Zagreb ’59 gilded color options + inconsistencies

Hi. I’m considering getting a Zagreb ’59 gilded set by House of Staunton, but I’m not sure which color option to go for. It’s predominantly between Red Mahogany and Purpleheart for me; but photos of the Rosewood option seem to be missing on the House of Staunton website, so I don’t know what they look like on the board.

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Colors

Does anyone know how these three color options compare? Which do you prefer? Here are the three options together (Red Mahogany, Purpleheart, Rosewood):

In the pictures above, I like the Red Mahogany and Rosewood options the most; but in the photos on the House of Staunton website, I’m leaning heavily towards Purpleheart.

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King finials

Also, does anyone know what the quality and consistency of the Russian king finials is like? I noticed that the finial of the Red Mahogany option (left) below looks the sharpest, and it’s aligned properly to the crown of the king. The finial of the Red option looks the most blunt, and the finial of the Purpleheart option (right) is aligned the worst. Can they go in deeper, or do these finials sometimes float above the crown? I assume if they float, I can sand down the rod of the finial a bit so that it can go in deeper.

I’m also curious what replaceable finials are like. The set comes with both cross and Russian ball finials. Do they have a snug fit, or do they easily come out? Could you hold the king upside-down without the finial falling out?

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Knights

Thirdly, which knight design does the set actually come with? As you can see below, the knights of the Red, Red Mahogany, and Purpleheart options have a lower brow, a shorter snout, and squared ears. 

I much prefer the design seen in the Mahogany and Rosewood options. But I can’t imagine they actually differ in design; wouldn’t they be the same knights, just with different stains? I’m confused as to why I’m seeing two distinct knight designs here.

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Proportions

Lastly, which of the sets show the correct relative proportions? When I created the images to show off each set with alternating colors with the rook and pawn on the right side, I scaled the whole set relative to the queen to ensure the pieces were shown at the same size in each image. But when I did that, I noticed that the bishop was larger in the Mahogany and Rosewood options. I rather like the proportions of the other options more. Below I superimposed all color options, and you can see that the king, the bishop, and the pawn vary in size relative to the other pieces.

I’m assuming that the sizes are consistent between the color options, and the differences in sizes stem from how the promotional images were prepared. But it still leaves me wondering, which represents the height of the bishops most accurately?

Below, you can see how the Rosewood (left) and Red Mahogany (right) bishops compare. 

Actually, I just noticed that the Rosewood Rook (right) appears relatively smaller as well. I rather like the smaller bishops and rooks, so that each piece becomes incrementally smaller than the next.

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I realize these questions are probably best addressed to House of Staunton, which I will do. Part of the reason I’m asking my questions here first is to present the inconsistencies and possibly have my questions answered publicly, so that others who are considering buying the set may be better informed about what they will get. 

I think you are over-analyzing the photos. They are likely just hand-carving a bunch of boxwood pieces, and then applying different stains for the dark sides. The variation you are seeing is probably the sample variation, not specific to the stain. I also think the pic scaling may not be 100% the same piece to piece. Notice the base diameters also differ with the height.

The Chess Empire padauk pieces look nice in their photos! However, in the photos you showed, the neck of the boxwood knight looks quite awkward, and in both pieces the manes vary in length along the neck. I think the House of Staunton and Staunton Castle ones look much better. Actually, now that you mention it, the Staunton Castle knights seem to have a smaller ridge at the top of the base, which I think looks nicer than the House of Staunton knights. But yeah, a pity that they don’t offer different wood types.

House of Staunton does offer an ebonized and golden rosewood version in their Zagreb Elite (on clearance right now), but I don’t really care for those colors.

And they offer an ebonized and blood rosewood (padauk) in their Zagreb Prestige, which does look beautiful. But $499 is more than I’m willing to spend on this set.

Yeah I imagine there is some variability, but I don’t imagine there is variability in the heights, so that does leave me wondering which of the bishop heights is most representative.

As for the knight designs, upon closer inspection it looks like they used the exact same image for the Red, Red Mahogany, and Purpleheart sets; all three feature a scuff mark or whatever it is on the right side right above the base. And the knights in the Red Mahogany and Rosewood ones also seems to be the same image. This much variability strikes me as wild though. I wouldn’t want to risk receiving a set with such low-browed knights.