Modena Series Luxury Chess Pieces - Natural Boxwood and Blood Rosewood - wooden chess set 

This man is my inspiration, more people need to subscribe! Keep up the good work!

All I want is to fuel this mans chess piece addiction

EXCELLENT review! So thorough! Really enjoyed it. Your passion for the subject really comes through!!

Absolutely stunning set. Attempting my own chess set I can say the craftsman that made this original set has created a masterpiece. I cannot even imagine attempting to carve a knight like that

yeah. that is a good buy. I like that set too.

These are some great comparisons, great video!

Keep these awesome videos coming, only discovered you today and already loving the channel, one love, Jamaica.

Amazing video!

Please keep these coming!

came and subscribed as a courtesy, staying because I am enjoying the channel.

perfect as always. 👍 :-)

amazing set, super! wish it wasn't so expensive! great work!

Love those knights!!

What's going on my good chess friends! Found a moment to sit down and catch up on all the great comments you guys leave! These comments, people watching is what it's all about, if it wasn't for social media, I don't think I would be surrounded by so many great people such as yourself with similar interest to mine, out to build a true chess community. If you happen to come across this comment, I wanted to update you guys as to the recent changes I see happening with RU-vid. If you have started to see ads run prior to my videos, it means that RU-vid started to run ads for my channel, however, not until I hit the 1000 subscriber mark and 4000 hours of viewing time, can I monetize. Some of the more elegant and cooler chess set I so much wish to show you are outside of my budget so my intention is when I finally hit those numbers and youtube starts to pay me for the ads, then I can use those funds to get better chess sets, and show you guys so much more, find time to travel and even perhaps go to some chess events. Before I hit those marks though, you will see ads on my channel but the funding from ads is going to RU-vid only, which is fine, they need to be able to justify the HUGE amount of space that they have to make for all of my videos. With that being said, lets all make an effort to get subscribing and watching so we can get to the point where the ads you guys have to skip would translate to pennies for newer and better chess merchandise instead of just going only to RU-vid! If you like this channel, share it with your friends if they also enjoy chess, if they don't enjoy chess don't share otherwise I'll be swarmed with dislikes lol. Have a wonderful day everyone! Stay safe and enjoy being in the moment! P.S. I'll drop this same comment in some of my other chess videos so more people have a chance to see it! Cheers!!

Amazing knights!

And there is me, started playing Chess a couple of months ago and got a Rosewood board and a nice set of pieces, but I get this as a recommendation, and now I want those beauties over my Rosewood board.

Hi Al, Thanks for a very detailed review and comparison. Those Modena chess pieces, especially the Knights, are a work or art. They really are very well made Chessmen. Blood rosewood, or bud rosewood is also my favorite color for dark chess pieces. If I owned a chess set like those, I probably wouldn't play with them for fear of breaking the mane of the Knight should I drop them. They will lose their function as a game piece, as I would just hold them and admire them. I also like the way you compare the pieces with something else, to highlight the contrast/differences. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to your next one.

Blood rosewood is really beautiful. Sometimes it looks more brown and sometimes more red depending on the light. I have one HOS set and I really love it. The only complaint I have is that one of the blood rosewood queens is a lot lighter than the rest of the pieces but that’s how the wood grain is.

Very very beautiful. It’s not the type of set I would usually be drawn to, but now after having seen it… I am very tempted.😅

I just had an imperfect HoS set delivered today. The “Tahl” set. This and the previous video were very helpful . Mostly cosmetic with poorly applied paint and scuffs. . Easily correctable. No baggies but secure in the foam. I love this set already and was on my want list. Great price too. Couldn’t pass up. Happy new year!

I just bought an imperfect luxury set from House of Staunton this week as well. The only issue was one of the Genuine Ebony Queens had a slight scuff on the base. I swear I would have never noticed if it wasn't pointed out on the site. I even have to search for it with both queens in front of me. I also got one of the nicer boxes that had SLIGHT discoloring in one part. I feel I got an absolute bargain on this combo!

I have the same plastic pieces. I am be no measure a collector of fine pieces as yourself. Very beautiful set.

That was a very helpful video, I'm looking for a high-end set right now.

