I was just out of grad school and extremely poor at the time, but now, I wish I'd borrowed the funds for that set. I didn't even play chess then... :-)
The guy was obviously naturally gifted, with a profound feeling for his childhood experiences on the "res."
My only interest then was based on my hobby of welding. I asked the "artist' ( I doubt he thought of himself as one) what he used for flux. His response: "Flux ?"
Happy New Year!
Update: It's several days later and I am still yet to receive a reply of any kind from Staunton Castle to any one of several phone calls, emails, or texts. Despite continuing to solicit my order ('you have items in you cart'), they won't reply, or provide a quote on shipping charges, or delivery dates, let alone a question regarding buying an extra side in a contrasting color.
Someone said previously that 'you have to be patient', and I get the good place where that is coming from, but the truth is that patience, as a virtue (being as it is the products of ethics), is by definition always optional; there is no 'have to'. As such virtue is never a social obligation in the way that morals (an obligation come of a social contract) are. We are free to go elsewhere!
Virtue, like trust and respect, is best spent on those who reply to it, rather than trade against it. Personally I am tired of contemporary business models that would feign friendship (for what little its platitudes cost) because they intend to tax against your hope of service (which costs them beyond the lethargy of modern retail), which is why so many fail, but can't account it.
There is no honor, gift or privilege in being able to pay an on-line vendor their asking price to purchase a product from them. They are not entitled to any 'additional' consideration that has not already been factored into the price; we already buy sight-unseen, wait weeks on end for delivery, before then having to struggle with returns, and delivery costs. What do they risk?
On-line providers are making the same mistake that brick and mortar stores made: thinking that 'they' define the terms, because customers let them for being guilted into being 'patient' to suffer ever depreciated service in return for...what...self righteousness? It is a mistake to treat a company as if it were an individual, simply because an individual 'speaks' for the company.
Sorry about the retail rant. It is the season you know. You can't pay for good service these days it has grown so rare, even though there are those who would pay a premium for it rather than suffer without it. What I really want to know then is has anyone ordered or 'received' product or reply from Staunton Castle over the holidays? Thanks!
With all due respect, people are still missing the point: if Mandeep wants to sell me a chess set, he should reply to anyone of the multiplicity of contacts I have provisioned him with, otherwise I will simply take my business elsewhere. More to the point, if Mandeep were so 'nice', he would have done so of that personal volition alone, regardless of the money involved. I have hundreds of students who I am currently teaching on line who require, and get address, of their situation EVERY DAY, on complex issues of philosophy that require greater consideration and effort of text than a simple retail reply. I personally answered over 100 emails yesterday in an hour; it doesn't take long or much effort to be polite, diligent, and informative. Businesses can use batch emails to let everyone know what going on, in advance of personal address, they simply can't be bothered, and so they should suffer the economic fallout than an education may transpire; maybe they might learn a lesson come of logical consequence (a non-punitive consequence that is instead only the 'logical' result of an action; or in this case...inaction).
Happy New Year!
Update: It's several days later and I am still yet to receive a reply of any kind from Staunton Castle to any one of several phone calls, emails, or texts. Despite continuing to solicit my order ('you have items in you cart'), they won't reply, or provide a quote on shipping charges, or delivery dates, let alone a question regarding buying an extra side in a contrasting color.
Someone said previously that 'you have to be patient', and I get the good place where that is coming from, but the truth is that patience, as a virtue (being as it is the products of ethics), is by definition always optional; the is no 'have to'. As such virtue is never a social obligation in the way that morals (an obligation come of a social contract) are. We are free to go elsewhere!
Virtue, like trust and respect, is best spent on those who reply to it, rather than trade against it. Personally I am tired of contemporary business models that would feign friendship (for what little its platitudes cost) because they intend to tax against your hope of service (which costs them beyond the lethargy of modern retail), which is why so many fail, but can't account it.
There is no honor, gift or privilege in being able to pay an on-line vendor their asking price to purchase a product from them. They are not entitled to any 'additional' consideration that has not already been factored into the price; we already buy sight-unseen, wait weeks on end for delivery, before then having to struggle with returns, and delivery costs. What do they risk?
