Staunton Chess Set - Wellington

Hey guys,

If you are interested in beautiful Staunton Chess Sets, you will like my brand new video about my Wellington Staunton Chess Set.

I hope you enjoy this set, as I do.

Video YT

Beautiful knights and I'm not always a fan of the dramatic flowing manes style, but the designer (and let's face it, the carvers) did a nice job here.  Unfortunately the K, Q, and B differ a little too much from mainstream Staunton for my taste.  Just something about their shape looks not quite right to me, although obviously it's something I'm sure I could learn to live with for the sake of those gorgeous knights.  Nice choice of wood also.  I have an HOS set in budrosewood and it's by far my favorite.  Thanks for posting.

That's funny.  I had always heard that Mark of Westminster was the poor man's Jaques of London. 

I'd say I'll show you mine if you show me yours, but I don't have a digital camera. 

Yeah, I want that set when I can afford it, and get a proper board to go with it.

thanks for your responses.

this set is actually really expensive but it worth every penny if you can afford it. this set has a second variation with ebony.

you can get this set on: thechessstore.com

or maybe also here: houseofstaunton.com

Very nice set indeed. I am unable to discern any wood grain on the pieces. Are they really wood or are they a resin or some such? None-the-less, a very pleasing looking set.

The white pieces are boxwood as they are in almost all good chess sets.  The dark pieces are made of bud rosewood (sometimes called blood) which is THE premium wood to make chess sets from and generally commands about a 20% premium over ebony.  Take another look at those carved knights and tell me you've ever seen anything like that in a $200 set!  

@waynet

One of the distingushing features of budrosewood is that it lacks the grain pattern of its lesser rosewood cousins.  What it has is the seductive quality of appearing different shades of red ranging from the darkest burgundy to a dark crimson depending on the light.  It is just a magical wood to make chess pieces from and of course high end boxwood pieces also lack graining.

You are tough to convince.  Your confusion stems from the fact that many low and medium grade chess sets have their dark pieces made from ebonized boxwood.  Makes a pefectly fine chess piece that eventually fades to a lovely dark dark chocolate.   That isn't what we're talking about here though; we're discussing the white pieces and guess what?  ALL of the white pieces for your beloved Mark of Westminster chess sets are made of boxwood (I just checked their catalog).   We done here?

It's always a special feeling to make a new friend, isn't it? 

you're joking right ?

He must be. Or trying to get you to bite.

Ignore him. It's a beautiful set, and the only reason I haven't gotten it yet is I couldn't justify the $700 price tag. One day...I'll have that set in boxwood/african paduak, and the matching board: http://app.thechessstore.com/product/PKM200/

No she wasn't joking.  She also posted an obscenity on my homepage.  If I'd known she has anger management issues, I would have corrected her rant against boxwood pieces with a little more tact.  Some folks just can't take criticism of any kind; who knows what her background is, maybe she's actually coping very well given some horrific history of abuse.  I always try to think the best of everyone and feel terrible when I've pushed someone's buttons.  Let's hope she gets a little anger management therapy and that we don't read about her in the papers some day.

yes this board looks amazing. i hope you can afford the price at some day and play with it :)

Here I go getting in trouble again... It is a gorgeous board, but it looked like it was only available in a 2" square size.  The Wellington set's king has a 1.875" base and would normally be paired with a 2 3/8" square board.  The general rule is that you want around a .75 ratio between the king and square size otherwise the pieces look a little crowded.  Of course, tastes differ, and ultimately it comes down to whatever you think looks right.  I hope I didn't offend anyone.

My Chessboard has a 2.6" square size. You just need the biggest Board you can get for these figures^^

price was just about 95 dollars.

 Yes there are very nicely weigted. you can tilt very far the figures.

Like this:

They do have it in different board sizes: http://app.thechessstore.com/product/PKM250/ would work better. I didn't know the .75 rule--good to know. And yeah, no offense taken =)