Advice on buying good quality Staunton chess piece.

Thanks Rishi9 and sounds like a great idea!

My set arrived this morning ( I was at work...cruel wait to get back home) and I've just unpacked it/examined it.

First impression: WOW! Amazing! I have never seen such a beautiful set ( I am newbie) and the quality of the workmanship/finish on the pieces are top class. The Knight is even better in the flesh, the weights on the pieces feel great and that antique finish on the whites is marvellous/perfect (Glad I took the advice here) . The chess board is huge/good quality and fits the pieces perfectly.  Very happy that I went with the 3.75" size set. 

I did ask Lisa when I placed the order if she had a spare old chess box going on the cheap or even a broken one (they had none in the cheaper range in currently in stock/my credit card was telling me how naughty I am being etc), and she sorted me out with a nice new box no extra charge!  What a star/chip off the old block and nice person she is to deal with. 

The service, customer care, delivery and packaging is outstanding and at the end of the day I was fortunate enough to make the right decision going with Official Staunton set. So a very happy customer and I cannot recommend them enough in my experience. 

Thanks again chaps for all of your great advice. Much appreciated! Pics to

follow

 All I need now is a bigger studio flat to fit my set...

I'll most prob felt the inside of the box for now, but I have an idea for a cylindrical bamboo box of sorts as a future project. 

Congratulations, this setup looks marvelous.

The 1849 is a beautiful, classic set. Pleasing chess players and collectors for 172 years and counting. Haha. Great choice! 

I am drooling. Beautiful. I think the orange and black makes a great combination. Congratulations.

Congratz! Beautiful set and board, good choice!

Congratulation, gorgeous set!

Nice! Congrats! I'm glad you're happy with what you purchased.

[edit] I really really like the bishop, queen, and rook in your set. All 3 pieces look properly proportioned to the rest of the pieces. These 3 pieces in my CB 3.75" 1849 set look squashed. I wish I had those 3 pieces.

I made up a word that perfectly describes the set,as well as O.S.

FABULONIOUS😊

MCH818    These 3 pieces in my CB 3.75" 1849 set look squashed. I wish I had those 3 pieces.  

Have you ever thought of a make over to make it more historical      

Anyway nice set ! why is OS making the black side of the set in walnut & not ebony ?

Are you suggesting I put make up on it? Haha

Well if it float your boat / can also dress them up to

Somebody had twins recently?

If so,congrats!

Haha! I need one more for the 3rd piece.

Lol...

Thanks all

Just figured out something yesterday   RCM is the current supplier for OS. As far as Regency UK is considered their supplier is actually AIW/TCE ; you can see that from the "about us" section on the Regency UK site. 

RCM is one of Indian manufacturers where there have been complaints of cracked pieces. However no such issue with OfficialStaunton. 

Does that mean the quality of wood used is different if you buy directly from the manufacturer VS what they are selling through their retailers. Maybe the wood used for wholesale orders might be of better quality. 

Or maybe OS (Carl) has some quality control system in place ? 

This is bit of a concern for me as due to shipping/custom charges, its lot cheaper buying from Amritsar rather than a website in UK/US.

Interesting! That set surely does look like the OS 3.75" 1849 set. Anyhow, I would think Carl handles the quality control issues, but the Cooke set I bought from him arrived directly from India. I pre-ordered it so perhaps that was the reason. The replacement pieces was also sent from India. I do not think shipping it direct from India was normal for Carl in the past. He is semi-retired now so perhaps that was the reason.