NOJ's Tal Set--"An Anthem to the Reproduction of Chess Pieces"

Thanks, GMB! Perfecting the design required an awful lot of work and time. Those efforts end up being reflected in the cost and price of the set. It was not easy, not easy at all, to resurrect this design from a handful of photos that were taken for reasons other than calculating the measurements and proportions of the chess pieces. That NOJ has been able to reproduce these beautiful pieces so faithfully to the originals is a testament to their great skill and love of chess.

cgrau, can you sell to me one of your sets? You're really a good collector! I wish I had those sets

With the value of the Euro close to the dollar, the 1961 Soviet Championship set will set you back about $750 US (with shipping). When compared to sets from the House of Staunton, which currently have fifty-three (53) sets priced at $749 or higher, the NoJ set doesn't seem overpriced; especially considering to quality of the set, it's limited production, and the time it took to develop.

Cool!

Many thanks, AMO3. What are you interested in?

Thanks, GMB. I didn't take your comment that way. I just wanted an opportunity to explain again why the price likely is what it is.

Excellent data and observations, Lou.

Which is your most expensive set? Can you msg me the pic of that?

Finally looked past the pics and read the review. What a great story!

And after looking closely again at the pics, I must say again what a beautiful job NOJ has done on reproducing the Tal set. So impressive. Congrats again.

An excellent creative endeavor, CGrau   Well done!

Very nice!  I wonder if NOJ will knock off a few bucks if I don't get the extra queens?

Honestly, I have no idea which one that would be.

Thanks, Up. It was a lot of work, and a lot of fun. NOJ did do a great job, IMHO.

Mil gracias, Manuel. I think you'll love it.

Many thanks, Mark. It was a quest. A labor of love. A gift to the lovers of chess and the aesthetics of chess pieces.

OK, just checked the site.  Extra queens are 30EURO extra.  Do most people order the extra queens? After all how many games have you needed an extra queen?

In my experience, I've only needed an extra queen perhaps once. This is since owning the chess set I currently have, which I got for my birthday two years ago. I usually play OTB against a friend who is roughly my level, perhaps only a little bit worse, so I guess that's only logical. I think it's nice though to have the spare queen just in case, and after all, what's 30 euro if you can spend upwards of 600 euro on a set of pieces?

It's funny. Before House of Staunton started providing extra queens, I never considered it important. Now I want extra queens available even when I play with sets that don't have them, just in case, so I pirate a pair from another set as close as a match as possible. It happens enough that I'd rather have the extra queen than an inverted rook. I like the extra queens, I even expect them in new sets, but I can work around it when they're not there. I'd say the queens in NOJ's Tal set are very close to standard Staunton designs, so you could pirate queens roughly the same height from another of your Staunton sets, and it would work well.

I usually just flip a rook over when I (RARELY) get that Luck ... er uh good.

A very nice set and well done Chuck ! It's not easy is it ? Now just give it a little time and CB will copy it poorly and destroy all yours and Noj efforts !