Official Staunton Paul Morphy Series

I had the opportunity to order this set from Official Staunton Company.  It arrived today.

I was looking for a set to fit a 2.0" Mahogany, folding Chess board that I bought from The Rochester Chess Center.

I already own a set that I bought from The House of Staunton they called their York Series.  This set was a very limited production for them, but the pieces were of excellent quality and the 3.5" King height and 1.5" base made the set perfect for a 2.0" board.  The York Series only was available in Ebonized and that's fine for my Palisander 2.0" board that I also got from The Rochester Chess Center.  But I wanted a better wood to go with the Mahogany board.

Awhile back I had noticed that Carl and his Official Staunton Company had this Paul Morphy set in both Ebonized and Sheesham.  The pictures of this set look identical to the one that I bought from HoS.  And Carl affirmed that it was the same set from, most likely, the same manufacturer.  This Sheesham set and the Ebonized version I already owned are identical in size, dimensions and finish.  There is no doubt that these 2 sets come from the same manufacturer.  Now, The House of Staunton has not offered this set since that limited run was done 14 months ago.

So, I bought the Sheesham version from Official Staunton.  Here it is pictured on the 2.0" Mahogany folding board from The Rochester Chess Center.

The set arrived packaged in identical packaging as my better HoS sets come, excepting the Official Staunton labelling of course.  The pieces were individually bagged in their own small plastic zip lock bag, and these were in 2 trays with styrofoam cutouts for each piece.

The quality of the set is exceptional and identical to the Ebonized version I bought from HoS.  The Sheesham is nicely grained and well finished.  And as you can see, it matches the board very well in both size and coloring.  When I posted about this set, Ebonized, Lou Balch pointed out that the dimensions of this set are perfect from piece to piece.  He''s right.  This set looks great on a board.

This is the first set I have bought from Official Staunton.  I ordered it when Carl mentioned the sale on this web site and it arrived today, pretty quick.

I am somewhat disappointed that HoS doesn't carry this line when they could have.  Other sets they have in this size category are not as nice.

As others have noted, the quality of the set from Official Staunton is excellent.  I do not hesitate in recommending this set and this company to anyone interested.

Very nice set & board.! Rochester Chess Center is a very good place to pick up reasonable chess items. They ship fast.

Thanks guys,...

I have found Ron and his Rochester Chess Center a great place to buy Chess items that I can really not find anywhere else.  The 2.0" folding wood boards, Ultimate Rosewood chess set and a few other things can only be found there.

Robert, I do remember you posting your review of this set back in August.  Of course you did a much better job than I in reviewing the product.  In fact, your post is what alerted me to Official Staunton having this set for sale.  And that was the thread where we agreed and then Carl told us this was a truth that these sets from him and HoS were indeed identical.

My collection of Chess pieces and boards is pretty much complete, now.  I have three 2.0" folding wood boards, two of them being this Mahogany and a Palisander from Ron.  The other is a 2.0" Walnut folding board that Chess Bazaar sells, which Ron and his Rochester Chess Center had bought from someone and sold to me pretty darn cheap.  With sets to complement these boards, they comprise my smaller, tournament setups (This OS Morphy, HoS York, Hos 3.5" Classic and the Rochester CC Taj-Mahal set).  These sets and boards work very well in a smaller footprint situation, even in our family room analysis on the ottoman in front of the couch where this set was photographed.  So, one of these boards and sets will always be handy to pull out for that quick, OTB analysis.

The most sets I have work with 2.125" and 2.25" boards.  And I have 4 sets for the bigger, 2.375" and 2.5" boards.  Yes a nice system.

Thanks for the review and pics, Ron!

Funny how all of OS´s sets look much worse on their website than in reviews here. Carl, if you are reading this, I think you should start taking proper photographs of your sets without applying too many filters and removing the background in photoshop. Especially the heads of pawns often look like they've taken a serious beating on a few pictures.

Carl, your sets and pictures, in my opinion, are fine.

I am very pleased with this set that I received from you as well as the speedy delivery.  I have this setup in the car for when I want this somewhat smaller sized footprint.

Of course there is one size smaller with either a 1.75" or maybe a 1.875" sized board and smaller set, that I use for personal analysis only.

However, the quality of this set that I bought from you, with this mahogany, folding board is exceptional in looks and handling.

I have not mentioned it yet, but I really like the graining of this Sheesham set.  It is beautiful.

I stand by my opinion concerning the pictures, but I didn't necessarily mean that your presentation of this set was particularly bad.

I have often seen comments like "They look even better than on their site", and not only about your company. I agree more often than not with those comments, and I think it is something for you and other vendors to think about, if your customers are able to take better pictures than you are (however Eyechess´pics are a bit fuzzy) . The quality of your pieces are generally high enough that they will only benefit from having proper, mostly unedited, pics taken of them.

