NOJ - 1961 Soviet Championship Tal

I recently purchased a Tal Set from NOJ:  https://www.noj.si/mod=catalog&action=productDetails&ID=183&lang=en 

Here are some of my thoughts

Shipping

The shipping took around three days. That's very quick considering that it went from Slovenia to Canada. The courier was DHL. 

The packaging was very secure and not sloppy at all. It's very well done. 

Accessories

The set came with a box which looks good though not luxurious. My set came with a wooden fountain pen with my name on it. It also came with a CoA of course.  

Pieces

The pieces are top notch. I picked the brown stain and it's very rich and luxurious. The proportion and carving of the pieces are perfect. Each piece has a silky and yet solid feel to it. It has a very unique feel. But I only own about a dozen sets, so take that as measure of my uniqueness claim. 

Overall I am quite happy about this set. 

Gorgeous Set  ! Nice to see they added the eyes to the knights. like the originals. I have one of their first "blind knight" sets and love it too. A couple of pics for comparison ...

@ Liml: Gorgeous set. You did a decent job capturing the lustre of the brown stain side, though, out of personal experience, I can say that Noj's work looks even better in real life. 

About the set itself: I like the design of the pieces, and the turning looks what you'd expect from Noj. I also really like the combination with the colours of the board, though I'm more inclined to like solid colour squares rather than the 'mixed' effect of the pictured (endgrain?) chess board. 9/10 easily. I have brown stain and walnut (natural) dubrovnik IIs and use them with a walnut/maple solid block chess board, which works well also. 

As far as the box is concerned: I'm not really sure about it myself. It's a good thing that all pieces can stand in it, but you probably cannot transport them in that particular box very well. I don't care to move my pieces around too much, but at some point, even I will probably yield and get some dedicated storage boxes as well. Although I find it difficult to pick such things for luxury sets..

Sweet! Lovely stain on the black pieces!

Thanks Ron. It took me some time to decide whether to get the upgraded knights or not. The non-upgraded knights look good too.

Noj, with Chuck's help, achieved a very good reproduction as seen in the pics. 

Thanks maik. That's a cherry and maple endgrain. I have a plain walnut and maple board and yes, it looks good as well. 

The box that came with the board is very decent and roomy. But, like you, I would probably purchase a coffer at one point. The coffer choice for a 4" set is very limited though. 

Thanks. It's lovely indeed. 

I really like that piece design. It is not anything wild or gimmicky. Easy to intuitively think what is and where, but those fat bases do add good unique character to them. I in particular like the rook design.

I feel that the NOJ Tal set is the best of all the Russian reproductions. Your brown stained set looks great on your MTM Wood board. Definitely a combination to be very proud of! What types of wood did you have your board made of? 

Thanks. I like the design too. It's both aesthetically pleasing and meant for serious game play. My favourite piece is the pawn and there's sixteen of them. 

Thanks. The board is cherry and maple with a thin walnut delimiter. 

The board is really doing it for me at the moment... I've always thought that the dark squares on any chess board should be lighter than the dark chess pieces, and same for the light squares and the light pieces. That board shows that perfectly. As far as the endgrain-patterning goes: I think I don't mind it at all, and it might be one of the reasons why, when I look at the pieces on that board, the pieces really 'pop'. I thought I was happy with my chess board but alas, no longer. Now if I could scrape the budget together somehow...

Beautiful set! That brown stain is very nice, and that board combination is great (very unique)! I agree with @maik1988, you've really found something with the colors of that board 

Thanks maik. I have a basic walnut/maple board and the black pieces are a bit harder to discern with the walnut dark squares. 

Thanks. It was unique when I ordered it from MTM. MTM is now selling the same board on his shop. 

What’s the square size? MTM does good work, I’ve seen the youtube videos and checked out his shop, love the style

2.25"

sorry about the  pics, last one especially. i've had this for several months. supposed to be a restored original. not sure, but i like it. picked up the victorian table on a whim. it all works together. it's fantastic to play on.