genuine ebony???

Hi all

just bout imperial collector from HOS. 2 black pieces where chipped showing a white wood underneath. they stated genuine ebony but if this was case wouldn't under the chip be black.

thanks

Post an image!

bought!!!! (not bout)

oh wow. That's very clearly ebonized boxwood, not genuine ebony. Which is strange, since HoS doesn't offer the Imperial Collector w/ ebonized boxwood!

The finial does appear to be boxwood, but that doesn't mean the rest of the piece is.  Given that ebony is a bit of a pain to work with, they may have cut corners or someone may have grabbed a cross from the wrong bin during assembly.  You said there were two pieces; maybe post another picture?  

Collector Series Luxury Set - 4.0" King

I havn't talked to HOS yet as needed to know what I was talking about from you guys

thanks

I help run a company comprised of woodworkers. We work with ebony. That's not ebony. 

HOS does make the 3.75" Collector in ebonized boxwood.  Maybe you don't have a 4" after all...

How much was the set WITHOUT shipping?  

Would you mind linking us to the set you bought?

Wow.  That is disturbing.  I have this same set (though from years ago).  It's very nice and being "ebonized" wouldn't make any practical difference, but there's an artistic value to it.  And I paid for solid ebony.  Please do let us know what they wind up saying about it.  BTW, since we have so many woodworkers among us--how would one tell on an undamaged piece?

That set is $749 and maybe a 20% discount if you used a code. Did you pay $600 + shipping which I am guessing was a small fortune to Australia?  If you paid $200 + shipping then you got ebonized boxwood. 

It's very possible you are correct, but I'm curious what the shipping price has to do with it.  It's either a mistake or intentional...I hate to believe the second since HoS has a very good reputation.  They should make it right.

Interesting.  I do think the black pieces are a tad heavier, even just to heft them.

Chess pieces have chunks of metal inside them, the weigth things will not work here. So far the best way is to scrash some fro mthe bottom of a pice, perhaps under the billboard padding.

And that on the pictures is not ebony.

I have knows some HOS sets where the head of the horse is boxwood on the ebony half of the set. But this is just a whole new level of low standads.

Are you sure your set was advertices as ebony or was it "ebonized"?

Is there a link to the webpage of the set? Or maybe a certificate stating that it is ebony?

They definitely advertise ebony.  They have ebonized but they sell it at a lower price.  As far as certificate, mine came with one.  But that was years ago so I don't know about current practice.

Hi jjrehp

Just check this thread, 

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/hos-ebony-dubrovnik-chessmen?page=2

Check Post# 31 by Zeiss21

He gave a very instructive guidance on how to distinguish an ebony piece from ebonized. 

Keep us updated what is the HOS response on this issue. 

(to be fair to HoS, person in that thread ordered an ebonized set, but since he waited for a long time for order fulfillment, HoS upgraded him to ebony at no extra cost.I will just copy/paste that post below.)