Are genuine ebony sets worth the premium price?

To add to the discussion: here is the king of what I consider a Chessbazaar Steinitz (1865-1870) "reproduction", that just arrived.

Compared to the ebony of my Fischer-Spassky Reproduction (last picture), I could hardly see any grain on most of the black pieces. First, I also thought that maybe they are ebonized, but a then I finally noticed some grain under different lighting (LED etc.). The black king isn´t that much heavier than the white king (82g vs. 71g) and since I don´t know, how they are differently weighted and also considering the weight of the rest of the pieces, which is basically just a little bit (if at all) heavier than the boxwood pieces, I strongly assume that some of the pieces are also dyed.

That being said, I don´t really mind, because it is still natural ebony and personally, unless an original set that I wanted to buy a reproduction from wasn´t ebonized as well, I would ALWAYS buy ebony sets. They simply feel better in my opinion and I prefer how they come out after polishing. But I also prefer to have some degree of grain visible.

Good looking Steinitz set Uchebuike!

@Uchebuike I like your Fischer-Spassky set. Can I ask where you got it?

Thanks.

Guess I can't get one like it then.

Pictures of a 2 chess pieces. One is ebonized boxwood. The other real ebony.

This is why real ebony is better then ebonized boxwood. Ebonized boxwood is a thin black layer and wears off to the boxwood as the chess pieces are used. Real ebony's color is natural and black with the whole chess piece.

The only thing you need to do to maintain ebony. Is to apply polish to them about once a year. And they will look fantastic for a lifetime of use.

Aside from ifekali, you’re the only other person who actually shows us cross sections of your pieces for educational purposes. Thanks.

I like to educate. And these are not my pieces. But the information is now here.

As you know I practice what I suggest. And I show and explain what I suggest.

Since he said that he doesn't buy any ebonized pieces, I'm guessing those aren't his pieces.-Yenster1

We are talking about wood chess sets. And only a D.A would think plastic, or resin is wood. And these are great options and I own many of them. Plastic and resin chess sets. As they are DURABLE unlike Ebonized boxwood. And also look fantastic for a lifetime of use.

On the Jaques website, for their luxury chess pieces, they say:

"This Chess set is made in the UK to order so currently has a lead time of up to 2 weeks for delivery.".

But the fact that they claim these are made in the UK and the price point is so high does make me wonder.

Look...there's that "D.A." again. What's that abbreviation for?

It's an insult. People are not telling you it directly, because the site bot will not allow it. So think about the writer Alexander Dumas, and then imagine that surname being pronounced in a certain way. Then you've got it.

Well it does seem there's lots to debate as to whether genuine ebony is worth the premium. I took this question to mean ... Is it worth it over ebonized boxwood (painted, stained, chemically blackened) or over other woods. Also noted was the direct reference of cracking and the required maintenance, which has led to most of this debate.

One thing is for sure...there has been a lot of theoretical discussion, and even more theories not yet mentioned. Some recent arguments appear to make a case against buying ebony, that being, the current supply of ebony is (in some aspects) inferior to older ebony, and even boxwood. Another debate is whether or not you will actually receive 'genuine' ebony, or a mystery 'ebony', or ebony at all (i.e. African Blackwood). Also questionable is whether it has been stained black by the maker (though not questionable that it's fairly common practice). And then, all woods can crack, and yet not all do.

No matter what the theoretical assertion, there will always be exceptions, and variations. For example (unrelated), It can be said that "Men are physically stronger than women" (please take no offense) and most agree. Yet it's also true that not all men are stronger than all women, and also, a lot of women are stronger than a lot of men. And less emphasized... a weaker woman today can become a stronger woman in the future with physical training, and put men to shame. So along this same vein... a lot of folks believe that ebony is more prone to cracking than boxwood and other woods. But this doesn't mean always, nor without exceptions.

I'm sure the belief that ebony is prone to cracking stems (more so) from empirical evidence, rather than theoretical discussions. With ebony pieces cracking in multiple sets stored in the same location, this is a good example of empirical evidence without theory. No cracks in multiple sets in another location...this doesn't dispute that evidence.

I guess further discussion could venture into: wood curing, coatings for moisture stabilization, elastic modulus, rupture modulus, thermal expansion coefficient, perpendicular grain expansion vs. parallel grain expansion, extreme limits of heat or humidity, water content, % shrinkage, corrosive impact, or maybe even climate change on trees.

Yeah it might be interesting to discuss more of these theories, but the empirical observations are good enough for me.

I want to buy one of their reproductions. But they do not ship to the USA. Very strange...

As long as they play by the rules.