Review House of Staunton 1960 Fischer Dubrovnik Chessmen

Update 2022, December 10: see post #67

This set is a reproduction of what is known as 1960 Dubrovnik chessmen, designed by Andrija Maurović. Compared to the original 1950 Dubrovnik, this 1960 design differentiates itself in thicker knights and rooks as the most significant change. Other smaller changes are the cone shape of king's finial, slightly bigger bishop's finial and the tapered bases. 

The set is available in ebonized boxwood and natural boxwood, black and natural lacquered, anjan and natural lacquered. Although the original is not weighted, this set is weighted and comes with extra queens.

This review is about the version with anjan and natural lacquered. As opposed to what looks like light brown color on the HoS website, in reality this anjan wood set has a really nice dark brown color. I have other sets in anjan wood but they are nowhere near this dark, I suspect it's the lacquer coating what makes it this dark rosewood color like.

As usual HoS wraps their sets in a nice box, each set in their own foam tray. The box itself sit in another box for another layer of protection. Shipment is fast, it took only one week to get it delivered here.

Measured specs

King 3.60" (91.4mm) / 1.5" (38.3mm) - 58.55g/64.56g
Queen 3.03" (77mm) / 1.43" (36.4mm) - 53.8g/52.83g
Bishop 2.9" (73.8mm) / 1.41" (36mm) - 40.51g/45g
Knight 2.54" (64.6mm) / 1.42" (36.1mm) - 43.21g/52.58g
Rook 2.07" (52.6mm) / 1.4" (35.7mm) - 40.03g/50.33g
Pawn 1.75" (44.5mm) / 1.2" (30.6mm) - 24.86g/27.26g

Note: weight is boxwood first then anjan.

Weight set: 1157g (without extra queens)

Impression

It's a beautiful set for sure, carving (except for the knights, I'll get back to this later) and finishing are flawless as expected from a renowned company. The set is weighted just about right, not too heavy but of course this is a matter of preferences.

Coming back to the carving part, sadly I have to say the knights don't look like as what is advertised on the website. I know it's hand carved pieces so some differences are to be expected but in this case there are too much differences. For one the nose/mouth are way off. This pic shows clearly the difference (thanks to mister MCH818).

Other differences are the top neck are too thick/fat as well the lower part. To make it worse, even the two sides from each knights are different from each other, you can see this clearly by the end of the outer curve near the base. The angles are all different even from the same knight.

This is what HoS advertised (top is original, bottom HoS version).

Maybe I get a set made by a prentice, I don't know. I'm not sure if I will report this to HoS. I expect the other sets are having similar knights so I'm gonna think it over if it's worth the hassle to get replacement knights only to find out they're all the same.

I just can't get a break when ordering from HoS

Complementary pictures

Thanks for the review. Overall, the set looks very nice. Anjan looks dark like rosewood or an aged padauk. It is very attractive. I always love the collars on the Dubrovnik sets and the rooks are nice as well. It is too bad the knight was not done very well. It looks very thick to me both side to side and front to back (depth). The thickness makes the knight disproportional to the rest of the set. I can live with the asymmetrical carving. I think the issue with the thickness/depth of the knight's neck (front to back) and the shape of the head would trigger my OCD a bit. I am not sure the thickness would be a deal breaker or not. Overall it looks good. 

Glad to see you posting another of your excellent reviews. I hope you get the knights replaced.

I agree overall the set is very nice. As design, Dubrovnik is just it. The perfect design, aesthetically and playability lonely at the top

Who is not going to love that set?-

Thanks for the review Michael, both informative and helpful as always. I've been weighing up between getting this set and the CB V3 when they have it back in stock just so I'd have one in this style to go along with my 1950. 

Cheers mister mate! If you're gonna pull the trigger I'd ask for pics of the knights first just to be sure . It is indeed a very nice 1960 set if done right, to complement a 1950 set. That's what I thought too.

I've ordered this set around a year ago. I think the set I've received matched the pictures on the website quite well. Do believe it is the closest match for a Dubrovnik II  you can get. But from your pics, it looks like they have changed the knight design a bit. The nostrils and eyes are a bit different. It lacks a bit that evil look a Dubrovnik knight should have. But still a nice set in my opinion.

To be fair, out of the 25+ product photos of the set, you chose the one photo at the very bottom, completely separate from all the other product photos, that looks like it was taken years ago, to make your comparisons. LOL That entire last part of the description where it mentions the history of the set looks to be sloppily swiped from Frank Camaratta's Chessantiques site as an afterthought. Even if it was "borrowed" with permission, it really should be redone. Looks amateurish.

With that said, the set looks fine to me. Even Noj Dubrovnik Knights will have small carving variances in the same set when all 4 are placed side by side and scrutinized under magnification. 

There are 3 things to consider:
(A) A carving variance due to it being a handmade item.
(B) A stylistic carving choice intentionally done.
(C) An accidental, unintentional mistake.

I'm willing to bet you are correct in assuming that the experience and talent level of a carver for a $200 set is not the same as a carver for a $350 set (75% more in price). For the price level, the carving and finish looks fine to me.

The bigger question is, why in the world are you buying chess equipment so close to Black Friday!? 

The set on Frank's CA website is the same as HoS. The newer pics on HoS shows the same set, but the 'old' pics on CA's site this one shows nicely from the same angle making it easier to see Frank's reproduction.

In this case, one can easily spot the asymmetrical carving on the 4 sides without a magnifying loupe, at least I can . I agree with you for a 200 dollar set the level of carving would not be the same as 400 dollar set, but I can show you 200 dollar sets made by SC that can easily match the carving level of 400-600 USD sets from other sellers including HoS and TCE.

