Which company makes the best chess sets?
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Eyechess wrote:
Who makes the best set? Oh, let’s talk about something else, shall we.
That defeats the purpose of this discussion. 
Perhaps he's an artist and not a traditional manufacturer - but Porat Jacobson chessmen are very high quality. If we're including artisans like Oleg I dare say we should also include Porat. I am fortunate to own one of his sets and it is meticulously well-crafted. Last I heard he was crafting a Spanish design...
Btw that 1940 set from C.B. is an unsung gem! I always enjoy seeing the pictures
Magic, That’s just gorgeous!
The pictures would have looked much better if Powderdigit took them! I just rushed a few photos.
It is ok we can’t all be good at taking photos.
MGT88 wrote:
sound67 wrote:
Eyechess hat geschrieben:
Sound67 don’t you feel bad for being such a Negative Norman?
And aren’t you starting to get that creeping in feeling that you now need to buy a Noj set so you too can own the Best?
Yes, and buy a Noj made Best Chessmen Ever set so you can apologize to Izmet at the same time.
No, I don't. As I said before, the products themselves is obviously of high quality, but I wouldn't buy them.
Also, the original question makes no sense. Who makes THE best car? Who makes THE best furniture? It's all relative.
Quality is objective; a Ferrari is better than a Ford, it's not that difficult to differentiate between brands. In the case of chess equipment, there simply aren't that many manufacturers, and Noj is clearly alone at the top. I don't see how anyone can compare CB to Noj in terms of absolute quality/service, when CB can't even seal wood properly and is subject to numerous service complaint posts on these forums. CB produces lower quality sets at a lower price; nothing wrong with that, but to say they produce the same quality as Noj is simply laughable. For example, I owned a Zagreb 59' from HoS (which I have sold), I could write a long list of ways it was inferior to my Noj sets, but a few examples would be inferior staining (missed areas, like the Knight's mouths), inferior turning (uneven surfaces, finials not flush, etc.), bad/sloppy felting.
I've breen reading through this thread, through the opinions, then the toxic remarks and now here. Until this comment, I've agreed with everything you've said. But you're suddenly changing the word "best", which was in the question, for "quality", which is not what the OP asked.
"Best" is always relative and personal. With your example of a Ford and a Ferrari, I would choose Ford every time. Ferraris are unreliable, expensive to fix, impractical (for me) and ostentatious - a characteristic I find repelent. I hate the branding everywhere, and I don't want to drive a red car (or a yellow or a black one).
Ultimately, I think the question is a little silly since it's too vague. Everyone is going to have a different answer. I don't like any of the modern manufacturers. They NEVER get the knights right and, for my money, their sets are just ugly. So, for me, and even though I hate plastic, I would say the best modern sets are those school-style plastic ones with a mousepad board. They're cheap, stand up to tons of abuse, are light for easy transport and you can just throw them in your bag.
Obviously, that's just me, and I wouldn't expect anyone to agree with me. But I'm just noting this to illustrate that the original question is impossible to answer. It's all subjective at the end of the day.
countertheory wrote:
MGT88 wrote:
sound67 wrote:
Eyechess hat geschrieben:
Sound67 don’t you feel bad for being such a Negative Norman?
And aren’t you starting to get that creeping in feeling that you now need to buy a Noj set so you too can own the Best?
Yes, and buy a Noj made Best Chessmen Ever set so you can apologize to Izmet at the same time.
No, I don't. As I said before, the products themselves is obviously of high quality, but I wouldn't buy them.
Also, the original question makes no sense. Who makes THE best car? Who makes THE best furniture? It's all relative.
Quality is objective; a Ferrari is better than a Ford, it's not that difficult to differentiate between brands. In the case of chess equipment, there simply aren't that many manufacturers, and Noj is clearly alone at the top. I don't see how anyone can compare CB to Noj in terms of absolute quality/service, when CB can't even seal wood properly and is subject to numerous service complaint posts on these forums. CB produces lower quality sets at a lower price; nothing wrong with that, but to say they produce the same quality as Noj is simply laughable. For example, I owned a Zagreb 59' from HoS (which I have sold), I could write a long list of ways it was inferior to my Noj sets, but a few examples would be inferior staining (missed areas, like the Knight's mouths), inferior turning (uneven surfaces, finials not flush, etc.), bad/sloppy felting.
I've breen reading through this thread, through the opinions, then the toxic remarks and now here. Until this comment, I've agreed with everything you've said. But you're suddenly changing the word "best", which was in the question, for "quality", which is not what the OP asked.
