Noj Dubrovnik 1950 for $50 - lucky find?! Help ID

I found 3 nice chess sets for $50.00 each on Facebook Market Place (I know ...it's a great deal ). I might have lucked out with one of them being a Noj Dubrovnik 1950! It came in a House of Staunton box, but I checked with HoS and they replied that  it doesn’t  look like their cutting. 

I emailed Noj to confirm, but have yet to hear back. 

Hoping a few Dubrovnik experts read this and can tell me if this is a Noj set or another manufacturer? Thanks! 

Updated with better photos - there is a learning curve to how to take pictures of tiny chess pieces  

That is astounding! Some poor someone didn't know what they had! Well done!

It's a very nice find for the price , look 's like a NOJ set , Can you post more photos ?

https://www.dubrovnikchessmen.com/contact/Dubrovnik-1950-maple_XL.jpg

Here is a link to my Reddit post showing the three sets I bought.

Still trying to learn about the other two as well, but the Dubrovnik 1950 steals the show 🤩

https://www.reddit.com/r/chessporn/s/HaIBcbuIGc

If it is a NOJ, awesome find! If it’s not, it’s worth $5 and I’ll buy it from you for $10 (and even pay shipping because I’m a generous fella)! 😂

They look authentic to me. Besides the general shapes, details like the nicely finished detail on the horse mane in front and the finish inside the rook crenellations are strong indicators. The maple grain also looks correct. I have a Dubrovnik II which is similar, but not close enough as a comparison. I don’t see a frontal view of the knight on the NOJ website, but the profile looks correct.

I have several NOJ sets. The NOJ logo is on the felt of the white king on two sets. The third set does not have a logo. The felts are a fairly thick green - which seems to match yours.

Even if not a NOJ, I'd say thats a good price for a wooden set.

It does look like a NOJ set to me based on the photos (and owning several sets). Congratulations.

@baudouin27 That's the first time I've seen a photo of the NOJ logo. Thanks for sharing. I haven't found any other maker that has such attention to detail, so I'm as certain as I can be it's a Noj set. I'll post any reply I get from Noj, but for now, I'll just be happy with how nice this set is.

Now I need to find the perfect complementary board.

Now if I could just find this chess board

Recently RCM released a replica of the Dubrovnik chess board. 57 mm square size. Good but really the hinges were a bit more premium quality.

Here’s the link. 1950's Dubrovnik Chess Board Folding Style.

https://royalchessmall.in/products/1950s-dubrovnik-chess-board-folding-style-in-golden-rosewood-maple-wood-with-internal-storage-57-mm-square?_pos=13&_sid=41c29c5c7&_ss=r

The rough (lathe?) hole in the center of the rook top gives me pause. I'm not sure NOJ would let that go like that. Maybe in the early days? They've been in business for years and I'm sure their production practices change. In any case, it looks like a very nice set. Enjoy!

Definitely check out Colorado Wood Worker (Brad Borkowski) on ETSY. I recommend contacting him to talk about your wood preferences and board style and dimensions. He’ll customize in virtually any way you like. I’ve got at least 6 of his boards - they age beautifully (just store on edge, not flat).

Here are a few examples of his work:

Good observation - so I had to run and check mine…. (more work!). Of the 12 rooks, only one had a faint sign - but as you say, this may be something that has changed over the years.

Can we confirm the wood?

This looks like 's a early NOJ set going on the details of the knight craving as for the lathe mark on rook , a touch of renaissance wax & bingo .

Checking my relatively inexpensive HoS set (Grandmaster Series) the lathe marks are barely visible if visible at all. This would perhaps argue against the set being HoS despite the box.

Early NOJ almost certainly - could explain the felt lacking the NOJ logo as well