House of Staunton Quality

Has anyone recently purchased a HOS Plastic Collector Series 3.75" set?

And, how is the quality of it?

I have one that I bought about a year and a half ago, and don't really bring it out that often except to my scholastic club meeting where the kids like that I bring one of "my" sets to play.

There were complaints on this forum about the seams being very visible and the quality of the set not being worth the $35 price tag they have on it.

At the beginning of this week, I was playing our local club's G/30 event and using my HOS Plastic Marshall Series 3.75" set.  My friend who does framing for a living and always notices details, and is happy to show me small flaws in my equipment just before we play each other, pointed out that the tips of the White Queen's crenelations were dark.  Upon further investigation the tops of both Bishops and both Rooks and the ears of the Knights also had where the pieces had taken up the black of the nylon pouch in the Chess bag, literally staining them black.  It was unsightly to say the least.

Upon further investigation the aforementioned Plastic Collector Series as well as the Marshall Series sets had the tips of the White pieces take up the black of the nylon pouch material in the chess bag they are stored in.

No other set has done this in the 12 or so years I have had this type of bag.

In talking with a retailer he was saying that the plastic of the sets obviously were not cured or something like that.  Both sets have a satin or matte finish with there apparently being open pores to take up the coloring.  Also, I tried rubbing alcohol, paint thinner, acetone and even non-acetone finger polish remover with nothing taking the dreaded black stain away.

When I put a strong light on the Collector Series set last night, the flaws in that set became very obvious to me.  Indeed the seams of the plastic were poor and raised.  In fact the White King had the seam at its top showing black where it had taken up the coloring.

I really like the Marshall Series 3.75" and Collector 3.75" set designs.  The pieces are clean cut looking and have a good heft to them.  I'm sorry that I can no longer have these sets for use because of the coloring flaws in both and the production flaws in the Collector Series.

The Hastings Series in plastic didn't have the staining but I found the weighting of the set to be inferior to pretty much all the others.

None of their sets seem to be worth the $35, $28, or $25 they want for them.

I also received my Cavalier set and a silicone set from American Chess Equipment and they have now taken the place of the Collector Series and the Hastings Series sets for me.

Did you find this thread? ---->> http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/375-hos-plastic-collector

Yes, I have read that thread before.  I was just starting this thread as a sort of response to you asking me about how my latest order from HOS was.  The plastic sets took my attention.  I did not realize that thread was so recent and the problems of HOS plastic sets was so much in number and size.

By the way I really do like that York Series set.  It fits perfectly on my 2" Drueke board.

Just my opinion but it's pretty hard to control the quality of plastic sets coming out of China and I do believe they all come from there.

I believe you are right about that, Mike.

We know that the vast majority of wood sets are made and come from India.  There are good companies producing nice quality sets and there are some that put out sets that aren't so nice.

The same is apparently true of plastic sets and China.  The Chess set producing areas in India seem to be fewer in both numbers and locations. 

Finding places in China that will consistently produce high quality products for a good amount of time does seem to be a problem.  I remember talking with the guy that now owns American Chess Equipment.  He told me that the company that was producing the Ultimate Chess Sets for him actually disappeared from the face of the Earth along with the molds for the pieces.  Now he is at a quagmire to get that set made again.  It has become cost prohibitive now to actually have the set made by another company.  Their prices and other financial demands are too high.

Also, the Chess set makers in India are pretty exclusive to making Chess sets.  Sure, they can do other wood turning things like making pens and the like, but they seem to specialize in Chess sets from what I have seen and read.

It seems the companies in China can and do make a lot of other things as well as Chess Sets.  All they need is to make the molds and then have the machines inject the plastic into the pieces, insert the weights and there you go, Bob's your uncle.  So, these companies in China most likely don't have an interest in producing high quality plastic Chess sets for the long haul because they aren't financially motivated to be that way.

Starting last night I began looking at the selection of plastic Chess sets available on the market.  The designs are limited and not necessarily great.  I have seen and read about problems with parts that are too pointy, pieces that have flaws that came during manufacture like parts not lining up and mold lines being prominent and the like.

And now we have nice wood sets that are actually as cheap as these plastic ones.

I have the plastic Collector in both 3.75 inch and 4 inch flavors and also the Marshall.   

My plastic Collectors, purchased maybe ten years ago, are about as perfect as you can get with plastic - really, really nice.  The Marshall is similar quality.  I'm tempted to order another Marshall and make a video of the whole experience.  I would be able to directly compare current production with past production.

Here's a few pics of my 4 inch Collector:

That is a great set Crappov, I don't think anything they are putting out of China today would compare to what you have there in the picture.  Just my opinion. 

I would throw that black bag in the washer with 1/4 cup of bleach. Let it agitate for 30 seconds & throw the bag in. I bet the water turns black as coal. Repeat until the water turns clear. You could also just put the pieces in a large ziplock bag & then put them in a black bag.