You Get What You Pay For

It is foolish to make general rules.  Yes, there are times the higher priced product is better and times when it is not.  This is life in most all areas.

Exactly

Here is my set. It was 45$, including shipping, on ebay. 3.75" kings, 1130 grams for the entire set (34 pieces, including 2 extra queens). The knights' nostrils weren't entirely bored out, as you can see in the pictures. Also, the top of the rooks isn't finished as well as you see in other sets.  I was poor when I bought my first set. I bought this set with winnings from my first tournament, and since I still owe Mr. Shaibel $10, I am in no position to buy another set in the near future. Also, the difference in hue between the color of the pieces is somewhat noticeable. I believe the pieces I got may have been seconds. Being an orphan myself, I view that as a badge of honor.

@N64bomb All that matters is you like it. It doesn't matter if it is $45 or $4,500. Here is a photo of my first wood set. It was a French Staunton set from either Chesshouse.com or chessusa.com. The price was $69. It was on discount. It was a 3.75" king with a 1.3" base. I was new to chess sets and thought the 1.3" base would fit my 1.75" board. Little did I know there was more to it than just the king base and square size. As you can see from the photo, it was wrong in every which way imaginable, but I loved it very much.

To get back on topic, I paid $69 and definitely got what I paid for.

If we look at the Chess market , Let's say over the pass ten years !

There is so much choice now available from all over be it , chess boards / chess sets etc .

The list is now endless , Ebay/ esty/  The remakes / repros .

Thing is alot of this is not cheap to buy ,  when you compare that it was still possible to pick up

The real thing say ten years ago at the price you are now paying for many of these sets ?