkCafe, would say that the differences were not worth the extra cost, at all.  And he did compare the lowest priced sets to the higher end Noj sets, just as you pointed out.
Of course, they would never own or be able to physically handle and inspect the sets in question, as you just did.

Welcome to the Noj owner club.

Wes.....The wife issue exists since she was the book keeper for my business,for 35 years.

I am way too lazy to take over that responsibility,for home expenses now,but I know exactly when to make my move.....Timing is everything!-