Post Your Favorite (or most Ornate) Chess Sets

This Encore set from the House of Chess, a set that's very similar to the Apache set from Chess Bazaar, is at once my most ornate set, and one of my favorites. They advertise the set as being bud rosewood, but it's almost certainly African Padauk. Shown on a 2.5" padauk and northern ash chess board. The king is 4.5" tall with a 1.9" base and weighs a hefty 4.8 ounces. The entire set weighs in at 74 ounces.

Some months back, I posted some indoor pictures of this set that didn't do justice to the padauk pieces. With the sun's cooperation I was able to drag the set outdoors for some pics in natural light.

If you have more than one favorite or ornate set, feel free to post them.

 One of my favorite sets on my favorite board.

The four horses of the Apocalypse?

Your knights are AWESOME ! Mine would have to be my latest Soviet era set from '89. Not "ornate" by Western standards but I would say pretty darn fancy in a waning regime  ... 

Ronbo, thanks. The detail and consistency of the hand carving is truly impressive. Obviously crafted by a master carver. 

I like your Russian set. Nicely balanced. The opposite colored finials on the kings, queens, and bishops reminds me of the Zagreb set. And no whimpy pawns! It looks to be in excellent condition.

@loubalch:

That is a gorgeous chess set! Compliments...

Thanks. And it didn't cost an arm and a leg.

i cannot post my favorite or most ornate set...

Because there are twelve

These are some of the images from my review of this ChessBazaar set:  Arabian Knight Series, 4.2" King ...    A full review of this set (pros and cons) can be seen here:  http://www.richimages.net/?p=7113  

I love the 3D top of this King's crown.  Most sets have an very decorative cross cut design that is mostly 2D and flat.  For whatever weird reason, I love to turn the king at such an angle to look through the openings of the cross on top of the crown. 

This is the first set that I've owned that has a castle that flares outward at the top.  My previous set had rooks with tops that went straight up.  I like this rook design a lot! 

The resolution of these files are EXTREMELY large; I was surprised the forum allowed images of this size to be posted - if you right-click and view the image in a separate tab, they will display much larger, and they look even better than these reduced thumbnails ...   :-)  

Pick a few, we'd love to see them.

ok! here are few favorites :

I only have very few infos about my set,

And i have not, yet, took time to find more

This one made in ivory,may be around 1900/ may be chinese (?)

made in ebony and ivory, i know very little on this one, except there was a cross on king (8cm) (so: not russian as i think)

here is a large Regency set, King is 10.5

here you may recognyze a nice ivory Barleycorn K is 8.5

i suppose that one from austian/ light wood / all pieces are so original/ K : 9 cm

here is another Regency but horses with glass eyes / K: 9cm

this very "red" and very large chess set is probably a collector, it was one of the first i buy in flea market site (january 2016) King is 12.8cm for 108 gr, board is 70cm.

MySet, Wow! What a great collection of chess pieces and boards. Could you tell us little about each of these sets and board? Thanks for posting. They're beautiful.

@loubalch :

thank you a lot...i appreciate
i must admit that i am really proud of my little collection... (around 26 chess set)

if you would like take a look, here is link:

http://zechec.wix.com/myset

Thanks again...

Sadly I am not satisfied with any normal size sets I bought from CB. 3" entry level ebony/Bud rosewood set (I have three sets), 4" Dominator. They are OK quality but the dings on Pawns' heads (all models) are really annoying since half of the set are Pawns!

I am now most satisfied with HOC Galaxy 3" narrow base set. I already have four kinds of wood: Ebony/Bud Rosewood/Mahogany/Boxwood. I am trying to collect the other woods. The wood polish and waxing (or painting, I don't know) are really high quality, obviously better than CB's. There is no ding on Pawns' heads!! Every Pawn has a beautiful, clean, glossy and shining head.

And I am also happy with HOS's Zagreb, but I have only Rosewood version, not luxury as Ebony or Bud Rosewood.

You may noticed I have only small size sets. The only normal size I have is from CB and I am not perfectly satified. I was quite satisfied one and half months ago when I just got it. But even at that time I pointed out the problem with Pawn heads' dings. Now with the HOC sets also arrived, I have to say I am a little bit disappointed with CB sets' details.

I don't have the same experience with HOC. I have ordered Zagreb chess set from them and three pieces were broken. Even the finial on the black king was broken and comes off easily. When I contacted HOC and emailed them pictures of broken pieces, they flat out refused to give me replacements and asked for shipping charges. I was very disappointed with their service and customer support. Anyways, here are the pictures of my CB Blackburne chess set.

That's really something scaring. But the finials on Zagreb or Dubrovnik set as I understood it should be removable. Could you explain more about other broken issues you have?

Actually I don't have any service communication with HOC yet since it is not needed yet. But CB's Sapna is really helpful and always fast with answering email.

I do have some emails without answering from HOC. Normally I have to write to them a few more times to have something done. For example, the customization of a 2.75" Galaxy took many rounds of mails and still not all questions of mine are addressed.

Anyway, I am looking forward to receiving the third batch of order from HOC and hope that I can share more about how I feel with HOC soon.

This is such a gorgeous set! Especially those knights.

King’s finial was displaced in transit and I fixed it with a glue. Moreover, 1 rook and 1 bishop develop cracks just after a week. After mailing them 3-4 times, HOC offered me a paid replacement of $30 for a rook and bishop and told me to wait for 4-5 weeks. WHAT!!! It was terrible for me and I dropped buying from them. With CB, I’ve never faced such a problem. They send replacements free of cost without any hesitation. They have spoiled the market w/ free replacements which I guess other retailers find it difficult.  Yes, chessbazaar offers much better quality and very important their prompt customer service.

Love your collection !   Actually, that last set - it's beautiful !!!   What material is that ?  And how heavy do those peices feel ?  It's really nice ... looks very long-lasting and durable too ... 

@Robert

Very nice set !   I too love the look of those knights ...

Very sorry to hear about your HOC experience ... bummer, but karma has a way of coming back around for businsess like that!  

Oh ... and I just have to make a comment on the King's finial ... absolutly stunning!  next to the knights being the showcase piece, I personally like to see a unique 3D finial atop the king ... 

Very sorry to hear about the dings on top of the pawns ... That would annoy me as well.  

@richiwalt: Thank you a lo, i appreciate.

You mean the red and white set ? if yes, it is laquered wood set ,king is about 108gr, 12,5 cm hight, for 5 cm base, i suppose it is from 1980 , ii may be a collector chess set,and board is 70 cm and very heavy, i love it too