Review of Staunton Castle Dubrovnik in Padauk Version

This is the first time SC is making their Dubrovnik line in African Padauk / Boxwood version. This set comes with extra queens.

Measured specs:

King 3.74" (94.99mm) / 1.77" (45.09mm) - 84g/98g
Queen 3.14" (79.88mm) / 1.61" (40.99mm) - 79g/86g
Bishop 3.02" (76.68mm) / 1.52" (38.71mm) - 56g/53g
Knight 2.75" (69.77mm) / 1.53" (38.89mm) - 60g/61g
Rook 2.14" (54.43mm) / 1.53" (38.95mm) - 64g/64g
Pawn 1.98" (50.38mm) / 1.26" (32.01mm) - 38g/33g

Note: weight is boxwood first then African padauk.

Weight set: 1810g

It came well wrapped and a certificate with purchase date on it is included. Since this is the same for every shipment handling, I just used pictures from previous delivery.

Unfortunately both the Padauk knights have cracks on the stems, but a quick email to SC solved this quickly. Replacements are on the way. This is excellent service.

UPDATE May 25: I just received the replacements today, freshly carved 2 Padauk knights and they're perfect! I don't have to send the old knights back so I now have those 2 extra knights as remembrance of the excellent service from mister Mandeep himself! 

Now continue with the review. The wrapping excellent as usual.

Impression:

Aesthetically speaking, this gorgeous design in African Padauk it just can't get any better. The vibrant red color with the grains so clearly showing, it's such a joy to look at.

Handling wise SC got the balance right for such a heavily weighted set. A similar set, HoS Drubovnik in Padauk there is one flaw I find annoying. The bishop is too bottom heavy and therefor the balance is way off. Not with this SC set, every piece handles perfectly in balance.

If I have to sum it up in one word then I'd say it's just "perfect".

Complementary pictures:

@theonecalledmichael

Looks wonderful! Congrats and many thanks for taking the time to share.

Beautiful color. Looks almost like the NOJ red stain, but with grain. 

Sorry to hear about the cracks. When you say there are cracks in the Knight stems, do you mean the base? I'm interested in seeing how minor/major they are. Do you have photos?

Gorgeous. SC does not disappoint. 

Beautiful! The color is so nice! Sorry hear about the knights. I am glad SC will replace the knights without fuss.

Btw, I really like you review format. They should give you some discounts to do this for them.

Cheers guys, it is beautiful and elegant looking set.

@mister Pawn, no it's not in the base. That's just the lighting. I positioned the knights so that's it's not easy to see. I thought about it, should I mention the cracks and show them? Then I thought there is no need to show them as they will be replaced anyway and it would kinda ruin the pictures. The reason I mentioned it it's because I want to be honest when doing a review. I did get a set with flaws but this also showed the excellent service of SC to replace them without fuss.

@mister Mc, yeah well who can say no to discount lol that would be nice indeed but I'm doing this to share with you guys like I also enjoy when others showing their sets.

I have many more pictures but I want to keep the review short and easy to get through.

Sure no problem mister Grey

I used three different camera's so you'll get to see the tone from different perfectives

[edit] btw, I used neutral profile to keep the color as true as possible. No adjustment like saturation were made other then lightly sharpening.

Lovely colours in this set. I was tempted by the SC Dubrovnik but I would prefer the original 90mm version. The 95mm would be just about ok on a 55mm board, but quite tight. I presume that is a 55mm board you are using?

Yes it is, 55mm board. I don't have 60mm board unfortunately to show you. I do have 50mm now that's tight!

The SC Dubrovnik Knights are uniquely beautiful. I prefer this SC Knight interpretation over the NOJ repros. It's noteworthy when one can look at a piece and immediately identify the manufacturer. "That's a Staunton Castle Knight."  SC should be very proud of this accomplishment. I hope they come out with more original interpretations instead of straight repros in the future. They certainly have the skill. 

@TheOneCalledMichael Thanks for taking the time to post and sharing your photos. Only a handful of people here would do such a thorough job. It takes time, effort and skill. Many people nowadays don't even have the patience to string five coherent sentences together. Hah! 

Pawnerai

The SC Dubrovnik Knights are uniquely beautiful. I prefer this SC Knight interpretation over the NOJ repros.

Would agreed ,  Nice set Mr Michael

@TheOneCalledMichael 

Very nice set! Thanks for posting the pictures, spot on too. Dare I ask the cost and time to deliver?

I think some stores sell 57.5mm since it is the US standard 2.25" and would seem to be made for this set. Either way really nice set.

Cheers guys. Yeah I love how the SC knight looks, with it's thick neck yet still elegant, such a powerful look.

Mister Wits, it was express delivery, I believe 3 or 4 business days. It was quite expensive but worth every penny

 Thanks!

@TheOneCalledMichael I do not see a padauk version on the website. Was it special order?

@Wits-end SC just boosted all of its prices. But shortly thereafter it implemented a 20% discount with the use of a code.  The last time I ordered from SC, it took about 10 days to ship and about 4 days to arrive at my house in the United States. 

Thanks for the info. I appreciate the reply @RichardHG.

@mister Richard yes it's not on the website or his other stores yet. I placed a pre order by mail. Once he's ready with different types of woods then he will put them online.