On-line providers are making the same mistake that brick and mortar stores made: thinking that 'they' define the terms, because customers let them for being guilted into being 'patient' to suffer ever depreciated service in return for...what...self righteousness? It is a mistake to treat a company as if it were an individual, simply because an individual 'speaks' for the company.
Sorry about the retail rant. It is the season you know. You can't pay for good service these days it has grown so rare, even though there are those who would pay a premium for it rather than suffer without it. What I really want to know then is has anyone ordered or 'received' product or reply from Staunton Castle over the holidays? Thanks!
Fact is, no company in the world needs or wants a customer like you.
Give the guy a break.
He has some point to what he says.
It is a fact that when ordering online the buyer buys sight-unseen from the seller. As an example, would you buy a violin online with no expectation to be able to easily return it after assessing it yourself? I recently bought a French Horn this way. The dealer, who is in the Boston, Massachusetts area sent me the horn in question for a two week trial time for me. By the way, they sent the horn to me without charging me until I decided.
This is a relatively small industry. Here in the USA I have forged real friendships with some of the sellers. Raphael of The Chess House, Shelby of American Chess Equipment (and Dewain before him), Quentin of Chessusa.com, Ron and Gerry of The Rochester Chess Center, Kevin at The House of Staunton, Frank Camaratta, Dennis of Legend Products, and a few others over the years. I know that I can call any of them up, today, and they would give me true and honest assessments of products. They would give me great service. And they would allow me to get the lowest price available at the time for that product.
When I buy from any place on your side of the Atlantic, I must trust the sight-unseen. Yes, with guys like Gregor of Noj. Ifekali of Best Chessmen Ever, Carl of Official Staunton, and a couple places in Italy that I have bought from, I have my buying history to rely on. Chess Bazaar is also predictable to me from my buying history with them and what I have seen on this forum. Nonetheless, there still is a trust factor until I have the product in hand.
I can feel empathy for you Skeldon.
Btw,weren't you my college english professor?
Your command of the language is impressive.You only gave me a B.
I got a set from Staunton Castle just last night.
Which one did you get? I'm looking at the Danum set.
With all due respect, people are still missing the point: if Mandeep wants to sell me a chess set, he should reply to anyone of the multiplicity of contacts I have provisioned him with, otherwise I will simply take my business elsewhere. More to the point, if Mandeep were so 'nice', he would have done so of that personal volition alone, regardless of the money involved. I have hundreds of students who I am currently teaching on line who require, and get address, of their situation EVERY DAY, on complex issues of philosophy that require greater consideration and effort of text than a simple retail reply. I personally answered over 100 emails yesterday in an hour; it doesn't take long or much effort to be polite, diligent, and informative. Businesses can use batch emails to let everyone know what going on, in advance of personal address, they simply can't be bothered, and so they should suffer the economic fallout than an education may transpire; maybe they might learn a lesson come of logical consequence (a non-punitive consequence that is instead only the 'logical' result of an action; or in this case...inaction).
You can definitely take your business elsewhere but everywhere is the same. Someone recently reported it took 2 weeks to get a return label from Chesshouse.com. Chesshouse is a very good supplier with a great reputation. Another recently reported HoS did not respond to emails as well. Another said HoS has their package waiting to ship on 12/12 and it was still listed with the same status as of 1/1.... 19 days later. HoS is also very good about returning emails and delivering products on time. Noj has a backlog 4 months. When I bought from them around summery 2020, the waiting list was 6-8 weeks. The industry is slammed. You can try other places but you probably won't get a better experience until this back log clears up. Don't take my word for it. Do you own research. Read all of the recent threads. There are a bunch of people complaining about service from companies who have good reputations. If these same companies are now providing poor service all at the same time, do you think it is because suddenly all of those companies just don't care or do you think the load has increased to levels that overwhelm these companies' systems and procedures?
3 weeks not 2. The owner emailed me and apologized. He seemed like a good guy but he messed up bad. I didn't just receive an item that didn't work or was chipped. I received an item that stunk up my entire apartment. Yes, my ENTIRE apartment. My wife couldn't stand the smell either so I wrapped it back up toot suite. I have no idea what that odor was or what it was doing to my lungs - maybe nothing, I don't know. That's a far cry from getting a rook with a crack in it. Then I had to wait 3 weeks for a return label because I didn't believe I should have to pay for postage. But guess what? I DO have to pay for postage. The label costs me 10 bucks. So this company sends me an offensive item to which I have to pay money to return, AFTER I've waited the better part of a month. Ask me if I plan on shopping at the Chess House again.
