Centurion set from house of Staunton

Hello

Im considering purchasing this from house of Staunton https://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-centurion-series-chess-set-and-board-combination.html

And wondering if anyone have had any experience with this set, or the shop in general?

750$ for a chess set is a lot of money. Ive heard horror stories about boards and pieces thats uneven, and cracking of the wood. 

Will this last me a lifetime? 

Nice looking set. Out of my price range. 

Pretty much the same sets at much lower prices.

https://www.chessbazaar.com/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=Fierce

https://www.wholesalechess.com/search.php?search_query=Supreme&section=product

I have purchased numerous items from House of Staunton, ChessBazaar, and WholesaleChess. House of Staunton has the highest prices and the poorest service. People here will tend to praise House of Staunton's "quality" and service, but I attribute this mostly to their falling for HoS's heavy and repetitive advertising constantly reiterating regrettably unsubstantiated claims about their great quality and service. Tell people the same thing often enough and they tend to believe it.

I have to agree and say that 750 is a steep price for that design. The collector series looks nicer, as does any Noj chess set (same price range). Finally? 750 is a lot of money. Shop around before you buy.

You will get numerous answers from numerous people.

I am someone who has had great service and product from HoS and I do not fall under any "falling for blah, blah, blah" magic as @JackieMatra tries to say.

I would rank the three that he lists in the order below:

Product Quality

1. HoS

2. Chess Bazaar (but barely better than 3)

3. Wholesale Chess

For customer service:

1. HoS

2. Wholesale Chess (but very close to a tie for 1)

3. Chess Bazaar (but only because it would look funny ranking them 100 when there are only three)

I have actual email correspondence with CB to prove my stand on their poor customer service and I have actual email correspondence to prove Wholesale Chess' great customer service. 

I guess you are looking at the Ebony for $749US and they are always running discount codes, currently they are running NEW2019 for 15% off making your set $636US. 

But definitely shop around. And wait for some more opinions. Sound slike @JackieMatra has some axe to grind with HoS and I have an axe to grind with CB so get some more opinions.

I have a friend that owns a HoS Centurion set as his only wood set and he likes it very much.  I have seen it and played games with it and it is one of the nicer sets out there.

That price is for a set, box and board combination.  The price for the pieces alone, in the same color price you list for the combination is $495.  With discounts both prices will be lower.  So this not too expensive of a price for what you get.

HoS has a very good history of quality and price.  Yes you will find individual instances and people having problems but that is true with all the retailers except maybe Carl of Official Staunton and of course Gregor of Noj.

Thanks for great answers. I know its a lot of money for a chess set, but I do love the game, and if im going to spend some money on it, then it dosent matter if its 200 or 750.  But my main concern is durability.  These sets are expected to last a life time?

As for the set I have chosen, I just picked the centurion cause it was the one I liked best look wise. Mostly the deep dark/shiny color of the cheese board

And as for the discount, it stands discount can't be combined. so 750 is what it will cost discounted 

Re: lasting a lifetime - I have a set that my lovely bride gave me 30+ years ago. Not expensive at all. Not taken care of very well for the first 20 years I had it. 

It is still in great condition. I had to do some restorative work on it (nothing fancy, just cleaning and wood oil) and the set is a very nice set. 

Sets like that are usually made to be heirloom sets so yes they are designed to last a long time. If you take care of it it should last for generations. 

As for the discount, I put the set in my cart (with box and board) and applied the NEW2019 discount and it worked fine. Discount was applied. 

I own the Centurion set and I love it. I bought the pieces many years ago, 2002 if I remember right. Mine are Red Sandalwood, which is no longer available, and Boxwood. Great pieces that look and feel wonderful.

Regarding longevity, the only wood set that I owned for an extended period was a Lardy set (owned from the mid 1960s to the present). This is how it looks today. I don't use it for speed chess. Not sure how durable ebony chess pieces are.

Mind going into more detail on the care and maintenance?

The Knights ear's  look to exposed to damage ?

I to would go for a noj chess set save on shipping & tax better set in my eyes !

As far as what you can buy for the money, I agree that the Noj sets are the best.  I own the Dubrovnik II set in all three colors; Walnut, Red stained Maple and Brown stained Maple.  I also own the Noj GM Pavasovic set in Walnut as well as the Noj BCE Stage 2, Eastern set with the stainless steel bases.

