Which Dubrovnik Set do you like betterChessBazaar or House of Staunton?

Being a staunch Dubrovnik fan, I find the House of Staunton reproduction to be pretty good and better than the Chess Bazaar version, either the original or their 2.0 one.

And as rmanthony pointed out, Chess Bazaar is now more expensive than a lot of their competition and definitely pricier than they used to be. 

I haven't seen or heard anyone talk of their latest Red Dubrovnik reproductions.  Seeing that they charge well over $200 for it, I hope the quality is better than their previous ones.  Has anyone tried to see if the stain comes off in their hands or whatever when moist?

Now, I will give you that the carving of this 2.0 set is better.  But The House of Staunton is now less expensive then CB and their carvings look at least as good.

Of course there is no comparison of these sets with the Noj ones.  And yes the Noj ones are more expensive, but The House of Staunton has a Blood Rosewood version of theirs that is in the same price range as Noj.  And the Noj is better, in my opinion.

Now, for the set that Lou Balch says is his favorite mash-up:

I have this set and love it.  I have it in their Bud Rosewood.  And it is all the set that Lou claims.

They also offer it in the Sheesham that Lou has pictured as well as in regular Rosewood and in Wenge.

This set has the better bases than a lot of the other "Zagreb" sets, more like the true Dubrovnik pieces.

And yes, the Knight is the Zagreb Knight.  But that's alright.  And the price can't be beat.

I also noticed that The House of Chess has a 100% positive rating on eBay.  They keep their customers happy.

So, I guess I don't want either set in the title that goodknightmike came up with.  I want, and own, the Noj Dubrovnik II set, actually 2 of them, and I also own The House of Chess one mentioned here.

I'm here to tell you that these sets play very well during a game, and look very nice to boot.

I don't know if I understood it correctly, but what I saw about the price comparison between CB and HOS is that CB is still cheaper than HOS in all wood types.

CB Dubrovnik 3.6"/3.62" Sheesham/Crimson/Rosewood/Ebony: 135/165/187/187

CB Dubrovnik 2.0 3.6" Sheesham/Crimson: 159/198

CB Dubrovnik 4.0" Sheesham/Rosewood/Bud: 165/192/240

CB Dubrovnik 2.0 4.0" Crimson: 226

HOS Dubrovnik 3.75" Sheesham/Ebony/Bud: 199/399/449

HOC Dubrovnik 3.75" Sheesham/Rosewood/Ebony: 50/85/90

HOC Dubrovnik 4.0" Sheesham/Rosewood/Bud/Wenge: 135/150/150/170

Since HOS and HOC both have not Crimson, so let's not compare that one. And for other wood types all have, HOS is always the most expensive. And for Ebony and Bud Rosewood, HOS is far far more expensive.

I have one set from HOS: Zagreb 2.875 Rosewood and have four sets from CB: three entry Ebony and one 4.0 Dominator Ebony. I do agree that from my observations of what I own, HOS is superior in quality to CB. Please check my post for my arguments.

I have several HOC sets on the way and I will hold my opinion until I have them and play them a little bit.

I want to point out that HOC 3.75" model is much different to other Zagreb models due to several points:

1. knight is too slim, looks like snake or swan

2. bishop has an ugly cut in the mitre

Even with these, the 90USD 3.75 ebony model looks like a steal.

Maybe my opions are mixed and not so clear from what I posted above, I would like to sum up:

1. CB IS cheaper than HOS. Besides, for the customers not in USA, CB IS even more cheaper due to zero shippment fee and other fees. I paid almost double for my HOS 2.875 Zagreb set with DHL shippment fees (to HOS), DHL handling fees (local), customs VAT all added up.

2. HOS IS superior in quality to CB. The wood, woodworking, polish, design, felt, packaging method. Almost every aspect. From my very limited sampling size for sure.

3. HOC is generally even cheaper than CB. But I don't have first hand experience yet.

4. DHL is a very bad courier service provider. Very bad for the customer's pocket point of view.

5. For the customers outside USA/Canada, CB may still be the better choice compared to HOS.

I really like my HOS 2.875 Zagreb, it just feel more refined than all my CB sets.

I stand corrected.  HoS used to have a red model but no more.

We do need to look at quality for the money spent:

Here is the gold standard, Noj Dubrovnik II which sells for 448 Euros.  Please note that this set is made from the original pieces and designs/specifications:

Here is the HoS in Golden Rosewood which is the same as Sheesham:

And here is the CB Sheesham 3.6", 2.0 Dubrovnik:

Please realize for the Noj sets, we here in the USA pay quite the high shipping cost similar to you in Europe paying for USA product.  Yes, CB sends for free anywhere.

You can see from the above photos that The HoS set is closer to the Noj Dubrovnik than the CB set.

It is a known fact that CB always has a difference from their reproduction than the original.  The Knights and Bishops show the most obvious differences.

HoS has a couple of their woods at a very high price, almost to what the Noj price is. 

At the "regular" woods though, HoS with their sale prices and discounts do get closer in price to the CB sets, when realizing lower shipping rates here in the US.  I contend that the extra for the HoS sets is worth the little difference when looking at the quality difference of the pieces.  Of course for you in Europe that cost difference becomes greater and perhaps too great.

I also contend that the Noj sets are worth the slight difference in price to the HoS sets of their higher priced woods.

Actually my favorite Dubrovnik set comes from here.Note the correct positioning of the width of the Bishop head's. The originals were always widest in the middle. Later (lesser) copies always made the widest part near the top.  Not cheap but nothing perfect ever is  https://www.noj.si/?mod=catalog&action=productDetails&ID=181