I ordered a butsudan from Japan several years ago and it got (slightly) damaged in the interior in transit through bad packing. The sellers were apologetic and sent another one. I kept the damaged one and yesterday found it was just the right size to store my set. It even has a drawer for stuff though I don't know what I'd put in it - maybe a chess book. Anyway, pretty sweet I think.
I actually have an acrylic case for the board and pieces I have on my table. It protects the set against UV, dust and my cat. It is strong enough where my cat can sit on top of it. The quality of the case isn't very good but it does its job very well.
@MCH818: For a second, I thought I was looking at a display case at the World Chess Hall of Fame. Cool case!
Asking about good, cheap storage solutions sure escalated quickly 
Asking about good, cheap storage solutions sure escalated quickly
Mine was free 
but I hear ya.
This was probably already mentioned but a good question to ask yourself is what % of the cost of the set are you willing to pay for a storage unit.
Asking about good, cheap storage solutions sure escalated quickly
Well, once we get past the low priced, nice new cigar boxes (my personal preference) or the Walmart storage kits, what can one do except go up, up, up?
Let's play, "What If."
What if a weighted and felted chess set was created with a small strong magnet along with the weight on the felted bottom of the piece. During play on a wood board the felted bottom magnet won't be noticed. In storage, the pieces can be stored upright in a metal bottom, wood case with minimized danger of pieces knocking into each other. Shelby? Izmet? Anyone? New product line for 2021.
You'd have to be careful of the magnet strength. Pawn to e4 might take the king with him. But yeah, that would work well if you could get a vendor to produce just a set.
Asking about good, cheap storage solutions sure escalated quickly
I think I am partially or fully to blame for this since I brought up the more expensive options. Sorry about that.
No apologies necessary. I pretty much got the ideas I needed and it was interesting/fun to see how people store their sets. Per our discussion I'm thinking of this to store my 3 3/4" ebony/boxwood set, protect it from constant high humidity:
Airtight food storage container
What about wear and tear of pieces put loosely into boxes where they can rub together? Does it damage the finish very much. I'm thinking for high end sets not the $30 sets. If I had a $30 set they would be stored loosely in a box no worries.
I'm constrained by price & (living on boat) space considerations. Wear on pieces piled in a box is certainly a consideration. I'm just going to handle the box carefully such that pieces don't rattle around. I'll also remove the pieces 'individually', not just dump them out on the table/board
@MCH818 I put excellent plastic covers on all the art book I buy so I'm a nut for looking after my possessions. No dings allowed on my chess sets.
To my constant agony,I'm a fanatic with my prized possessions.Can't stand any marks,dings or whatever.
I wish I wasn't so damn anal.
This vintage briefcase styled chess storage case looks neat. You can kind of dump the pieces into the case. But I'm not sure where you can find one. Photo was posted by cgrau.
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/olimpico-argentino-the-olimpico-king?page=2
Hi all. I thought I'd show you my solution. I too am plagued by the inability to jumble my pieces into a box - the idea of them getting banged up because of how I store them! I layer them in the boxes with a piece of felt in between. Works like a charm. The felt takes up some space and the layered pieces kind of lock in place. I've never had a ding from storage and I can get away with boxes that don't take up too much space.
That's a great idea @ChessAuthor. Opens up a lot of options.
It does look good.I don't think laying pieces,carefully,into a coffer is going to cause marks,unless you take it on a roller coaster.
Rsava wrote:
I use a variety of things - Plano boxes, actually storage boxes (the $50 kind), I have one "coffer' with divided compartments for my most expensive set (coffer more expensive than some of my sets), and a few boxes from a place called Hobby Lobby (in the US) (about $20).
And of course, the sets that have folding boards with storage in them.
It seems funny. But for your information Hobby Lobby is an American retail company that owns chain stores of arts and crafts with a volume of over $5 billion. Let's you return purchased project, party, and home supplies if you didn't like them. They have an impressive return policy and refund policy. I head many of it's customer admiring it.
I don't know about that one! It's definitely great to "learn", but as William once said....
"The Play's The Thing".
That's true. I guess we disagree about how to go about the learning process of chess. The way I look at chess is like math class. You have to know the logic behind the equations before you can solve them and before you can take a math test. Studying chess is all about learning that logic. Playing a timed game is like a math test. I will fail if I try to take a math test without first learning how to solve the problems shown on the test. Playing is good if you know how to solve basic problems already. I currently do not. Analyzing games played is also good but only if you know the logic and concepts to find your blunders. I never knew the concept of development or the existence of development count until I read the first few chapters of Discovering Chess Openings. I can analyze all of my games but if I don't know the concepts like development I can't really learn from my games effectively. Hopefully that will change once I finish a couple of more books.
I'm on a similar page. I'm less interested in becoming a good player than I am in learning about the structure of play which I find fascinating. I'm more of a fan of chess than I am a player of chess. I've lost much of my competitive spirit over the years so competition doesn't interest me much but watching the masters play does and the more I understand chess, the more enjoyment I will get by watching. Becoming a better player in all this will be gravy.