most likely been scammed, looks like stained wood
Did I get Sheesham instead of Rosewood?
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Awful staining job, misrepresented product… another seller to avoid in my book
Lotus960 wrote:
Having said all that, chess players are renowned for being extremely fussy and picky about their chess sets. Some of the threads in this forum could easily be called "People suffering from OCD talk about chess sets". 😁
It’s one thing to say the weight of one bishop is a little more than the other, or a reproduction doesn’t match a specific antique example.
Where I draw the line is if I would be embarrassed to have it sitting out on a table if I have a guest over. Things that would be obvious to a casual observer.
The HOS set I linked earlier had flaws that I think someone would notice, like the huge knot on the very king, or the spot on the pawn where the black ebonizing was flaking off, or the very poor, blotchy finish on many of the pieces.
This set looks kind of ugly and blotchy, it just doesn’t look nice, after I paid extra for the supposedly nicer type of wood.
I would probly have been ok with it if it was as light as it is, but had nice color, grain, and was even. But it looks even worse than my cheaper sheesham set, even if it is actually a different kind of wood. Nowhere near the beauty of the example on the website.
DesperateKingWalk wrote:
I would not recommend anyone to buy ebonized chess pieces. As you are buying nothing more than paint. It is always better to buy a wood in that color. As any kind of paint finishes will not last. This is also true for what the manufacturers call distressed box wood.
The good news is the ebonized boxwood is easy to repair. Just buy black car touch up paint, or to repaint the whole set. Buy a can of black car paint in a spray can.
Actual ebonizing is an iron-based chemical that soaks fairly deeply into the wood and reacts with the tannins, turning it black (when done properly). You would have to wear away a significant amount of wood for the color to change. What I suspect happened with my pawn is that for some reason part of the top wasn’t ebonized properly, perhaps there was an air bubbly or some grease or something that kept the solution from reaching that part, or just a natural part of the wood that was resistant to the process.
With that said, real ebony does look much better, and I live in a climate where it is much less likely to crack.
What really makes me upset about it is that they obviously saw there was a defect, and just slapped some black paint on and shipped it. They really don’t care.
It galls me seeing posts from even a couple of years ago with prices half of what they are now. Even with inflation, the prices shouldn’t have gone up so much.
These manufacturers and sellers are just price gouging, especially considering the much lower quality you get compared to the sets for half the price from a few years ago.
Not really, ebonising works by dyeing the wood itself rather than applying a coloured layer on top of it, so it can't flake and the wood can only lose its colour with the outer layer of itself, which is practically impossible to achieve with normal usage of chess sets, let alone brand new ones.
Not all kinds of wood can be ebonized with iron.
In most cases, a good stain/ink (eg. india ink) will give a better result by penetrating the wood fibers deeply. You can get a jet black appearance this way.
However, paint was clearly applied in the pictures above …
Better get your pieces without any stain and let the wood speak by itself
Patina is the word we are looking for. That's what natural wood develops over time, and it's what allows a chess set to age gracefully.
Be aware that some of the pieces posted may have been stained to achieve/enhance the desired color. Also paint and stain are not the same thing. Paint may flake off if poorly applied. Stain generally will not unless applied too heavily, (e.g., lacquer).
Beware HoS if you're not ordering from a US address. Overseas customers often get substandard products (see various threads).
Here is the comparison picture of golden brown shesham wood and dark rose wood. The rose wood have very dark brownish black color with wood grains in black color. The shesham wood has lighter golden brownish tone with dark brown wood grains. Both sets are from my personal collection brought from chess bazaar. 
Having said all that, chess players are renowned for being extremely fussy and picky about their chess sets. Some of the threads in this forum could easily be called "People suffering from OCD talk about chess sets". 😁
Any decent, experienced chess supplier should know this, and if it wishes to keep its customers happy and create or keep a good reputation should make the pieces closely match in every way what is displayed on their websites. Otherwise, they are just looking for trouble from a disgruntled customer base.