British Birds chessmen
British Birds chessmen in Blade Runner
British Birds chessmen were an ornate style of chessmen designed in the 1970s.[1]
As with all ornamental chessmen, what you gain in beauty and novelty you lose in piece recognition. They're great to look at, but less useful to actually play with, even with the birds perched upon symbols for the regular chess pieces.
The Kings are chained golden eagles perched atop large crowns; the Queens are peacocks on smaller crowns; the Bishops are horned owls on mitres; the Knights are hooded peregrine falcons on gauntlets; and the Rooks are ravens atop towers with battlements.
There have been several iterations of the design. In earlier versions, White's Pawns are wrens, while Black's Pawns are kingfishers; in later ones, all Pawns are wrens, as their lower centre of gravity is more stable.[1]
A version with wren Pawns on both sides was used in the film Blade Runner, for J. F. Sebastian's iconic chess set, lit from underneath with a lightbox serving as a board.
Given their status as an iconic prop in a cult film known for its opulent visuals, it's perhaps little surprise that several clones of the chessmen exist, with varying degrees of both accuracy and detail.[2] The most accurate and official of these is sold by Hoyle's of Oxford.[3]
Being top-heavy and made out of artificial marble, they're also quite fragile, further making them better suited for filming or displaying than actually playing chess with. But all of this is academic. They were made as well as they could make them.
References
- "British Birds Chess Set" Hoyle's of Oxford
- "Blade Runner — Sebastian's Chess Set" Jintosh, The Replica Prop Forum, Jun 2020
- "Sebastian's Chess Set (Blade Runner, Great Birds)" Robert "Slash-5" Jewett, The Replica Prop Forum, Jun 2020
Styles of chessmen: Bauhaus chessmen | British Birds chessmen | Coffeehouse chessmen | Dubrovnik chessmen | Lewis chessmen | Staunton chessmen
