Reviews on House of Staunton Products

Back then, like most chessplayers, I had the vague awareness that there were finer sets out there -- somewhere -- but where? I had, of course, heard of Jaques, but again, like many chessplayers, I could neither spell nor even pronounce it properly! (It's pronounced "Jakes") My knowledge of fine chess sets was literally limited to what could be found for sale in the USCF Holiday Catalogs, which is to say I didn't know a whole lot.

Playing with a friend's Jaques set sparked a desire for heavier weighted pieces and my quest for the perfect (and affordable) chess set began. My journey started with the purchase of Legend Products Ebony Pioneer Elite, and continued with the subsequent acquisition of the Ebony Pro Line Monarch set. Both sets have been reviewed previously in this column. When reviewing these sets I favorably compared them to the House of Staunton Collector Series set (with the 4" King), which seemed an appropriate benchmark set given its preeminent reputation.

Over the past year, I found myself becoming increasingly disenchanted with some of the features of the two sets I reviewed. The sadly narrow miters of the bishops, the squat, fireplug-like pawns of the Pioneer Elite, and most of all, the aesthetically unrefined high piece bases. The latter, especially, began to disturb me much as the princess in the fairy tale was tortured by the awareness of the pea buried deep within her layers of mattresses.

Around this time I finally convinced my wife to unleash me on the internet (she had feared becoming a gaming widow -- I have other gaming "addictions" besides chess) and I began to relentlessly peruse the web, specifically the shopping/commercial links from Chesscafe.com, searching for my dream set and board. What I found, six wooden chessboards and one set later, was uniformly disappointing. Most sites offer patently inferior chess sets that I would never want to even play with much less own. Ditto for the boards.

I found myself, returning time and again, to the House of Staunton website where I would gaze longingly at the very set I had previously reviewed, perhaps, I began to think, unjustly.

Finally, in August, I decided that I had to have the House of Staunton Collector Series Tournament Set with the 4 inch King. The USCF currently sells it, for $430 (set only, no box) to members; you can obtain it directly from the House of Staunton (see their ad in Chess Life) for $399 plus $15 shipping, no tax! My set, ordered on Tuesday, arrived on Friday. Most other vendors (e.g. I.C.D.) that advertise the set don't actually stock it so it will take you much longer to get it.

My set arrived in a stunning dark mahogany fitted case, substantially bigger than a briefcase, with the House of Staunton Logo impressed in the wood. Inside, there are outlines, cut into the inches thick padding, to luxuriously cradle each individual piece, including the two extra queens (I have always believed that all sets should have 4 queens). Now, I have a lot of boxes of varying degrees of quality in which my sets are housed when not in use. None of them can begin to compare to the luxury and opulence of this truly awesome case. Once I was finished admiring the case I immediately weighed each piece and examined the quality of the ebony and boxwood. Every set I have seen for under $700 uses second rate ebony and boxwood or worse. Not this set.

Basically, what I look for in a fine set is how do the pieces look and how do they feel? The feel of these pieces was simply exquisite, thus I couldn't wait to begin to compare their actual weights with the Legend Ebony Pioneer Elite and the Legend Pro Line Monarch piece weights.

The results pleasantly surprised me. The reason I bought the original Legend set was their marketing it as "massively weighted"; the House of Staunton (HOUSE OF STAUNTON) set, however, easily outweighed both of the Legend sets!! The weights, in ounces, of the ebony pieces for each set follow as well as the total weight of each set.

	HOUSE OF STAUNTON	ProMon.	Pioneer Elite
King:	4.1	3.3	4.1
Queen:	3.8	3.0	3.0
Rook:	3.0	2.5	2.8
Bishop:	2.0	2.0	2.7
Knight:	2.8	2.3	3.0
Pawn:	1.4	1.2	1.1
Total:	65.5	56.1	62.5

The HOUSE OF STAUNTON Rooks are massive and dwarf the Pioneer Elite's minuscule Rooks. This appropriately reflects their dominance over the minor pieces.

Truth to tell, the Bishops, with their sublimely wide, deep, nearly vertical miters, were what made me ultimately unable to resist buying this set. There miters are exactly how miters should look, but rarely do.

The Knight, traditionally the hallmark of the fine Staunton set is a classic rendering of the famed Elgin Knights from the Greek Parthenon. Unlike Legend's Knights, these are True Staunton designed Knights. Their feel is also exquisite. Like the King's Rook, the King's Knight is marked with a painstakingly rendered red crown.

I received a huge "Paperweight Knight" with my set. It is 5.5 inches tall and weighs nearly a pound. The Knight's visage slopes downward rather than horizontally and has a spectacular braided mane. A smaller scale version of this Knight will be standard with the Signature Edition Collector Series set. I used to think that the Pioneer Pro Line Monarch had achieved the ultimate in refinement with the Knight but the Paperweight Knight is clearly infinitely superior. It is the best looking chess piece I have ever seen.

Finally, the pawns. The HOUSE OF STAUNTON pawns were the sleeper of the set, for me. The more I looked at and handled them the more I appreciated their nonpareil elegance. They are clearly qualitatively superior aesthetically to any pawns I have encountered to date, and are possibly the most perfectly rendered piece of the set!

The bottom line is that this is a tactilely transcendent and visually voluptuous set with an impeccable pedigree. If I could have only one set, this would be it. What is, perhaps most amazing about this set is the price. It is about ½ the price of the aesthetically challenged post-World War II Jaques set currently offered by the USCF and also about ½ the price of the Legend Pro Line Monarch.

