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.

STAUNTON CASTLE SET COLLECTOR'S GROUP

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