That's great Jcd1234! There is hope yet, if not so too for me I fear. Apparently no company needs or wants a customer like me! To be fair to sound67, whatever his motivation, he is, after a fashion, correct: some small business owners would rather starve than denigrate themselves by admitting that they are working in a service of a customer; whose is, by definition, elevated above them by the terms of the flow of exchange (Adam Smith). The fact that these individuals struggle to maintain both their business and personal 'false' sense of self, usually at the expense of their bottom line, is proof enough that traditionally their are insufficient low self-esteem customers to support their business model, though I fear it may be changing. Consider also that pharmacists, those who do not own their establishment in which they work, are themselves little more than retail workers. If they owned their establishment, they would at least be businessman. There is no place in business for ego! What is it they say about the customer always being right!
3 weeks not 2. The owner emailed me and apologized. He seemed like a good guy but he messed up bad. I didn't just receive an item that didn't work or was chipped. I received an item that stunk up my entire apartment. Yes, my ENTIRE apartment. My wife couldn't stand the smell either so I wrapped it back up toot suite. I have no idea what that odor was or what it was doing to my lungs - maybe nothing, I don't know. That's a far cry from getting a rook with a crack in it. Then I had to wait 3 weeks for a return label because I didn't believe I should have to pay for postage. But guess what? I DO have to pay for postage. The label costs me 10 bucks. So this company sends me an offensive item to which I have to pay money to return, AFTER I've waited the better part of a month. Ask me if I plan on shopping at the Chess House again.
My bad... 3 weeks. I am getting older and more forgetful. Your experience sounds terrible. Why do you have to pay for the return label if there was an odor issue? I thought Chesshouse.com sent you a label. Btw, I ordered a 12" magnetic set from them and it smelled very bad. It stunk up my place. I lived with it and eventually used the set for a few months before moving onto a 14" board. I can empathize with you on the smell.
No problem. The thing about the label is he provides it but will deduct $10 from the refund. Less than what it would cost me to send back I'm sure but in this case unfair. I got a little health issue with my lungs so the fumes were a concern. I have no garage and leaving the set at my brother in law's place to off gas for 2 weeks requires a 2 hour drive - and 2 weeks. LOL I mean really. But I don't hold a grudge. I just gotta sound off. Then I'm ok. 
I would love to buy a Drueke player's choice chess set, plastic, but they're asking exorbitant amounts of money for them. To me it's the best design ever!
This forum has been awfully quiet since the new year. I used to be a chess fanatic in my younger years during the Bobby Fischer era, but then came college, graduate school, family kids etc and i had forgotten all about chess. The last couple of years i have been angling to get back into chess seriously and I just joined chess.com. Having joined, i went through all the posts in this forum. Obviously, it is each to his or her own about what they think is the best chess set. As i got back into chess, i bought myself a basic grandmaster set from HoS. And then when i was watching the matches i ended up getting the 2018 Sinquefield DGT set limited edition for an arm and a leg. and more recently i got the FIDE championship set. While i had put away the two sets and was playing with the championship set, while going through all the discussion from this forum i decided to pull the Grandmaster set as i hadn't seen it in a while. While, it was the cheapest of the three, i was pleasantly surprised to see how lovely the set was. Not only that, it also felt the best to handle and move the pieces. This, took me back to what i had heard about Bobby Fischer's preference for the Dubrovnik pieces and i think he was referring to the 3.625" kings. I have been looking at the Dubrovniks and I can see why they would be comfortable sets.
I think we could break down the topic and go a little deeper. Many of us could opine on why they like a particular set. We could opine on which colors or woods we like. Why do we like a particular size? which type of set would we use for Blitz and which would we use for classical chess?
I only have 3.75" and 4" sets and would't know much about the other sizes. I am fascinated by the blood rosewood color, but a little afraid that it might be too red and distractive when playing. While i do have the black ebony in the sinquefield set and it is beautiful under bright light, under playing conditions it is difficult to distinguish details and am leaning towards lighter colors such as rosewood or padauk.
