Ebony or Ebonized?

It is too blurry to even tell what I am looking at.

Definitely not real ebony.  It might be ebonized, but my guess is black lacquered.

Ebonizing is actually a process of charring the wood using fire.  The charring causes the wood to be quite hard.  Our caveman ancestors put their wooden spear points in the fire to char them so they could be sharpened to harder and sharper points.  For chess pieces, it gives them a nice black color, and the hardness means they can be polished nicely as well.  Just from looking at your picture, the depth of the black seems quite shallow, so my guess of it being black lacquer (i.e. painted black) is quite likely, as charring usually goes a bit deeper if done properly.  You did not mention the company that sold you these, but if you paid for ebony, I do not think you got your moneys worth.  This photo with a letter of complaint may or may not get you a response, depending on the company.

I have some larger ebony carvings and the light wood is nearer the bark, not the interior.

You also have another thread about this, maybe it's best to keep just one thread about this otherwise it gets confusing and messy. 

Yeah well we're talking about HoS here, kinda sensitive subject here.

When was this purchased from HOS? Can you post a link to the exact set you purchased?

You received multiple responses in the other thread about it not looking right, photos from forum members, and tips on ways to check using a strong led light or digital scale. 

Please note that they make a black lacquered option of this set as well.  From your photo, that is still my best guess for that piece.

They have ebonized and ebony version of that set. How much did you pay for it? If you paid 299 than it's correct you get the ebonized version, if you paid 399 then you should have received the ebony set which you clearly don't have.

yeah you definitely got the wrong set. I think it can happen they ship out the wrong set but by denying it and saying it still is ebony but they used different processing wood bla bla that sounds just like bull to me.

It's tough to determine by weight as ebony woods they use nowadays are of the cheaper quality, less densed hence less heavy, not like Gaboon ebony which is very densed and very heavy, also very expensive as it's in the CITES and IUCN list now https://www.wood-database.com/gaboon-ebony/

Wow that is a beautiful set that collector series! It sucks you have to go through the motions of verifying the sets wood type. Have they asked for the damaged pieces to investigate yet or just requesting pictures?

If a vendor insists it's ebony wood, and you don't believe them, drastic measures can be taken. To be sure for your own peace of mind you have to "see" inside the piece. A pin vise will allow you to slowly and carefully hand drill a tiny pin hole and inspect the sawdust extracted from the interior. Carefully peel the felt off the bottom of a piece and drill the pin hole at the bottom of the base. Perhaps the King piece because it's base is the largest. The felt can be reglued with a tiny bit of glue. At your own risk of course. 

You didn't say when you purchased it from HoS. Maybe return it, and be done with this? They offer an extended return period for the holidays. If you decide on store credit, they will waive the restocking fee. 

That's a good idea what mr Pawnerai said. Did you have to send the pawn back btw? If not, you could saw that pawn in half.

If you received the new pawn already does it look different from the others? I would go with what the one said. Cutting the damaged pawn will tell a good part story.

There is only one way to know for sure.

Screw it. Forget the pin vise. Snap it in half and see the interior wood. What's the hold up? 

Now I don't understand anything anymore!

Are you sure his is ebony?

Lol yeah don't keep us in suspense! I hate open ending