First lol. Great video mate, very informative and great demo of the different styles and colours. They all look great, however we all have our favourites. Great size of pieces too 👍😎

Beautyful chess set

I just bought a set of USSR style boxwood/golden rosewood set and I haven’t gotten them yet, but I love the look of them. So often the knights have a funny look to them or just not quite what I like (unless you pay HUGE amounts for them), and so these are a bit minimal and still have enough detail that it’s premium. And the rest look so cool 😂 I can’t wait to play them.

That's a sweet set.

Great review! That's exactly what I do with my sets when I have the time: compare the weight, feel, and aesthetics. I've been pretty lucky getting imperfect sets in that there was no major damage, just a few machining marks. I got my dream set for less than $200. It's the Dragon Knight set from chessbazaar in boxwood and blood rosewood. One thing I do is coat my pieces with Tru Oil for that extra shine and protection.

Wowowow

The knights in this set is sooooooo amazing. Almost like the horses head and neck is almost like a dragon. A dragon knight. Just my imagination but still pretty nice. Hopefully someday I’ll get this set soon.

👏👏👏👏👏👏

Most impressive Knights I think I've ever seen in a Chess Set! I always place them looking East and West on the board like most GM's do, more aesthetically pleasing, but may be a matter of opinion and viewpoint! Overall, a nice collectible Chess Set, although I do prefer the Bishop of the 1800's set.

Appreciate the beautiful and crisp close-ups! HOS should hire you to do 5 minute reviews of all their sets 🙂. Despite the minor imperfections and the disappointing packing you still got a great deal. A little too elaborate a design for my tastes, but the knight is indeed impressive. Is that the 4” Fischer plastic set or a different one?

Nice set

Those knights are hand made.

This kind of sets that is for waiting you and your guests on the table, it is not for moving and traveling. Additionally, this review made me understand the value of wood.

I agree on the packing. Maybe skip the pawns, but everything else should have been rebagged. I disagree on real ebony looking like plastic. A nice ebony you should be able to see a bit of a gold or amber behind the black that allows you to make out graining. It doesn't photograph, but I can sure see it on my Ferocious Elite Series set from Chess Bazaar.

I appreciate the close up and angles of the dark pieces so I can gauge, before deciding whether to buy or not, the Blood Rosewood color. Chess sellers can leave the wrong impression of color based on the lighting and angles they use for the photos on their website. I have tried to read quite a bit on the actual wood and how it’s color/hue can darken over time, especially when exposed to sunlight or UV light, as well as it can bleed a white powder on the surface of the pieces.

Sorry I’m advance for the long reply…! Beautiful set, thanks for sharing! I have several HOS chess sets, but not this one. By the way, for comparison purposes look at the Hadrian Staunton set from The Chess Store, which is a very similar 4.4” set, the difference is that they don’t use the fancier Blood Rosewood, but Padauk. Still about the same $, although not the fantastic deal you got of course. For the broken mane of the boxwood knight, the first thing I would do is go over every inch of the box and wrapping material, and look for the broken piece, you might find it and could glue it back. If not, take a wood file and smooth it out, then lightly paint the exposed wood with Deft or similar lacquer finish to blend it. It will look fine. I’m sure that knight is why you got the set at nearly $550 off retail…! I actually like your 1852 Paulsen set very much, very classic. I have the 1849 Cooke club set they had on close out, 4.4” with kingside stamping, and love it, EXCEPT, they are also two piece knights and the antiqued boxwood white knights “lean” which bugs the hell out of me. The dark ebony wood knights are perfect, but the antiqued boxwood knight bases were threaded slightly off, or I should say the inserts were installed a tiny bit skewed, so the upper portions lean slightly. Most people wouldn’t notice, but unfortunately I notice everything. 😉 I’ll have to find a way to get the male threads slightly realigned. HOS exchanged them for me, and the new ones are better, but still lean slightly, and they say they don’t have anymore in stock. Finally, I have three plastic HoS sets and six of their wood sets, and every one of them came in cheap styrofoam and flimsy cardboard boxes. However at least the men were in individual compartments. I think they didn’t do it with your Modena set because they just didn’t have anything that fit the larger men, which is a shame, especially with those fancy finials and carved manes. Love those rooks by the way, the center “saucer” treatment is so attractive. If you have a 2.25” board check out the 3.5” Leuchars vintage luxury chess men from HOS. I’ve bought more expensive sets from them, but I think that is one of the nicest looking. I have several ebony and other exotic wood sets, but agree about the blood rosewood, which I chose for a 3.75” Dubrovnik set. I think it’s the most striking of all the woods, and contrasts beautifully with the maple and (burl?) squares of your board. Thank you again for the detailed look at some beautiful chessmen.