Another thing would be to opine on the weight of the sets. I have seen a range of 30oz to 90 or so oz. What is a good weight?
It would be great to hear.
As you said, to each their own.
I have the luxury of owning a lot of sets. I can pick and choose what I think is best for each playing situation.
There are some sets that can be used for everything. These sets are usually either plastic or of a wood design that will not chip or break too easily.
For plastic the new Ultimate set by American Chess Equipment and Legend Product’s Alegria set seem to be the most recognized best on this forum. I own and use both when I want a plastic set.
A Wood set for all types of play would be the Championship set you mention which is a German Knight set or a number of blitz sets sold in different places. The Chavet design set has come to light recently. I have and use the Championship set you have as well as the HoS Liberty Series set, both in Rosewood. I bought a Chavet reproduction within the last year and it is nice.
Of course the design you see Bobby Fischer use in those pictures and videos is what today is the Noj Dubrovnik Minceta. I was carrying this set as my everyday carry and use set before the pandemic. Now, this set is expensive and you will have to wait until 2022 to get one because of a backlog. But you can read a number of people posting on this forum how their Minceta set is exceptional and they are very happy they got one. So this could very well be the best Chess set design ever.
Of course if you want a slower game where the set will not get abuse, the Staunton designs work very well. The mark of these is a broad base size to the pieces with good weighting that makes them very stable on the board and well balanced.
My two favorites for this usage are the HoS Craftsman Series in Blood Rosewood and the HoS Camaratta Luxury Cooke in Mopane as the dark pieces.
I haven't been long in the chess world scenery but I'd say aesthetically Dubrovnik 1950 version is the best design and Chavet design for practicality.
I don't believe I was fully happy with the design of my set, until I put together my own with my favorite pieces. Labor of love, you know. 
Wow that's a gorgeous board!
Dun wanna know dun wanna know...I didn't see that.
First, welcome to CB&E! I also have a HoS Grandmaster set. Mine is the library size 3.25 in golden rosewood. It is a nice set except mine blends into the walnut maple board too much.
I envy your Sinquefield Cup set. It does cost an arm and a leg but it is absolutely beautiful. I am eyeing the HoS Cooke Luxury set which has a 3.625 king or the Sinquefield Cup in ebonized boxwood.
Here is my HoS 3.75 Collectors in blood rosewood.
Here is the 4" Collectors in ebony so you can see the difference between the two woods on the same board.
I think I like ebony more because there is more contrast from the walnut squares but blood rosewood is nice too.
I prefer heavy sets when playing such as the ACE Ultimates in plastic or HoS Fischer Spassky. I prefer light or unweighted sets for studying such as my Noj 1950. I prefer silicone sets for analysis... because I can just dump the set on the table without worrying about damaging the table, board or pieces.
I have spent time matching sets to boards. Most of the variety of what is called Rosewood has some red in the color. Sure, the Blood Rosewood and Bud Rosewood have more red, but even the original Rosewood pieces I own have a tinge of red in them.
Walnut and some of the other brown woods do not have any red at all.
I also have noticed when I put most any rosewood pieces on a Walnut board the dark wood colors do not match or complement very well. My wife and some Chess playing friends have also told me this.
So, I find the Rosewood pieces do better on a different shade of Rosewood board or another non-brown wood like Wenge. I have a couple boards with green dyed for the dark squares and Rosewood pieces do well on them also.
My Walnut boards do better with a different shade of Walnut piece or a different wood like Mopane. Brown stained pieces also can work quite well on Walnut squares.
Of course Black pieces work very well on all these boards as long as the squares are not too dark and black-like.
Another thing would be to opine on the weight of the sets. I have seen a range of 30oz to 90 or so oz. What is a good weight?
It would be great to hear.
@rsvenkatachalm
The weight of the set depends a lot on the design of the pieces. The lower the center of mass, the lower the weight required for stability. In fact, the very popular Noj Dubrovnik sets, which aren't weighted at all, weigh in at a mere 24 oz., yet they are extremely stable owing to their excellent design.
In my collection, I have about a dozen sets between 3.6" and 4.2", the weights of which vary between 37-60 ounces; and seven sets between 4.25" and 4.5" where the weights vary between 65-72 ounces.
I've never been much for themed chess pieces but the 'cowboys & indians' set sounds amazing