New chess pieces, am I being too picky?

Hi, just go a new set and noticed some small defects. I contacted the seller who said this is the nature of handmade pieces. What are your thoughts please? I know that when I built my guitars, it wasn't the nature of things ;-)

Thanks in advanc

This is on two separate bishops.

Unless you're paying for some ultra expensive reproduction I would say you're being too picky. Maybe the knight needs to be replaced but it's hard to tell from the picture.

In general even cheap sets are really well made today compared to sets from 50 years ago. I've seen some close up images of pieces from world championships from the 50s and the knights have visible carving differences.

+1, if it's only on those few pieces.

It’s difficult to see through another’s eye and you are the final judge. Based on what I see in the photos I’d say, maybe. I’m not a collector either so I tend to look at the set as a whole and would ask if it’s for playing or for display. If for playing, there will more markings as the games go by. If for display, I’d likely feel different. I know this isn’t much help, so take my feedback with a grain of salt so to speak. Congrats on the new set by the way!

Thanks for your feedback good people. As sets go I think it's probably still in the budget range I guess at £120. It looks nice on the board and it's well weighted 65g for the 4" king and 62g for the queen. I am a perfectionist so these things can niggle a bit. I'm worse since suffering a catastrophic brain seizure four and a half years ago.

It's just a shame, because everything else if top notch. But hey-ho

Thanks again, I appreciate your help,

Yeah, maybe try and get them replaced. But good luck. Depending on the vendor it may be very difficult.

I've got a few sets that if they had those imperfections I would definitely want them replaced but those are $300US - $600US sets.

I have a few under $200US that do not have any marks like those but then I have some that did come with slight imperfections.

In the end, it is up to you and how you feel about the money you spent and the quality you can live with.

Thanks Richard. It was from Official Stanton. I only sent them a description and not those pics.

Oh, Official Staunton? I would probably try and get something done about them.

Sorry to hear about your health concerns, but happy you are doing better! Be strong my friend.

Thank you. You're very kind. You take care of yourself.

nothing can be done about the knight really but the tooling marks on the other pieces seems like a problem in the production line, its possible their most recent run might all have the same defects

Seems fine to me.

I don't really think you are being picky because since it is new, you would kind of think that they would be good

If the set was £2,000, I'd expect these chips to be filled and polished.

For £120, what exactly do you expect?

I would charge the same for a chess set that I'd charge for a guitar. A fully hand-made set that is - not the CNC-turned job with a hand-carved knight, that goes for a hand-made set these days.

Time and effort involved is about the same, based on a sample of 3 chess sets and 3 dozen guitars.

PS Since you're no stranger to working with wood, get a basic lathe and turn your own. Trust me, you'll enjoy playing with it much much more than any set you can ever buy.

I think we (including me) on this forum tend to analyse and inspect pieces like not many others - my sense is, for play or display, these pieces would be fine and most, if not all non-collector people, would not see an issue, and if they did notice the dings and dents they would probably put it down to normal wear and tear. That said, I get a bit hung up on how pieces are marketed and the expectations that sets - in the end it’s up to each of us to decide based in our expectations related to the money we’ve invested. I remember asking the forum about some colour variations in rosewood…. and after receiving objective views on tolerances - I never thought about it again.

Since it's H.O.S. who tend to market themselves as one of the finest vendors out there,I'd ask for replacements,but overall it's o biggie.As long as it's not an issue with the vast majority of the pieces.

Good luck

The vendor is Official Staunton, not House of Staunton MT. I’d still ask for a replacement knight if possible (maybe throw in $5 to offset some expense).

Sorry for my error...Should pretty much be the same though.

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