Expensive Chess sets

I was drooling over the 10000 dollar House of Staunton chess set the other day.  They also have 14000 dollar HOS mammoth ivory pieces. Dude thats insane!!! So i guess my question is: How much would you be willing to spend on a luxury chess set?

NO matter how much I made, I really can't see justifying more than 300 for a really nice, good quality set.  There sure are some doozies out there, but I'd be fine with a really good wooden one. 

The wooden set I have now goes for like 180, and I love it.

I let my family and friends buy me the expensive ones for my birthday/Christmas, and I buy the cheap plastic ones that I can take to school and play with my students. 

I think it's funny how many of those super-expensive HOS sets are set up sideways in the pictures (ever notice that - look at the black square in the bottom right corner - sometimes the Kings and Queens aren't even positioned directly across from each other).  Proof that the people selling the sets have never played on one.

From the standpoint of line and proportion, their "Grandmaster" set is one of the best designs I've ever seen. It's also their cheapest set. I own several different sets (and sold off seven other older ones I had), and the Grandmaster is clearly my favorite. I just wish they made it with ebony black pieces.

I recently managed to get the HOS New York 1924 4.4" king board/set/box package from HOS for $300 + tax & shipping. It's great. Someday I'd like to have the money for an even more expensive set but this one is really nice.

Good example of a board setup sideways.

Otherwise, looks ok but I wouldn't choose green squares.

It's a picture from the HOS web site. What can I say?

Green wouldn't be my first choice either but it came with the package. It looks better first-hand then in their pictures. It's not nearly so bright. My hope is to someday get a board from www.customchess.com to go with this set. Then I'd use the green board for my plastic Drueke set, even though it's a little too big for that set.

With chessmen it's easy to see a really fine set and assume that the quality and design simply can't get any better... and then something else comes along that completely blows it out of the water.

For $70 to $90 US (full retail) ...! Twenty years ago, you'd have a hard time buying half the set at twice the price!

Very nice set gomer pyle! I love boards with a polyurathane finish.  Hey i have another question.  Would you prefer genuine ebony, or blood rosewood as your black pieces.

As a woodworker ... Yuck! Polyurathane makes wood look like cheap plastic. I much prefer a good varnish. A tung oil varnish is nearly as durable and ten times better looking.

I doubt I would go over US$200 and would probably feel better about something close to $100. I'd love to see and play with super-expensive museum quality pieces in someone else's home, but I wouldn't want the burden or feel the need to own them myself.

Based on pictures only, I am not a fan of the blood rosewood. The ebony seems ideal (though out of my price range), and the rosewood is attractive. Any thoughts about ebonized boxwood?

Wow, seriously guys. All I need to play chess are cheap pieces and a cheap board. The price of a chess set doesn't make you better, you know. I just can't believe you guys!!!!!

The problem with the picture in post # 5 is one of photography, not board setup.

If you look at the position in a mirror, you will see that the opening has been a

reversed Sicilian. Black has castled long and the two most recent moves were

most probably b5 by White and Nd4 by Black.

Some people have more money then sense. I bought a 1 dollar set at the Dollar Store, good enough for me.

You guys are idiots. Storebought sets!?  What a waste.

Anyone can make a servicable set from mud and the broken shells of nuts.

There ya go. Everyone be like me. Anything else is intolerant.

Some of it is just luxury. Even though you might be touching pieces for about a minute or two during the course of an entire game, there is something more enjoyable about the feel of a nicely weighted, nicely balanced wood set, and the look of an attractive one.

As to another's comments about different woods -- Ebony is probably best. Good quality dark rosewood IS nice, as is blood rosewood IF you like the color (I do). Sheesham, sometimes euphemistically called "golden rosewood" is a somewhat excremental color and makes for inferior looking pieces. I hope to be able to comment on "ebonized" soon, but right now my first such set has been backordered.

Also, in the 'mirror image' position of post # 5 (see post # 14) ,White has lost a tempo somewhere along the way and therefore Black has the advantage of the 'first move' just as White would normally have in a Sicilian without reversed colors.

your right, look at the post two beneath you (post 5)

I once seen a chess set on ebay for just shy of £250,000. At the time it was about $US400,000. It was 24 carat gold with platinum, had real diamonds on all pieces except the pawns. After seeing that, I would still prefer a nice wooden one, even if money was no object.