Well back early June I posted here asking advice on a board to match
my new House of Staunton set, 3" rosewood collectors series.

TommyBoy was good enough to recomend John Hardy's 1-7/8" libary size
board at Legends Products website.

Trouble is, since then Legends has not been able to contact Mr. Hardy.
So anyway if John ever lurks around here, well maybe he shall realize
that Legends has some customers desiring his fine product (which
hopefully still is in production).

W.H.King

wrote in message . com...
Well back early June I posted here asking advice on a board to match
my new House of Staunton set, 3" rosewood collectors series.

TommyBoy was good enough to recomend John Hardy's 1-7/8" libary size
board at Legends Products website.

Trouble is, since then Legends has not been able to contact Mr. Hardy.
So anyway if John ever lurks around here, well maybe he shall realize
that Legends has some customers desiring his fine product (which
hopefully still is in production).

W.H.King

That's too bad. I'll look around for something else good.

Have you looked at what the HOS site has in 1-7/8" boards?

That's too bad. I'll look around for something else good.

Have you looked at what the HOS site has in 1-7/8" boards?

Yep, the HOS are OK but I would rather have the Italfama round board
he

http://www.thechessstore.com/category/035.4.375/

Its 2" squares, but the pawns' bases are very slightly over 1", so
four will fit on a single square...

Slightly over budget at $250, but that's not too bad...

ThatChessStore is the retailer...

I would have preferred the John Hardy board but oh well...

On 8 Jul 2004 21:09:43 -0700, wrote:

That's too bad. I'll look around for something else good.

Have you looked at what the HOS site has in 1-7/8" boards?

Yep, the HOS are OK but I would rather have the Italfama round board
he

http://www.thechessstore.com/category/035.4.375/

Its 2" squares, but the pawns' bases are very slightly over 1", so
four will fit on a single square...

Slightly over budget at $250, but that's not too bad...

ThatChessStore is the retailer...

I would have preferred the John Hardy board but oh well...

Obviously, people tastes are different. I personally hate that round
board. I doubt the original poster wants the board for tournament
play, but if he did I'm sure that round board would gather complaints.
The boards from Legend are very nice. The ones from HOS are also very
nice. Both companies use craftsmen contractors. The next step down
from these are mass produced boards. In my opinion, the best of the
mass produced boards come from Dreuke. You can find the Drueke boards
at most of the online retailers. You can price check between The Chess
Store (see above link), www.chesstopia.com and I'm sure many others.

I'm not really patient, and I would hate to wait for a board I wanted.
That being said, if the guy wanting a board really wants quality, you
might give Legend a little more time to get the board maker. I also
recommend the HOS boards. Anything less than these, I'd stick to
Drueke.

If you want a nice board and can't find the wood board you want, you
might try a nice leather one. The non-folding hard leather board is
stunning to see. http://www.finechess.com/

Ken

Ken Cobb wrote in message . ..
On 8 Jul 2004 21:09:43 -0700, wrote:

That's too bad. I'll look around for something else good.

Have you looked at what the HOS site has in 1-7/8" boards?

Yep, the HOS are OK but I would rather have the Italfama round board
he

http://www.thechessstore.com/category/035.4.375/

Its 2" squares, but the pawns' bases are very slightly over 1", so
four will fit on a single square...

Slightly over budget at $250, but that's not too bad...

ThatChessStore is the retailer...

I would have preferred the John Hardy board but oh well...

Obviously, people tastes are different. I personally hate that round
board. I doubt the original poster wants the board for tournament
play, but if he did I'm sure that round board would gather complaints.
The boards from Legend are very nice. The ones from HOS are also very
nice. Both companies use craftsmen contractors. The next step down
from these are mass produced boards. In my opinion, the best of the
mass produced boards come from Dreuke. You can find the Drueke boards
at most of the online retailers. You can price check between The Chess
Store (see above link), www.chesstopia.com and I'm sure many others.

I'm not really patient, and I would hate to wait for a board I wanted.
That being said, if the guy wanting a board really wants quality, you
might give Legend a little more time to get the board maker. I also
recommend the HOS boards. Anything less than these, I'd stick to
Drueke.

If you want a nice board and can't find the wood board you want, you
might try a nice leather one. The non-folding hard leather board is
stunning to see. http://www.finechess.com/

Ken

A leather board from finechess.com wouldn't be cheap but it would be
an excellent acquisition. Tastes differ but I'd opt for the one piece
leather board before the elmroot board cited above.

I'm bloated with boards but I'd still like to have my pieces on a nice
leather board like this one. $250, more or less, is a lot of $ but
it's easy to spend 2-3 times as much on an excellent wood board made
of non-exotic woods.

Checking my resources... just may do it. Love leather.

(TommyBoy) wrote in message . com...
Ken Cobb wrote in message . ..
On 8 Jul 2004 21:09:43 -0700, wrote:

That's too bad. I'll look around for something else good.

Have you looked at what the HOS site has in 1-7/8" boards?

Yep, the HOS are OK but I would rather have the Italfama round board
he

http://www.thechessstore.com/category/035.4.375/

Its 2" squares, but the pawns' bases are very slightly over 1", so
four will fit on a single square...