Atm there's only a black-white Modena chess set available on the website. Hope they will bring this dark brown set back at some point.

Yep Bud Rosewood/Blood Rosewood is awesome. Another name is African Padauk. I have a Chinese Chess board made out of that wood. Not Chinese themed chess board. It is a Xiangqi board. Xiangqi is a variant of chess. Your set does look good. Not something you would use for club or tournament play. Rather a display set or just a slow casual game with friends or family. There is one luxury set Royal Chess Mall sells that I would like. I believe that it is the Sheffield in Bud Rosewood but for $350 it will have to wait. Awesome price for something that would be double on House of Staunton website.

It would be so much easier to turn the base for the knight by itself, rather than turn it with the knight. Bases are a piece of cake with the right tools. They have a custom-made lathe tool for that. You got a great deal on that set, the knights alone are worth double what you paid.

Beautiful set! Did you find the piece that broke off the knight? If so glue it in place.

I bought the Savano Series Luxury Chessmen from HOS's outlet, it listed for $1200 I got it for $300. The only imperfection they stated wrong with the set was a white powdery residue on the Blood Rosewood pieces. My set arrived much like yours ( not packed very well at all). In addition to the 'white fungus' on the rosewood pieces, one knight had two large clips out of its mane. Both kings were missings basepads and they sent me nine rosewood pawns and only one rosewood bishop. I was very disappointed!

Congrats, I have the same set from Staunton Castle, called Thebes series. FYI, mine builds up white dust due to the uncured Bud Rosewood, this is the only wood that has this issue, especially on the Knights. This is due the wood not completely drying out all its natural oils, the oils very subtlety seeps out of the wood then evaporating leaving a white dust residue, almost looking like white mould growing on it. The dust will return every 2-3 week after cleaning off the dust with soft cloth or soft toothbrush which is better for all the detailed crevices. You’ll notice as you’re dusting there will be a red stain on your cloth and toothbrush. Let me know if yours does this or you were luck enough to get a set that was properly cured. I have 6 luxury sets in Bud Rosewood, not all the set have this issue. I will be receiving 2 more sets in the next month, one which will include a clear lacquer, which is supposed to prevent the dust issue.

do you have a chess piece store? Could you indicate a set at low prices?

Hello. What is the most expensive and at the same time aesthetic chess set out in the market? I'm writing a chess webnovel ("Swindle," on royalroad) and I need one character buying an expensive board for no reason. So far, my candidates are either the Modena set, or the Burnt Dubrovnik.

I have a small collection of chess sets and have bough from HOS a few times. Since that knight was damaged in hippping I would think they should make it right with you. At least sell you the knight top at a very cheap price. Give them a call or emal.

Hi, just discovered your channel. What's the name of the plastic set? I dont really like sets with natural wood colour and it's very hard to find plastic or painted sets that don't have ugly knights

Hi can you tell me the name of the set and color on the right side of the video the slightly cream color plastic set? and website please? Thank you =) Nice sets Btw =)

I would be mad at this set too, the spaces between the rings of the kings and rooks are difrent in the medena set betwen the white and rose wood

Medena set may be luxurious, but man, I like Paulsen more. Sometimes too much detail ruins the aestetics

Nice chess set. I'm planning to buy this set. How are you storing them? What kind of box did you buy with it?

just purchase a separate knight to replace the damaged one, then you have a complete nice set for a good price

How can I buy it ?

Soy. De Argentina...Muy bonito los juegos el problema es que no entendí nada de lo que dijiste...😂

Just change the location!

Do you have a chess set discord server?

I'm noticing a pattern with HOS........

I prefer to build with Woodbex plans.

Good set,bad packaging

I will not buy from House of Staunton from your report!

is this the sleeping room of your parents^^

I'm afraid I don't like these sets at all!! The overly ornate knights are quite ugly and horrible. They look a bit like those distastefully decorated trucks from India. The rest of the pieces are a bit weird too. They've just added some extra rings to the Staunton, but the spacing of the rings is not uniform. Made by someone who can turn or carve wood, but doesn't understand good design.