"Best" is always relative and personal. With your example of a Ford and a Ferrari, I would choose Ford every time. Ferraris are unreliable, expensive to fix, impractical (for me) and ostentatious - a characteristic I find repelent. I hate the branding everywhere, and I don't want to drive a red car (or a yellow or a black one).
Ultimately, I think the question is a little silly since it's too vague. Everyone is going to have a different answer. I don't like any of the modern manufacturers. They NEVER get the knights right and, for my money, their sets are just ugly. So, for me, and even though I hate plastic, I would say the best modern sets are those school-style plastic ones with a mousepad board. They're cheap, stand up to tons of abuse, are light for easy transport and you can just throw them in your bag.
Obviously, that's just me, and I wouldn't expect anyone to agree with me. But I'm just noting this to illustrate that the original question is impossible to answer. It's all subjective at the end of the day.
It is unfortunate that this thread, which is nearly five years old, has been dug back up; I regret contributing any toxicity/negativity/etc. to this forum and I have not, since the time of this thread, made negative comments in any form; I have largely stepped away from the forums in general. I realized, at the time, that claiming "X" set is better than "Y" set can offend the owners of "Y" set, which was never my intent; my policy since then has been to contribute only positively (positive, or informational, comments only). I apologize to anyone who was offended by my comments; I will make an effort to delete them.
magictwanger wrote:
The pictures would have looked much better if Powderdigit took them! I just rushed a few photos.
Mate, as long as we can see the pieces that’s all that matters. I find it better to upload multiple photos in one post - if you can try to do it, I think it makes it easier to compare photos but no major drama and while I like composition it is just icing on top. We can see that yours is a lovely set and I know you find it difficult to load photos so thanks for persisting and trying.👍
MGT88 wrote:
countertheory wrote:
MGT88 wrote:
sound67 wrote:
Eyechess hat geschrieben:
Sound67 don’t you feel bad for being such a Negative Norman?
And aren’t you starting to get that creeping in feeling that you now need to buy a Noj set so you too can own the Best?
Yes, and buy a Noj made Best Chessmen Ever set so you can apologize to Izmet at the same time.
No, I don't. As I said before, the products themselves is obviously of high quality, but I wouldn't buy them.
Also, the original question makes no sense. Who makes THE best car? Who makes THE best furniture? It's all relative.
Quality is objective; a Ferrari is better than a Ford, it's not that difficult to differentiate between brands. In the case of chess equipment, there simply aren't that many manufacturers, and Noj is clearly alone at the top. I don't see how anyone can compare CB to Noj in terms of absolute quality/service, when CB can't even seal wood properly and is subject to numerous service complaint posts on these forums. CB produces lower quality sets at a lower price; nothing wrong with that, but to say they produce the same quality as Noj is simply laughable. For example, I owned a Zagreb 59' from HoS (which I have sold), I could write a long list of ways it was inferior to my Noj sets, but a few examples would be inferior staining (missed areas, like the Knight's mouths), inferior turning (uneven surfaces, finials not flush, etc.), bad/sloppy felting.
I've breen reading through this thread, through the opinions, then the toxic remarks and now here. Until this comment, I've agreed with everything you've said. But you're suddenly changing the word "best", which was in the question, for "quality", which is not what the OP asked.
"Best" is always relative and personal. With your example of a Ford and a Ferrari, I would choose Ford every time. Ferraris are unreliable, expensive to fix, impractical (for me) and ostentatious - a characteristic I find repelent. I hate the branding everywhere, and I don't want to drive a red car (or a yellow or a black one).
Ultimately, I think the question is a little silly since it's too vague. Everyone is going to have a different answer. I don't like any of the modern manufacturers. They NEVER get the knights right and, for my money, their sets are just ugly. So, for me, and even though I hate plastic, I would say the best modern sets are those school-style plastic ones with a mousepad board. They're cheap, stand up to tons of abuse, are light for easy transport and you can just throw them in your bag.
Obviously, that's just me, and I wouldn't expect anyone to agree with me. But I'm just noting this to illustrate that the original question is impossible to answer. It's all subjective at the end of the day.
It is unfortunate that this thread, which is nearly five years old, has been dug back up; I regret contributing any toxicity/negativity/etc. to this forum and I have not, since the time of this thread, made negative comments in any form; I have largely stepped away from the forums in general. I realized, at the time, that claiming "X" set is better than "Y" set can offend the owners of "Y" set, which was never my intent; my policy since then has been to contribute only positively (positive, or informational, comments only). I apologize to anyone who was offended by my comments; I will make an effort to delete them.
Based upon the quoted posts, MGT88 wasn’t the one who changed the topic to quality. It looks like it was @Sound67 who did. I just looked back to page 1 and found the topic of quality was brought up by others. Perhaps some posts were deleted. I don’t know.