Slightly over budget at $250, but that's not too bad...

ThatChessStore is the retailer...

I would have preferred the John Hardy board but oh well...

Obviously, people tastes are different. I personally hate that round
board. I doubt the original poster wants the board for tournament
play, but if he did I'm sure that round board would gather complaints.
The boards from Legend are very nice. The ones from HOS are also very
nice. Both companies use craftsmen contractors. The next step down
from these are mass produced boards. In my opinion, the best of the
mass produced boards come from Dreuke. You can find the Drueke boards
at most of the online retailers. You can price check between The Chess
Store (see above link), www.chesstopia.com and I'm sure many others.

I'm not really patient, and I would hate to wait for a board I wanted.
That being said, if the guy wanting a board really wants quality, you
might give Legend a little more time to get the board maker. I also
recommend the HOS boards. Anything less than these, I'd stick to
Drueke.

If you want a nice board and can't find the wood board you want, you
might try a nice leather one. The non-folding hard leather board is
stunning to see. http://www.finechess.com/

Ken

A leather board from finechess.com wouldn't be cheap but it would be
an excellent acquisition. Tastes differ but I'd opt for the one piece
leather board before the elmroot board cited above.

I'm bloated with boards but I'd still like to have my pieces on a nice
leather board like this one. $250, more or less, is a lot of $ but
it's easy to spend 2-3 times as much on an excellent wood board made
of non-exotic woods.

Checking my resources... just may do it. Love leather.


Thanks Mr. Cobb and TommyBoy (again). I ordered a dark brown / fawn
leather board from finechess.com tonight. It has narrow enough borders
to store in drawer safely away from kids and pets.

"London tan" would have been eqivolent to Hunter Holster tan (American
sidearms ascessories company), a bit too red for my needs, hence I
chose the grayer tan for the light squares...

At the end of the ordering process there was this cheery message
introducing the subject of a waiting time:

" Thanks for your order. Our Master Leather Worker will begin
handcrafting the board almost at once, and will have it ready for
delivery in two weeks".

Thanks again for the advice, these boards were unknown to me and seem
excellent.

Hatfield (W. H. K.)

wrote in message . com...
(TommyBoy) wrote in message . com...
Ken Cobb wrote in message . ..
On 8 Jul 2004 21:09:43 -0700, wrote:

That's too bad. I'll look around for something else good.

Have you looked at what the HOS site has in 1-7/8" boards?

Yep, the HOS are OK but I would rather have the Italfama round board
he

http://www.thechessstore.com/category/035.4.375/

Its 2" squares, but the pawns' bases are very slightly over 1", so
four will fit on a single square...

Slightly over budget at $250, but that's not too bad...

ThatChessStore is the retailer...

I would have preferred the John Hardy board but oh well...

Obviously, people tastes are different. I personally hate that round
board. I doubt the original poster wants the board for tournament
play, but if he did I'm sure that round board would gather complaints.
The boards from Legend are very nice. The ones from HOS are also very
nice. Both companies use craftsmen contractors. The next step down
from these are mass produced boards. In my opinion, the best of the
mass produced boards come from Dreuke. You can find the Drueke boards
at most of the online retailers. You can price check between The Chess
Store (see above link), www.chesstopia.com and I'm sure many others.

I'm not really patient, and I would hate to wait for a board I wanted.
That being said, if the guy wanting a board really wants quality, you
might give Legend a little more time to get the board maker. I also
recommend the HOS boards. Anything less than these, I'd stick to
Drueke.

If you want a nice board and can't find the wood board you want, you
might try a nice leather one. The non-folding hard leather board is
stunning to see. http://www.finechess.com/

Ken

A leather board from finechess.com wouldn't be cheap but it would be
an excellent acquisition. Tastes differ but I'd opt for the one piece
leather board before the elmroot board cited above.

I'm bloated with boards but I'd still like to have my pieces on a nice
leather board like this one. $250, more or less, is a lot of $ but
it's easy to spend 2-3 times as much on an excellent wood board made
of non-exotic woods.

Checking my resources... just may do it. Love leather.


Thanks Mr. Cobb and TommyBoy (again). I ordered a dark brown / fawn
leather board from finechess.com tonight. It has narrow enough borders
to store in drawer safely away from kids and pets.

"London tan" would have been eqivolent to Hunter Holster tan (American
sidearms ascessories company), a bit too red for my needs, hence I
chose the grayer tan for the light squares...

At the end of the ordering process there was this cheery message
introducing the subject of a waiting time:

" Thanks for your order. Our Master Leather Worker will begin
handcrafting the board almost at once, and will have it ready for
delivery in two weeks".

Thanks again for the advice, these boards were unknown to me and seem
excellent.

Hatfield (W. H. K.)

You definitely have to review that leather board when you get it.

On 9 Jul 2004 22:37:03 -0700, wrote:

(TommyBoy) wrote in message . com...
Ken Cobb wrote in message . ..


