Completing a used stone set I bought

[drovek]

Hello all!

In a recent trip to Japan I had the chance of buying a used set of Go Stones which were not complete (they were cheap for a reason ) After a bit of a cleanup they're looking much nicer, but I'm still looking at around 40 stones (more or less 20 of each) short of a full set. The stones are slate and shell, but rather thin it seems. I can't quite find the correct size number, but they're around 5.6-5.8mm thick which seems to be a bit thinner than the usual.

What would be the right place to try to find some stones to fill the ranks? This is my first "real" set, so I don't really mind if the new ones are slightly different to the rest, it's for learning after all, but I would like at least something close. The Kurokigoishi stones seem awesome, but I don't think he handles any as thin as I'm looking.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Bonobo]

Congrats on that stone set … and you may want to ping user Erythen who has quite some experience with refurbishing used stones … and who sometimes also offers such refurbished stones here. I’m quite sure he can help you completing your set with stones that are of same size and similar condition, so the contrast wouldn’t be too harsh on the eyes … IIRC, though, he is somewhere abroad these days, Korea, China or Japan, he wrote about his travel somewhere here … anyway, I’d recommend contacting him.

Good luck!

[Koosh]

I can't think of anything other than requesting from Kuroki. Perhaps you could take photographs and an accurate measurement (using a caliper or wrench followed by ruler) of your stones and send them to their customer service email address. They might have spares of a size small enough to match, or they might be willing to make them.

You'll want to explain to Kuroki what grade they are. Snow, Moon, Flower - in that order from most to least expensive; this site could be a good reference for you. Color matching might be a problem, hence sending photographs.

[CnP]

Maybe a wanted ad on this forum would come up with something - but you'd need to post some photos of the stones you have and where in the world you are.

[fireproof]

You could keep an eye open for partial sets on jauce.com https://www.jauce.com/category-leaf/2084036420 -- I occasionally see inexpensive/incomplete sets there, so the main expense would be shipping.

[Koosh]

You could keep an eye open for partial sets on jauce.com https://www.jauce.com/category-leaf/2084036420 -- I occasionally see inexpensive/incomplete sets there, so the main expense would be shipping.

Thanks for sharing this site fireproof. This is a fantastic resource. Most Japan based auction sites do not ship overseas so you do need some sort of intermediary like this if you want to participate in the used market.

I checked estimated shipping/handling charges. A 5kg package (which is about right for a set of stones) to the US East Coast is about $60 for surface shipping.

[sybob]

Koosh, an alternative to Jauce is Buyee. See http://buyee.jp/?lang=en, more specifically http://buyee.jp/category/yahoo/auction/2084036420 for go equipment. Lots of new and second hand sets for sale, they ship abroad. I have used their services and can recommend it. Be careful what you bid for, though.

[drovek]

Thanks for all the comments and insights!

I'm inclined to ask Kuroki to see if anything is possible, and failing that I'll be willing to hunt around for something close to this. Again, it's just to have a physical set that I can use to play with others (and it really helps! as soon as I got the stones I was already teaching my friends how to play Go back in Japan... and we got some curious looks from some Japanese, too. It was fun )

I've attached some pictures of mainly the white stones. The caliper is not the best to measure them, but it's the one I have. I realize they're closer to 6mm than I previously thought, but it's hard to measure them right and take a picture. The grain is really faint and my phone camera can't quite capture it. It's there, but it's not too visible/whitish, and the light and bad camera don't help.

Thanks again!

[sybob]

BTW, I don't know how eager you are to make a full and matching set, and how many stones of each colour you have at the moment, but with about 150 stones of each colour I think it is already pretty complete. If a full set is 180/181, and you lack 20 of each colour, you now have around 160? No real need to make an additional purchase?
Most games are perhaps about 240/250 moves, I think.

[EdLee]

Although rare(-ish), it's quite unsatisfying to run out of stones (even after "recycling" prisoners),
especially when you cannot borrow stones from the next club table.

[Bonobo]

Another way to make do with fewer stones than needed is to exchange 10 or 20 prisoners when you run out of stones. I know, though, from own experience, that this may be a tad unsatisfying but then again, two moves after such an exchange, all is forgotten

[tsuboniwa]

If you bought a used set from an unknown manufacturer and an unknown production period, then it will be rather difficult to find perfectly-matching spare stones. I think it's better to simply use your set "as is" rather than trying to complete it with some "random" umatching stones. The visual and tactile differences of non-matching stones could end up being aesthetically disturbing at the end. I'd rather use an incomplete, but original 160 stone set, which is usually sufficient number for majority of games anyway.

[Bonobo]

If you bought a used set from an unknown manufacturer and an unknown production period, then it will be rather difficult to find perfectly-matching spare stones.

Yeah, this is why I thought it might be best to talk to Erythen who must meanwhile have quite a stash of different “single” used stones …