Armenian Backgammon Set with Carved Ornaments

Armenian Backgammon Set with Carved Ornaments

Follow one strand of the carved ornament on this handmade Armenian backgammon set and you will make it exactly once around the board before admitting defeat: the interlace has no beginning and no end. Armenian carvers have loved that trick for centuries — an endless weave, cut over and under into solid wood, every crossing kept clean by hand.

The pattern suits the game more than any other could. Backgammon is one of the oldest games human beings still play — boards five thousand years old have come out of the ground, and the game simply never stopped: shepherds played it, kings played it, and in Armenian homes nardi still passes from grandparents to grandchildren like a surname. An endless game, wrapped in an endless knot. Open the bronze clasps and the full 23.6" / 60 cm playing field takes its turn in that long story.

What's Included

• Backgammon board with bronze hinges and clasps
• 32 checkers made from beech and walnut wood
• Dice and a carrying bag

Specifications

• Folded: 11.8 x 23.6" / 30 x 60 cm
• Open playing field: 23.6 x 23.6" / 60 x 60 cm
• Weight: 11 lb / 5 kg
• Material: solid beech wood with bronze hinges and clasps
• Handmade in Armenia

Why it stands out

Knot ornament is deceptively hard work — one wrong cut and the weave stops reading as a weave. Here the lines pass through one another endlessly, clean and graphic across the pale wood. A luxury handmade backgammon set for someone who appreciates patience — in carving and in play — and a gift whose pattern quietly says: may it never end.