The Danum Series from Staunton Castle

Review – The Danum Series chess set from Staunton Castle

First of all, I’m grateful to mdero83 for writing such a very helpful review on chess sets from Staunton Castle/Mandeep Handicrafts, which encouraged me to contact their director Mandeep Singh and to order a Danum Series chess set, which arrived yesterday. Shipping was free and quick through FedEx, whose system makes paying import tax (@ 20% in the UK) relatively painless.

I could not be more delighted with the quality of craftsmanship of this high-end set, which exudes luxury. The specifications and dimensions of the pieces are precise, their finish is perfect, reflecting meticulous skill and impressive quality control. My experience is as mdero83 who said “I am overjoyed with the pieces and Staunton Castle have exceeded my expectations”.

The set came well-protected and well-presented in its carrying case. I enjoyed unwrapping each piece, looking for defects and finding not a single one. I also enjoyed turning the pieces over in my hand and feeling their fine balance and massive weighting.

I’d been determined to order a set made with genuine ebony rather than ‘ebonised’ and was pleased to see how the colour of the wood shines through. It has already been said how the varnish used on the pieces is just right, not too heavy or glossy.

There is colour uniformity of the pieces, including a perfect colour match between the body and base of the white Knights. I was very pleased on examining the Knights to find not only outstanding detail from the hand-carving, but to see such a strong fixture of the upper and lower sections of the Knight.

I’d chosen the Danum set for several stylistic reasons, including; the pieces all share the same design of ‘collar’ – even the pawns, the interchangeable finials of the Kings, the hand-carved Knights are lifelike, beautiful but not overstated, the set as a whole is very well proportioned, and the pieces are substantial yet slender and elegant.

I’m struggling to find anything to criticise about the chess set; one suggestion that I hope Mandeep will ‘take on board’ is to specify the Series name on the Certificate of Authenticity & to state the woods used. It may also please some collectors to have a serial number for each set.

I was happy to hear that the Danum Series is an original in-house design by Mandeep Singh.

I was also happy to deal directly with the artisans of Mandeep Handicrafts of Amritsar, rather than paying a lot more money to an international retailer. As mdero83 said “…if I can go straight to the source that’s exactly where I will go”.

Here’s a video made by Mandeep of how they make chess pieces at Mandeep Handicrafts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WJoR9QH12k

The Danum chess set is a thing of beauty, now on proud display in my living room. I’m very grateful to Mandeep for his patience with all my questions. I absolutely recommend Staunton Castle to any prospective buyer of luxury hand-carved chess pieces.

And for value? I don’t think you could find a better price anywhere for this kind of superlative quality.

Namaste! I saw it first as a Staunton Castle eBay listing, but then contacted Mandeep directly.

Yes, I'm in the UK. If you're in India, you should be able to save on both shipping costs & import tax - I encourage you to negotiate a good price with Mandeep.

dear deafdrummer, I've sent you Mandeep's email address, let me know how you get on.

@jivatman, can you provide a website for the manufacturer, the one where you would "order direct" from?

dear brother7 I've sent you Mandeep's email address

dear charlchess7, you're right, the quality is really amazing, I'd studied all the photos before finally deciding to buy, but still the set 'in person' as it were, far exceeded my expectations (the weighting and balance of the pieces can only be appreciated through touch, of course). I think the quality of the staunton castle chess sets is probably the best in the world. 

You are most welcome, charlchess7. & it is not exaggeration to affirm that Mandeep Handicrafts/Staunton Castle are producing the highest quality chess sets anywhere. You could maybe tell your wife that one of these hand carved chess sets is a work of art in itself, apart from its functionality as a game.

note the height & 'gravitas' of the castle

You're welcome. The photos are still inadequate, as in real life the colour of the ebony - a subtle deep brown, shines through; and the weighting is massive which makes the pieces a joy to handle and move. One design feature I forgot to mention is the close size gradation of the pieces, all of which are tall and substantial even the pawns.

dear ATLANTIS09915040, well, the white pieces are boxwood but the finish is lovely with the grain showing through. Do you want contact details for Mandeep?

Have you seen that  Staunton Castle's site has been in maintenance mode for months?http://stauntoncastle.com/ 

A bit weird at least (It seems they planned to move to a domain like chess set usa but still not working).

trying to show something of the deep colour and grain of the ebony which is subtler than a dull black

Concerning the Staunton Castle website, I am told by Mandeep that; "Our website is about to be launched with an all new layout. Hopefully it should be active within one or two days."

dear deafdrummer, Staunton Castle chess sets are not cheap & I went way over my budget to buy the Danum Set, I must say without a trace of regret! The history/background to the production of Staunton Castle is that they used to supply US retailers who sold at very high prices & creamed off the profit. Mandeep is working hard to establish direct sales so that the profit goes to the team of artisans in Amritsar rather than to a distributor. This also means that the chess sets which were sold for thousands of dollars are now available for hundreds. A purchase may mean 100% of your monthly budget, but then you will have a set which is of the best quality in the world.   

Absolutely! I mean the motive to escape exploitation/neo-colonialism. From what I've read on here of the competitors to SC is that their sets are 'hit & miss' in terms of quality. Staunton Castle produces much more modestly priced sets than the Danum so don't despair. Perhaps the ideal would be a visit to Amritsar?