When one is carving a set of knights, I'm pretty sure that person would compare to the ones he's been making sofar from time to time. If that person can't see what he's making is different every time from the other ones he's been carving before than either he's a beginner or he's just too lazy to put effort in it.

As to why buy it now, actually this is the set that I wanted in the first place buying from HoS but it was out of stock at least since dec 2020. Now it's back in stock I just don't want to take the risk out of stock again any time soon

I also recently bought this exact set.  While there are some  carving differences, the set is beautiful and a pure joy to play with.  A friend told me that a nice set of chess men won't improve your game... I replied that while that may be true,  this set makes me want to stay at the board longer studying and playing. Thanks for the write up on this set..  hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine. 

Regarding the sets from Chess Antiques site vs House of Staunton site being "the same": I imagine HoS has a much MUCH higher stock turnover than CA. The stock on hand will most likely be from different batch runs. The CA site may be "New Old Stock" and HoS may be "New Stock". 

Your 4 Dubrovnik Knights were not hand carved together as a collective "set" by one person. Those 4 Knights do not travel together throughout the process from wood selection, to carving, to weighting, to finishing. At that price level, the Knights are batch carved in bulk which unfortunately adds to the variance. I'm sure you've seen the images below from various videos. Not specific to HoS, but an industry practice.

In your case, yes, there are small variances in the Knight carvings. There's no debating that. The Dubrovnik Knight is a difficult Knight to carve precisely and identically. Much more difficult than other styles.

It's a fine set. Enjoy the heck out of them.

If those german knights were hand carved, the labour alone is more expensive than the cost of the whole set. It's not comparable to any Dubrovnik knight of descent carving level. I doubt very much this Dub knight set is carved by several person, not everyone can carve a knight. That takes years of practice and experience to carve on certain level. I've seen some clips from chess manufacturers, those guys that are carving knights they do this day after day making only 2 or 3 knights on average a day.

I don't think Frank gets the old stock and HoS the new ones. They both are tightly connected to each other. I noticed when HoS gets the 1960 Dub in stock, so does Frank at the same time.

In this case, I don't think Frank has a different copy of the 1960 Fischer Dubrovnik. I think both HoS and CA are selling the same set. That is not always the case though.

For example, both CA and HoS carry the New and Improved Fischer Spassky set. Someone here at CB&E mentioned when they purchased the New and Improved Fischer-Spassky set from CA, it had Jaques of London stamped on the kings. The buyer concluded that Frank had sets left over from stuff he produced for JOL. I doubt HoS would sell the JOL version/set. I think this is a good example of how HoS and CA might have different sets. It is also possible that the JOL version was produced at a different time than the HoS version.

Also, I think HoS handles some orders for Frank's CA site. When I bought the Anderssen reproduction from Frank, I believe the set was sent from HoS. When I returned it, I remember Kevin at HoS was the one who processed the return. The shipping label had HoS' address on it if I remember correctly. Given this I think it is possible that HoS and CA share space for the inventory. There might be an area for HoS and another area for CA.

It looks like HoS and CA are selling the same set seeing how HoS and CA's inventory for the Fischer Dubrovnik went back in stock what seems like the same time.

@MCH818 I have personally purchased (and returned) a Dubrov repro from CA. The return address was to Frank Camaratta. Not HoS.

@TheOneCalledMichael I think your Dubrov repro is perfectly fine. And except for that one photo out of 25 photos, the pieces match the HoS description within reason for a hand carved chess set. But you seem adamant that something is wrong. Hey, it's your set, if you're not happy with it, it might be time to look at your options before it's too late. Good luck!

What was the reason you returned your CA Dub repro?

I am not sure then. Here is my invoice from Frank which shows one address.

Here is my receipt for my RMA. Note the address is different from the invoice address. The address is the same as HoS' address shown below.

Here is HoS' address on their website.

I think Frank does have stuff HoS does not such as the JOL stamped Fischer Spassky set. In this case, both CA and HoS went out of stock on the Fischer Dubrovnik at the same time, and both were restocked recently at the same time. I highly doubt Frank would have NOS of this set given the time frame of the restocking. I also highly doubt HoS would order one batch of Fischer Dubrovnik for themselves and Frank orders another specialized batch. I would think to save on shipping and production costs, they would just order a single batch and then split up the sets between HoS and Frank. I am only speculating of course. It just seems most logical.

I don't know. This is a good set, but the differences in the knights would have prompted me to return it and to ask some questions. I don't think you can chalk the differences up to different carver or accidental mistake. They must have moved their design in another direction without updating the website photos, which I think is sloppy practice. Regardless of how much you're spending you should know what you're getting. Again, this is not to say I dislike the set, but I do honestly believe that the knights of the set you got look very different to the advertised product.

There is this webstore here in the Netherlands, selling the exact  chess products with same pictures and descriptions as a local mortar and brick chess store in Amsterdan which also has its own website. I guess it's not uncommon to share logistic chain. Since Frank is the original founder of HoS, I think it's safe to say there is still tight connection between them.

@mister maik I also find the knights differ to much from what they advertised. I've had bad experience with their customer service last time that's why I'm hesitating to go down that route again. Now I think about it, I haven't heard any bad customer service lately. I'll drop a them a message later today, see what they will say about this.

The 1960 Dubrovnik is all about the knight and the rook, they can't change the design or they have to rename the set if they do.

@Michael: I would go for it and contact them. I think it's easy to see and prove that these two knights do not look alike. Send them the picture you included in this topic with your received knight on the left and the advertised one on the right. It's also not just the jowl and head of the knights that are different. For me the biggest difference is in the shape and width of the neck flowing into the body.

I was pleasantly surprised at HoS customer service but this was years ago when I bought my players series set that came with a rook and two pawns with hairline cracks. I thought they would ask me to ship the pieces back to them, but sending them the pics sufficed.