A: This is an odd issue we’ve discovered with the silver pyramids: they arrive with sticky feet. Apparently, something about the process they used to apply that silver coating resulted in there being a bit of residue on the undersides of each piece. Fortunately, the gunk rubs off easily enough. We recommend giving the base of each piece a slight buffing against a piece of cloth (the sleeve of a T-shirt works great) then simply using your finger to ball up and remove the lingering bits of residue. Unfortunately, yes, this is a little annoying, and for that we apologize. (See this backer update, Beware the Sticky Residue, for more about that story.)

A: Please be aware that the silver coating on these pieces is imperfect. Our original vision for them was a chrome coating that turned out not to be feasible, due to new environmental concerns and restrictions in China. We ended up deciding to go ahead and make this set with the best options we could provide for the silver coating.

When we got the first samples from our manufacturer, they reported they officially passed the ASTM D3359-17 coating adhesion test. But they also came to us carefully wrapped up in tissue, we guess to keep them extra safe from damage in transit, which didn’t give us a lot of confidence on how strongly adhered to the pyramids that coating really is.

Several tests we did seemed fine. We used tape to try to peel the paint off, we tried to scratch it with our fingers, and we repeatedly stacked the pieces together in our efforts to test the coating. They passed all of these tests with flying colors, and they really are oh so shiny and beautiful… but then we put 3 of the pieces in the box and shook them for several minutes, figuring this would better simulate the actual effect of playing with these pieces.

This shake test, unfortunately, caused the paint at the tip to rub off a bit.

Based on this testing, it would seem that the silver coated pyramids are clearly a bit fragile. They should be fine with careful use, but will almost certainly sustain some wear over time, maybe quite quickly if they are not handled with a bit more care than the rest of your pyramids. The rest of the silver is NOT easily peeling off the piece that had the paint rubbed off the tip, and the gray color of the pyramid underneath makes the missing paint not very noticeable, but if you are expecting no wear, you will be disappointed.