I will say that I think most everyone has said a thing or two that they might regret. I know I have. Everyone is human and that’s fine. However, I can’t really remember anything that MGT88 has ever said that was remotely close to being negative. My experience with MGT88 has always been very positive. We have discussed many topics in private about Noj, hygrometers, board storage, his Oleg Raikis 1849 reproduction, and many others. MGT has never provided any toxic feedback of any kind and has never crossed the line in any way shape or form. I have found each of our conversations to be a mutually respectful exchange of ideas and opinions. I have also always found MGT88 to be a good contributor here at CB&E.
Alright, let’s bring the original up. If you were going to buy a Chess set or some, what place sells the best?
Thanks Powder....Mr. Artist! I don't find it difficult to load pictures anymore....Just laziness on my part to take out the sets and take new photos.
MGT88 wrote:
countertheory wrote:
MGT88 wrote:
sound67 wrote:
Eyechess hat geschrieben:
Sound67 don’t you feel bad for being such a Negative Norman?
And aren’t you starting to get that creeping in feeling that you now need to buy a Noj set so you too can own the Best?
Yes, and buy a Noj made Best Chessmen Ever set so you can apologize to Izmet at the same time.
No, I don't. As I said before, the products themselves is obviously of high quality, but I wouldn't buy them.
Also, the original question makes no sense. Who makes THE best car? Who makes THE best furniture? It's all relative.
Quality is objective; a Ferrari is better than a Ford, it's not that difficult to differentiate between brands. In the case of chess equipment, there simply aren't that many manufacturers, and Noj is clearly alone at the top. I don't see how anyone can compare CB to Noj in terms of absolute quality/service, when CB can't even seal wood properly and is subject to numerous service complaint posts on these forums. CB produces lower quality sets at a lower price; nothing wrong with that, but to say they produce the same quality as Noj is simply laughable. For example, I owned a Zagreb 59' from HoS (which I have sold), I could write a long list of ways it was inferior to my Noj sets, but a few examples would be inferior staining (missed areas, like the Knight's mouths), inferior turning (uneven surfaces, finials not flush, etc.), bad/sloppy felting.
I've breen reading through this thread, through the opinions, then the toxic remarks and now here. Until this comment, I've agreed with everything you've said. But you're suddenly changing the word "best", which was in the question, for "quality", which is not what the OP asked.
"Best" is always relative and personal. With your example of a Ford and a Ferrari, I would choose Ford every time. Ferraris are unreliable, expensive to fix, impractical (for me) and ostentatious - a characteristic I find repelent. I hate the branding everywhere, and I don't want to drive a red car (or a yellow or a black one).
Ultimately, I think the question is a little silly since it's too vague. Everyone is going to have a different answer. I don't like any of the modern manufacturers. They NEVER get the knights right and, for my money, their sets are just ugly. So, for me, and even though I hate plastic, I would say the best modern sets are those school-style plastic ones with a mousepad board. They're cheap, stand up to tons of abuse, are light for easy transport and you can just throw them in your bag.
Obviously, that's just me, and I wouldn't expect anyone to agree with me. But I'm just noting this to illustrate that the original question is impossible to answer. It's all subjective at the end of the day.
It is unfortunate that this thread, which is nearly five years old, has been dug back up; I regret contributing any toxicity/negativity/etc. to this forum and I have not, since the time of this thread, made negative comments in any form; I have largely stepped away from the forums in general. I realized, at the time, that claiming "X" set is better than "Y" set can offend the owners of "Y" set, which was never my intent; my policy since then has been to contribute only positively (positive, or informational, comments only). I apologize to anyone who was offended by my comments; I will make an effort to delete them.
For the record, I never said that you contributed to the toxic nature of a portion of this thread. And, for what it's worth, I appreciate opinions - positive and negative. Just imagine if we lived in a world where we only read positive comments; I believe that would make our lives less interesting and it would also make us more prone to being wrong/going astray.
That said, I'll end this on a positive note: you brought my attention to Noj, which I had never heard of before. I really like the blitz stage 1 pieces. Might have to order some (even with a two-year waiting list). Thanks for that recommendation.
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It has been quite some time since I bought a Chess set. I still own too many, over 35 nice wood ones.
The original question of who makes the best set really doesn’t matter to me anymore. I look at each set I own on its own merits. The nicest sets are not used as much except for the very occasional game. If I were forced to bring it down to one set, the set I would choose would work well in different situations. And my favorite is not only one set but a few.
As I recently started posting pictures of my sets again, I am forced to look at and decide what I value in a set.
Who makes the best set? Oh, let’s talk about something else, shall we.