The House of Staunton Collector series set is the company's flagship set, but by no means their only accomplishment. The brainchild of Frank Camaratta Jr., retired rocket scientist, the House of Staunton carries a full line of fine sets and exquisite boards with new offerings, such as the Millennium Set, complementing the extensive array of antique 19th century sets in their catalog. This set is atop my shopping list for next year and weighs a massive 77 ounces in Rosewood, not to mention Ebony.

Prior to the inception of the House of Staunton in 1989/90, there were literally no good sets being made. Anywhere. Period. Jaques, long the standard for excellence in chess sets, lost their factory to the destruction of the second world war and their recent sets are poor step-cousins to their pre-1900 creations, although it appears that will soon change for the better.

Into this void stepped Camaratta, who has single-handedly fostered a Renaissance in the production of quality chess sets and boards. For this he deserves the recognition and gratitude of the entire chess world. What Kasparov is to chess playing, Camaratta is to chess sets, with perhaps a bit of Morphy and Lasker thrown in for good measure!

What I find most interesting about this company, and most admirable, is their relentless search for perfection in design. The House of Staunton Collector Series, which comes in Standard, Superior and Signature Editions--each edition available in Library, Tournament and Club size -- is in its 14th iteration! And its not done yet! The Bishops, for example, although the best I have seen Bishops rendered to date, will soon be sporting a slightly broader base to accentuate the flare of their shanks. I have already discussed the incredible developments with the Knight.

The House of Staunton Catalog just arrived (10-15-99). It has 101 color photos and 61 black and white photos of their sets and boards and tables. It is 68, 8.5 by 11 pages of not just the most extensive array of fine chess sets available in one place, it is like a museum, chronicling verbally and pictorially, the history of fine chess sets.

I'm really glad that I was able to swallow my pride and purchase the House of Staunton Collector Series Tournament Set after unfavorably comparing it to the two Legend Products sets. It's not fun to admit that one is wrong, but I was so off the mark in the previous reviews that I couldn't not set the record straight and hopefully rectify an injustice I had perpetrated, albeit out of ignorance. If you want the best chess sets and boards at ridiculously reasonable prices one need look no further than Camaratta's House of Staunton.

Pasted below are the reviews that will appear in the upcoming issue of Chess Horizons magazine. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service.
-Best, Mark Donlan, Editor.

Professional and Windsor Series Chessmen, The House of Staunton, Inc., PO Box 368, Harvest, AL 35749, (256) 858-8070, www.houseofstaunton.com.

This is a continuation of a review begun in the April-June issue...

The new tournament-size Professional Series chessmen (pictured here) feature a 3.75" King with a 1.75" diameter base. These weighted and padded chessmen, are a modified Jaques Hartston design from the mid-1890s, and were used in the 2000 US Open Championships. The set features very broad bases, a wide cut in the Bishop's miter, sharp fragile points in the Queen's crenellations, six cuts in the Rook, and a tall finial atop the King.

The tournament-size, Windsor Series are reproductions of a popular chess set used during the 1950s and 60s. In fact the cover of the February 1958 Chess Review pictured Bobby Fischer posing with such a set. The King stands 3-7/8" tall with a 1-5/8" diameter base. They're heavily weighted and the Queen's crenellations are rounded, there are four cuts in the rook, the cut in the Bishop's miter is thin, and the King has a shorter and wider finial.

The design, quality, and workmanship of both sets are outstanding and the detail on the Knights is striking. Frank Camaratta, who owns The House of Staunton, not only distributes the sets but designs them as well. They come in a range of finishes and prices. The chessmen are cushioned in green billiard cloth and come housed in a leather gold embossed case.

Here is the Marshall/Collector review. I found quite a bit of the information on your web-site.
-Best, Mark.

Marshall and Collector Series Chessmen, The House of Staunton, Inc., PO Box 368, Harvest, AL 35749, (256) 858-8070, www.houseofstaunton.com.

I had the good fortune to borrow The House of Staunton's display sets. I'll discuss them in the coming issues beginning with the 32 pieces from the Marshall and Collector Series in ebony, boxwood and rosewood. These came in a luxurious fitted mahogany briefcase. I exhibited the pieces to chess players and neophytes alike and all said the same thing: "Beautiful". They were of such extraordinary quality I was apprehensive to have such sets in my possession.

The Collector Series sets are heavily weighted and felted and are crafted to replicate the design and proportions of the original Staunton pattern set, first made by John Jaques and Son of London in 1849. The white King sports gold embossed leather on its base. The King-side Rook and Knight are each marked with a small crown on their summits. The Knights are modeled after the horses from the Greek Parthenon and are beautifully crafted. The cuts in the Bishops miter are bold and the bases of all the chessmen are wide and stable.

The Marshall Series is a modification of a 1900 design. They're made to withstand the rigors of serious tournament play. However, these are not your knock-about chess pieces. The craftsmanship is precise and delicate. A good tumble could well result in a cracked finial or worse. I liked the Marshall Bishops with a finer cut in the miter and the Collector Rooks. While Rosewood was my favorite, others preferred the ebony. Pieces are available in natural and ebonized boxwood, boxwood and rosewood, natural and black or red lacquered boxwood, and boxwood and ebony.

Each set is delivered with its original manufacturer's label and individual production number. The Collector Series is also available in a Superior and a Signature edition. These editions come with an extra set of Queens and a pair of eastern finials in addition to the traditional formee crosses finials for the Kings. Each piece has a gold embossed leather base pad in place of cloth. The Signature Edition is housed in a gold-trimmed leather casket with removable leather trimmed trays with spaces for each piece. All the pieces have matching leather base pads with gold trim. Geoffrey Parker, who fitted leather caskets for all post-war Jaques chessmen, makes the caskets. Frank Camaratta, who owns The House of Staunton, distributes the sets and designs them as well. They come in a range of sizes and prices.

-M D