Luxury Twelve-Sided Armenian Chess Set with Bronze Pieces

Luxury Twelve-Sided Armenian Chess Set with Bronze Pieces

Thirteen kilos. That is the number that tells you what this is. A twelve-sided board, 23.6" / 60 cm across, borders carved end to end in a fine lattice, with the coat of arms of Armenia inlaid in metal at each end of the field. Boards like this do not get moved around a room casually — you decide where it lives and then it lives there, and everything else on the table arranges itself around it.

The army matches the ambition. Thirty-two ornate bronze figures on pale bases, one side bright and one dark, with bronze coordinate markers set into the border to frame the whole field. Pick up a knight and the weight surprises you every time; put it down and it stays exactly where you put it. This is the difference between a luxury chess set and an expensive one — everything here is doing a job, not just costing money.

And underneath the show it is still a proper carved chess set built to play on. Full-size squares with room for the bronze bases, a folding hinge that takes the weight without complaint, and brass fittings that close it down to 23.6 x 11.8" / 60 x 30 cm when the evening ends. Grand, but not precious about it.

What's Included

• Twelve-sided folding chess board with brass fittings
• 32 ornate bronze chess pieces on pale bases
• Carrying bag

Specifications

• Open board: 23.6 x 23.6" / 60 x 60 cm
• Folded: 23.6 x 11.8" / 60 x 30 cm
• Weight: 13 kg / 28.7 lb
• Material: solid beech and walnut wood with bronze pieces
• Bronze coordinate markers
• Handmade in Armenia

Why You'll Love It

• 13 kg of board — nothing shifts, nothing rattles, nothing feels light
• The Armenian coat of arms inlaid in metal at both ends
• Twelve-sided silhouette with lattice carving right across the borders
• A complete cast bronze army, bright against dark

The Coat of Arms

Mount Ararat and Noah's Ark on the shield, an eagle and a lion holding it up, four dynasties quartered behind them, and below — a sword, a broken chain, wheat and a feather. Power, freedom, work, writing. It is the whole argument of a country compressed into one small inlay, set here at both ends of a board where two people sit down to think.

A Gift Worth Giving

Some gifts are given once in a lifetime, and this is built for that occasion — a fiftieth, a retirement, a father who taught the whole family to play. It will still be in the house when the person who gave it is remembered fondly for having done so.