Someone was kind enough to let me know about this thread. Thanks
bobbykid wrote:
Could someone explain why the most expensive gobans are often a little wider and longer than the ones in lower price ranges?
Very expensive Go boards are usually slightly bigger bobbykid. The grid (playing area) is a little bit bigger (almost imperceptibly to the eye) and the space around the edges is a bit bigger too. The whole board is in scale, but slightly larger.
This is because a Go board in that price range is intended to last for generations, and they're designed with that in mind. All of the boards you've linked to have already been dried for 10-20 years - to the point where the wood is very stable. However the wood will still shrink very slightly over the next 100 years or so.
The extra space is hardly noticeable between individual intersections on the board (especially if you play with thick stones that appear bigger), but it's there to make sure that the board will never become too small to play on if it shrinks. Anyone who's going to spend thousands of dollars on a board would want to be able to leave it to their children or grandchildren, right?
That's why these boards are bigger.It used to be that boards were only around 0.5 cm bigger, but now that we're able to look at boards that were made 50 or 100 years ago (and see how much they've shrunk), the trend is to add around 2 cm. I hope that answers your question, let me know if there's anything else you want to know.
Erythen wrote:
I can't believe they're trying to sell it for $10,000 with those giant cracks in the bottom!
I can't believe you guys honestly think we would try to sell a board with cracks in it!
Seriously? I don't know whether to laugh or cry sometimes. How about giving people the benefit of the doubt, or at least asking us first?
We asked Mr Shin, who makes these boards, about those lines when we first had the photos taken. Those lines aren't cracks or checking. They're marks that sometimes form on the surface of the wood as fluid leaves the board during the drying process. Remember that all of these bits of wood have been sitting there drying for more than a decade. Sometimes (not always) the wood will develop these markings while drying.
If the wood is flawless (not having these marks is one criterion) then the Go board will obviously be more expensive, because it's even rarer. We don't set these prices by the way, Mr Shin does. It's his art and that's what he's willing to sell the boards for. We just provide an easier way for people to buy them if they want to. We don't really expect to sell the most expensive boards, but we like having the photos in the shop as something nice for people to look at. If someone buys one, that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned.
Soon we'll be adding some more affordable kaya boards too (and at the other end of the spectrum, folding boards, plastic stones etc). The photographer got a bit carried away with the Lee Changho board and some other items the first time around and we ran out of time photographing the kaya boards (can you believe there are actually photographers who specialize in Go?).
Mr Shin says it's possible to treat the wood in a way that hides the markings, and that some manufacturers do that. However, he doesn't because he believes the natural style (with all its 'flaws') is more beautiful. He says that (for someone who knows about kaya boards) the marks show that the board has been dried for a very long time. He's proud of those marks because of that.
The work on those four boards, finding the wood and starting the drying process, started during his father's generation, so these boards represent two generations of his family's work. He's very proud of them because of that and he's willing to wait for a customer who will pay what he thinks they're worth. It's not like kaya is becoming any less rare.
Mr Shin has been making Go boards for 50 years and is incredibly knowledgeable about Go equipment. Younggil and I have learned a lot from him and trust what he says.