If you want a nice board and can't find the wood board you want, you
might try a nice leather one. The non-folding hard leather board is
stunning to see. http://www.finechess.com/

Ken



Thanks Mr. Cobb and TommyBoy (again). I ordered a dark brown / fawn
leather board from finechess.com tonight. It has narrow enough borders
to store in drawer safely away from kids and pets.

"London tan" would have been eqivolent to Hunter Holster tan (American
sidearms ascessories company), a bit too red for my needs, hence I
chose the grayer tan for the light squares...

At the end of the ordering process there was this cheery message
introducing the subject of a waiting time:

" Thanks for your order. Our Master Leather Worker will begin
handcrafting the board almost at once, and will have it ready for
delivery in two weeks".

Thanks again for the advice, these boards were unknown to me and seem
excellent.

Hatfield (W. H. K.)

The one they made for me didn't take too long. Of course, I sprung for
the more expensive shipping option (via courier I think). The board
was super, and smelled really good as well. I hope you enjoy your
leather board as much as I do mine.

Ken

Product Reviews:

1. Chess pieces set: House of Staunton Collector series, 3" king (i.e.
the library size), rosewood. $199 US plus post and packing.

2. Finechess leather chessboard, 2" squares, rigid non folding. $200
plus shipping.

The unopened shipping container from the HOS was reassuring. Right in
the middle was huge red sticker proclaiming FRAGILE, well actually it
read "Please Handle with care FRAGILE thank you".

Inside most of the pieces were baged inside 34 individual tiny zip
lock pouches. Queens, Knights, and Rooks were also each wrapped with
their own square of heavy foam, the other pieces each individualy
wrapped in cotton. All pieces had this foam or cotton secured with
tiny rubber bands.

Why 34 pieces? Well neither the House of Staunton website nor his ebay
auction page mentioned extra Queens, but by golly there sure were 4
included!! Apparently Frank Cameratta likes to (pleasantly) surprise
his customers .

Also inside the package: a numbered certificate, care sheet, and
explanation of the traditional order to pack the pieces into a wooden
chess box, a very very nice mahogany box comes standard.

As you all must know, the collecters series is of excellent reputation
so I expected a lot, but the quality really exceeded expectations.
What can I say? That night while unwrapping the pieces I knew the
board I had also ordered from another company, while it was nice, it
wouldn't be of like quality. So I took a few days to cancel out that
order and placed an order from finechess.com for one of their leather
boards.

The package from finechess arrived much later (there is a wait while
they make the board in New Zealand which you have ordered), no FRAGILE
stickers to be seen on the thin cardboard box, UH OH!

The package smelled like something once really good now gone slightly
less so. The 100+ degree F weather had something to do with this no
doubt. While the board does not smell unpleasant, more like a neutral
sensation, something less than the familiar and wonderful 'new
leatWher jacket' aroma.

Inside the thin cardboard box was two layers of very thin bubble
wrapped directly around the board. All in all I would rate the packing
materials and procedures as "fair to poor".

The tight bubble wrap left tiny little circles, perhaps permanently
marking the bottom of the board which is suade. The top and sides of
the boards showed no such ill affects. But along 3 adjacent squares On
the top surface of the board, was what looked like a very faint
crease. Not very apparent unless you were looking for it, something
like the creases which show up on used leather jackets, only the one
on the board was very faint.

The board had very handsome hand tooling around the edges which does
look as good as the pictures on the website. All in all I would rate
the board B+ and the chess pieces A+. Before shipment the board no
doubt would have rated slightly higher.

I have purchased lots of books on ebay auctions, about half of which
arrive very well packed indeed and the others not so well. Finecess
packed up this board "not so well". One thing for sure, shippers who
mark well their packages as FGRAGILe don't have them getting hAND
tossed several times into various warehouse sorting bins. Also,
shippers who don't so mark their parcels usually get exactly what they
deserve too, something which is not too funny to we the receivers.

Perhaps what I wrote here makes the board's condition sound worse than
it really is, its handsome enough and I won't be returning it

Cheers, W.H.King

wrote in message . com...
Product Reviews:

1. Chess pieces set: House of Staunton Collector series, 3" king (i.e.
the library size), rosewood. $199 US plus post and packing.

2. Finechess leather chessboard, 2" squares, rigid non folding. $200
plus shipping.

The unopened shipping container from the HOS was reassuring. Right in
the middle was huge red sticker proclaiming FRAGILE, well actually it
read "Please Handle with care FRAGILE thank you".

Inside most of the pieces were baged inside 34 individual tiny zip
lock pouches. Queens, Knights, and Rooks were also each wrapped with
their own square of heavy foam, the other pieces each individualy
wrapped in cotton. All pieces had this foam or cotton secured with
tiny rubber bands.

Why 34 pieces? Well neither the House of Staunton website nor his ebay
auction page mentioned extra Queens, but by golly there sure were 4
included!! Apparently Frank Cameratta likes to (pleasantly) surprise
his customers .
[some snipping]

Yes Frank and HOS are great. They aim to please.

Thanks for your reviews. I'm sure you'll be enjoying your Library
Collector and leather board for a long time. Any leather care
instructions come with the board? Is it a stamped one-piece board or
assembled squares?

I hope my board shows up in excellent condition!