Reproduction and Real Jaques of London Chess Set

@azbobcat and @eyechess,

What do you think about the Camaratta Signature Series Cooke Luxury Chess Pieces With Natural Boxwood - 3.625" King? I'm thinking about this set, with either Genuine Ebony or Mopane (leaning towards Mopane right now).

 It is not so much what *I* think but what *YOU* think. 3.625" for a King is a bit too small for me, that said this is a nice looking set, I love the various selections of wood available. I only which they would do this with all their sets. As to Ebony.... It is well known that Ebony is prone to cracking. In fact in some of their more expensive sets HOS offers a "No Crack Warranty", so for this reason I rule out the Ebony set. One thing in favor of Ebony is it takes a really nice shine or so I have been told. As to the other woods... see if you can find someone knowledgeable in woods to help narrow your choice. Ideally you want a wood that will not crack under normal conditions. Mopane is considered a NEAR BLACK wood, and I think I read that it is going to become scare in the not too distant future. Will it crack like Ebony? I have no idea, but it would be on my short list as well.  Another one that would be on that list would be the Bocote  and Natural Boxwood as well as the Lignum Vitae and Natural Boxwood set. If I remember correctly it is one of the densest and heaviest woods in the world and is not prone to rotting, and can take a high polish . Those would be my 3 picks and then I'd do my research  

Alas as you might have guessed, I simply am not a big fan of Chess Bazaar. To each their own. Merry Christmas. May all your Knights and Days be filled with fond memories.

I actually own this set in the Mopane.  I use it on an American Walnut and Maple board from the Colorado Woodworker.  It is one of my two favorite Staunton design sets to play with.  The other is the HoS Craftsman Series set in Blood Rosewood.

I do like the size of this set.  With its broad bases it plays like a 3.75” set.

For this set (and other smaller sets, i.e. under 4"), which partitioned storage box (individual slots for each piece) can you recommend? I looked at House of Staunton's selection and was going to pair this set with the new House of Staunton Fitted Coffer Chess Box - Bird's Eye Maple but was concerned that the slots would be too big since the box can accommodate a 4.4" king. Any guidance is appreciated.

Also @eyechess, these sets are assigned an individual production number. What number is yours?

You know, I don’t know what number mine is.  I have no thought at collecting these sets so that doesn’t matter to me.  Perhaps I should care, never mind that  
I most likely threw away the paperwork.  I put all my sets in plastic, Plano boxes with foam to protect the pieces.

What I would do is call HoS.  Take option #3 with the answering bot.  And ask for Kevin.  He is my set and board go to guy.  Tell him you corresponded with Ron Suarez.  I bought that exact set in Mopane through him.  In fact he was the one that suggested that wood, on the phone to me.

Ask him which box would be best to hold that set.  He will know.  And while you’re at it, ask him for a combo discount with the box on top of any and all other discounts you can get.  He’s really a nice guy and will work with you.

And now that I think about it, I had called Kevin asking him if there was a set like that Craftsman Series in Golden Rosewood with no red in the wood.  I was looking for a set that would go well with the Walnut board.

Kevin is the one that directed me to this set and the Mopane wood.

@Eyechess Thanks for the guidance. I just got off the phone with Kevin and placed a phone order for the Camaratta Signature Series Cooke Luxury Chess Pieces With Natural Boxwood - 3.625" King in Mopane and Natural Boxwood.

Something new I learned: Within a given piece style, each wood type has its own production number series. In the Mopane series, I'll be production number 9

That is a beautiful set "Brother"! I have no doubt you'll be blown away by it.......Nice time of the year to get something we long for....Enjoy it.

Mopane wood sounds very interesting as do the other woods listed. They are all out of stock so demand must have been brisk and not many made. 

So do they take orders as they are phoned in and every order is a custom order?  

They take phone orders, but they don’t do custom orders like that.

I prefer to talk with the places I buy as I can get an idea from them what the stuff actually looks like compared to other things.  I also always like to get the maximum discount which is easier when talking with them.  There have been times where they mentioned a discount I was not aware of, giving me a better price than I had expected.

And specifically with Kevin at The House of Staunton, he has made suggestions of sets and woods that best fit what I was looking for in a set of pieces.

Sorry, what I meant was they are all out of all sets regardless of wood type. Are they taking phone orders for this set and making them one by one, since they do not seem to stock any?

Brother7 did they tell you they were shipping it right away from the USA? Are they shipping these sets from the source in India?  It just seems odd they have not one set in 6 different variities of wood in stock. 

Mike, I do know that they get these sets in one shipment to put in stock.  They do not do the custom made thing and drop ship them to the customer.  I have tried to buy a few sets over the last few years that they were out of.  And in all cases, I was told that we all had to wait for the nest shipment of the sets to arrive.

And there have been a lot of cases where Kevin would hang up with me so he could go to the warehouse to look at a set or a few.  He would then call me back to tell me more about the woods, pieces and so forth.

And apparently they must get these sets in limited numbers for stock.  Heck, they have over 225 sets they sell.  And with the different woods, that is a lot of sets.  So, I bet they order only a few at a time unless the design or series is a hot item that they sell a lot of.

@TundraMike, they told me it would ship out on Monday. I'm almost positive that they ship from Alabama, not from India, because I have to pay postage (I live in Hawaii, not in the continental US) and chose USPS Priority as that was the cheapest.

When I placed my order, only Pernambuco was out of stock. Immediately after I placed my order, all wood types were out of stock. I found that very peculiar. Not sure why that would happen. Glitch in the e-commerce platform perhaps?

Thank you both, Eyechess and Brother7 for the information.  Could be they ran out that fast with their new program of free worldwide shipping they have on many of their more expensive items and this set is part of that. 

If I remember correctly -- I could be very WRONG -- this set was listed as part of HOS's 12 Days of Chessmas, if so it could be that a lot of people piled in to buy this particular set for a Christmas Present  [Shrug]

I think @brother7 is right: Just an e-commerce glitch. All woods show up as in stock for me.

If HoS offered this set in rosewood and plain boxwood and without the visible branding on the white king, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. If they had a 3.75" version, I would be even happier.

Fortunately for my wallet, it doesn't look like it's possible to get this set without the branding, and rosewood black pieces are only available combined with _lacquered_ white pieces, which I don't like at all.

Interested in thoughts on the quality of this 1849 reproduction set - any flaws or is it close to the original design?

https://www.officialstaunton.com/products/1849-early-4-4-edition-staunton-boxwood-ebony-chess-pieces-mahogany-box?_pos=4&_sid=567631885&_ss=r