Anyway, I agree that this is a fine set, and it gives me an itch as I have a nice 50mm board in my studio with pieces that I'm less fond of.

Hi All

Grab yourselves another exclusive CHESS.COM  Bargain- 

Morphy ebonised/ boxwood set with a massive 55% OFF 

Enter - MorphySale - at checkout to apply the discount

be quick while stocks last!! 

https://www.officialstaunton.com/products/paul-morphy-ebonised-chessmen

Carl, that is a generous offer, too generous.  I ordered one,  Thank you once again.

Mike, you will be very pleased with this set.  I also ordered one.

Bought one too. Thanks Carl.

Yes I have no worries as everything I received from Carl is top quality and I am always impressed.

That is a beautiful looking set.

Thank you for giving the discount.

I picked one up even though I don't have a board to put it on yet. 

(BTW, I hate you ... Did not really need it but it is too good of a deal to pass up. )

You are not alone.  I had to just shut my eyes and charge it which I vowed not to do, but the deal even with shipping is just too good to pass up since it is top quality.  

I agree.  Here's my little story on this set:

I first bought this set, Ebonized when HoS had it as a one time run.  It was called the York Series.  I found it works really nicely on a 2.0" folding Palisander board from The Rochester Chess Center.

In the Spring I bought this set from Carl in the Sheesham.  It works great.  I had a chance to buy, at a very inexpensive price, a 2.0" Walnut folding board originally from Chess Bazaar.  It works great.

In June, I had my Ebonized version out with me.  I went to the restroom and found, later, that the set had been taken out of my bag, dismay.

Just last week I decided to go ahead and buy the Ebonized version of the set from Carl.  To my dismay he sent me a message saying that they had no more sets available, double dismay.

So, I looked for an alternative to use on my 2.0" Palisander board.  I did not want to spend the higher prices of some of the HoS sets, over $200 for this set.  I found myself limited to buying the HoS Library Reykjavik set, on sale.  This set is smaller than the Paul Morphy set from Carl, but it looked like my only choice, so I bought it.

In the meantime, Carl messaged me saying they found more of the Ebonized sets in the warehouse and I was in luck, indeed I was.

My HoS Library Reykjavik set arrived yesterday and I decided to keep it to use as my "carry around" analysis and play set with a Mahogany 2.0" folding board (from Rochester Chess Center), a 1.875" vinyl board from the old Chess Cafe store, and a folding 1.75" linen board which is still available on clearance from HoS.  That's another story which I'll share in a different thread.

So, now my wood chess set count went from 22 to 24 in less than 4 days!

By the way, I can't say enough of how nice this Paul Morphy Series set is from Carl.  Quite awhile ago Carl said that this is the same set from the same manufacturer HoS got their one run set, York.  And the Sheesham set I received from Carl is indeed an identical cut and weight to the Ebonized version.  I really look forward to getting this set early in the week.

@Eyechess - Wondering about the folding Palisander board you got from The Rochester CC.

Do you know if they offer a board without the notation? I would rather not have the notation down the side, although the price for that board seems to be good so I may get it anyway.

And have you posted pics with a Boxwood and Ebony or Ebonized set on that board? (I would look but you guys post so many of your sets sometimes it is just easier to ask!  )

Thinking about the board I will get for the Morphy set and checking all the options.

I don't think I have posted pictures of that board yet. 

When my new set comes from England I'll go ahead and take and post pictures of it on the palisander board.

Another board that you might want to consider is the Mahogany folding board they sell in the same size.

I just posted some pictures of that board with a new HoS Ebonized set I just got.  Those pictures are in the thread about mis-sized sets or something like that.

Ah, thanks. I do like that mahogany board and how the piece colors look on that board but don't see it on the Rochester site. 

Oh, my! My chess set just came in. Less than 72 hours to get it from England to Florida.

Amazing!

My first unboxing of an Official Staunton set, exciting day.

This set is very nice, but very nice does not seem to do it.Exquisite may be too much. The pieces are carved very well. The weight is nice for the size of the set. 

Very even finish on all pieces. I normally like larger crenulations on my Rooks but I think I may like these. I like the shape of the Pawns. The Knights have the "zombie" eyes but other than that the carving is very well done. It is obvious they are not mass produced as they are not identical with minor variations in the carvings.

The black pieces are black, the coloring on the white pieces looks good.

Overall a it is a good purchase, even with the $25 shipping (but, I mean England to Florida in less than 72 hours??? Really???).

Now to find a board for it as none of mine are a good fit.