Thanks for posting @TimmyCorkery - and great that you have another set to enjoy.
I appreciate such reviews and it’s interesting to see lower cost sets.
On the rooks - I am not sure if it’s what you mean - but on some of my rooks, the inside is not polished as well as the outside of the pieces - perhaps it’s harder to access and takes too much time - not sure.
As an aside - I went to the RCM website after your review … I can’t remember visiting it before, but may well have. Anyway … I was taken by the similarity of its user interface to Staunton Castle and all the pop ups that appear. Similarly, I find Chess Bazaar’s site similar to House of Staunton.
It made me think of some car brands and how they have a higher-end brand and more accessible brands. I wonder if there’s any relationship here - Staunton Castle is to RCM and as House of Staunton is to CB.
Probably not - just a thought.
Thanks again for taking the time to review the set.👍
My personal budget turned out better than expected for the last couple months, so I decided to expand my collection a little. My only experience with Royal Chess Mall has been a set of 70's Dubrovnik pieces I got from someone else here (cheers, @lotsoblots!) which I absolutely love, so when I saw a 2.6" Russian Zagreb set from RCM -- and then found on their eBay page for 10% off for whatever reason -- I made an impulse purchase. That was Wednesday evening. This morning FedEx dropped off the box. Six days from Amritsar! I should go buy a lottery ticket...
They were packed with a lot of care. The box was sealed almost hermetically. It was truly difficult to get into without just slashing at it with a knife. Inside, the pieces were thoroughly padded, separated into black and white bags, and individually wrapped.
What I discovered inside was a delight! I have another little set that is a bit crowded on my 12" board. I was worried from the description and measurements that these might be a little too small, but they fit the board so much better!
They are heavier than they look. I mean, they were advertised as weighted, but I am surprised by just how well the weighting was done. The weights must be at the absolute bottom of the pieces because they are very stable. Moving them quickly doesn't feel like there's any risk at all of knocking them over. It's wild.
The set came with double queens which is outstanding. My only criticisms are extremely minor, almost not worth mentioning. They're a little dusty (duh), and the inside of the rooks' turret crenelations are eeever-so-slightly different, but you really have to look hard to find the differences and all that shows is that these were handmade. So basically no real criticisms.
I know folks post much more impressive sets here all the time, so a little analysis set like this might underwhelm, but I'm overjoyed.