Luxury Armenian Chess Set with Coat of Arms and Turquoise Epoxy

Luxury Armenian Chess Set with Coat of Arms and Turquoise Epoxy

Turquoise is not a colour you expect on a chess board, and that is why this one stops people. The dark squares are cast in glossy turquoise epoxy against pale wood, so the contrast comes from something closer to enamel than to timber. Around the field runs a fine cross-hatch cut into the surface, and set into it, in bronze, is the coat of arms of Armenia. It is a handmade chess set that says where it comes from before anybody asks.

Open it up and the pieces are the quiet half of the story — 32 of them, turned in beech and walnut, warm and plain against all that colour. The board folds along bronze hinges to 15.7 x 7.9" / 40 x 20 cm and goes in its bag, which makes this an Armenian chess set you can carry to somebody's house rather than one that stays on a shelf being admired. That matters more than it sounds. A board that travels is a board that gets used.

What's Included

• Folding chess board with turquoise epoxy squares and bronze fittings
• 32 turned chess pieces in beech and walnut wood
• Carrying bag

Specifications

• Open board: 15.7 x 15.7" / 40 x 40 cm
• Folded: 15.7 x 7.9" / 40 x 20 cm
• Weight: 3 kg / 6.6 lb
• Material: beech wood, epoxy resin and bronze
• Inlaid bronze coat of arms
• Felt-lined interior
• Handmade in Armenia

Why You'll Love It

• Glossy turquoise epoxy squares — nothing else in the range looks like it
• The Armenian coat of arms inlaid in bronze, not printed or stamped
• A hand-cut cross-hatch border framing the whole playing field
• Folds on bronze hinges and travels in its own bag

The Coat of Arms

The emblem at the centre carries Mount Ararat and Noah's Ark on the shield, held up by an eagle and a lion, with the marks of four ancient Armenian dynasties quartered around it. Below sit a sword, a broken chain, a sheaf of wheat and a feather — power, freedom, work and writing, in that order. Armenians read the whole thing in about a second. Everyone else asks, which is usually how the evening starts.

A Gift Worth Giving

For anyone with Armenia in the family, this is a gift that does two jobs at once: a serious board to play on, and something of home to keep in the room. Give it to a father, a grandfather, a son who has moved away.