All of these sets will definitely last a lifetime and more.  Plus they all handle exquisitely in both balance and weight.

The Frank Camaratta produced sets from The House of Staunton along with the sets from Official Staunton make up my favorite Staunton or Jaques type of designed sets.  Understand I am talking about sets that Frank himself had part of the design and manufacture details, not others.

The Centurion set is one that Frank designed to be a lesser expensive option to his Collector Series sets.  And yes, it is a fine set. 

Currently my 2 favorite Staunton Design sets are both Camaratta designed or signature sets, the HoS Craftsman Series in Blood Rosewood and the Camaratta Signature Cooke Series in Mopane.  And please understand that I own over 35 wood sets.

I had kept the set out for years, it had accumulated dust and was just left out in the house. I keep my home fairly dry (live in Florida so dry is better for the AC bill).

It need a good cleaning when i finally appreciated what I had and needed some oil put back in the wood. However, this was a fairly inexpensive set.

I have since learned (through this sub-forum) that a little Renaissance Wax (found on Amazon) applied to wood sets does wonders for protecting wood sets. A very little bit is all it takes. 

I have 19 wooden sets now and every one has been treated with Renaissance Wax and are stored in storage boxes when not in use. 

Thanks  @Rsava

I can't tell you how long the pieces will last, but I do think the design of the Knights is different, and better, than that of the two sets proposed as less-expensive equivalents. Compare carefully the less expensive sets offered by House of Staunton as well before making a final decision; maybe there is something you would like just as much for less somewhere else.

If not, and you can afford the price, though, I won't advise you not to get them. It looks like a very well-made set.

On the other side of the coin, I have had great customer service from Chess Bazaar. I was thorough and respectful in communicating my initial issue and they responded in the same way. I didn't demand anything, send detailed photos of the problem and asked how WE could resolve the issue. They immediately sent a replacement and I thanked them.

Mind you get a very nice chess board with it .. That not a cheap one from the looks of it .

Still would do research on whats on offer as a sale / do you want ebony as cost more etc !

import Tax / shipping cost to Norway ? would check too , As that would also bump the price up a lot ! Norway is not cheap to live in .

Of the retail places most mentioned here there are really no completely bad ones.

Chess Bazaar is a place that I bought 3 sets from.  They are all nice.  There have been a number of bad reports regarding quality and service.  However, most times people are pleased with their product.

The House of Staunton has the most chess sets for sale than anywhere else.  They also have some of the highest quality and priced things.  and yes, they also compete at the lower priced spectrum also.  For the most part people have been quite pleased with this place.  Yes, there is the occasional complaint of service.  But the vast majority of purchases from this place are all satisfied from what is written on this forum.

Wholesale Chess also is a good provider with a good reputation for service.  They do not carry some of the higher level pieces or boards.  

Official Staunton also has a very good reputation on this forum.  There really has been no complaints of quality or service.  Carl has done a meticulous job.

There are a number of other places with very good reputations.  The Chess House, The Chess Store, American Chess Equipment, The Rochester Chess Center and Chessusa.com are some names you see here all with good reputations.

Those are all retailers.

Noj is individual in that they are a woodworking shop operated by Gregor Novak, his brother, and there retired father coming in part time to do the finish work on the pieces.  There are no middle men, just the owner and his family.

These guys do the best work with the best service possible.  It is quite impossible for the retailers to provide a duplicate replacement piece for one that is broken with the set being over 7 years old!  These guys can do it because they manufactured that set over 7 years ago and have the exact same type of wood to give an exact match and they of course will have the workmanship and details exact as well.  I know this because last year (Fall of 2017) I did have both my Walnut Queens develop chips to their collars of my Dubrovnik II Walnut set that I had bought back in May of 2010!  Not only did Gregor provide 2 exact replacements for those Queens, but he provided them for free, no cost!

The retailers mentioned above cannot do such a thing at all.  The sets they sell are made in batches by their manufacturing suppliers in India.  When the batch runs out it is impossible to exactly match the wood color or grain.  And the odds of them making the details of the pieces exact are also kind of slim.

In the end you get what you pay for ? if I was to spend 750$  for a new chess set would go for Noj chess set / As I really like the Dubrovnik I 1950s set .

Or would buy a antique Jaques Staunton chess set !