About Egyptian Chess Sets

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Lady. Welcome to the Chess Forum. We're located in New York City, in Soho between Bleeker and West 3rd. We've been in business for thirteen years, and today we're going to talk about a few of our chess sets. In this clip, we're going to talk about various Egyptian sets. Here, we have an Egyptian set which is made out of pewter. Pewter is an alloy, and what's special about this set is that pewter sets that are made out of pewter tend to be very detailed. This set also has a lot of hieroglyphics in each piece, and it's also, because it's pewter it also tends to be very heavy. Then, if you're a speed player or you play speed chess most likely the pieces move around really fast and a heavy set is recommended because they tend to tip over less. These pieces are very intricate in their design and have a lot of detail, and also hieroglyphics on each piece. This set is known as King Ramses. It's made out of solid brass; goes for three hundred and sixty dollars, and what's special about this set is that each piece is has some sort of hieroglyphics on it, and also the colors of the piece are blue and burgundy which are traditional Egyptian colors that are found in the tombs. Pieces are very heavy compared to the pewter set we were talking about earlier, and also much larger. This set is made comes from Italy, and is made by artisans. Okay, this Egyptian set is top of the line and is worth five thousand dollars. It's made by a family of artisans in Italy, and what makes it so special is that it's made out of out of solid bronze and it's painted in silver and gold. It takes approximately forty days to make each piece, and you can tell each side from one another by the base; one is gold and the other one, silver, and if you're looking for something unique and different this is definitely the set for you. Here, we have Egyptian pharaohs. This set is particularly interesting because it's made out of crushed marble and resin. Many sets today are made from different materials just because wood is susceptible to being damaged by too much exposure to the sun, or even changes in temperature make the make the wood expand and so that sometimes they crack. And so this one, it's made out of crushed marble and resin. It's hand-painted and carved. Each piece has hieroglyphics on the base. You can tell each side by the color of the base. The dark side is, of course, dark. The white side is white. Here, you have the king, the queen, the bishop, the knight, and the rook which is an ankhs and it's the symbol of life."