Oddly I hadn't been on the lookout for one of these but once reading on the RPF a few nights ago that it was an off-the-shelf item and not (as I had naturally assumed) custom made for the film, I instantly wanted to hunt one down to add to my Blade Runner collection.
I had read these come up rarely and so I went to eBay to try my luck. And found one instantly. First time. Unreal.
I am aware that the King (and I believe the Queen also) is not the true to the screen version. Those ones seem impossible to find.
I also read that apparently the set should be a mixture of Kingfisher and Wren pawns and mine is only kingfisher. I then later read somewhere that some old bird
D) who used to work for the company said the mould got damaged or something and so some of the later kits basically ended up with just Kingfishers instead of Wrens.
I had also read that if you only had one type of Pawn then the set was a cheap knock off. This as far as I can tell seems not to be the case as you can see by the below pictures that this seems to be an original 1982 (same year blade runner was released oddly enough:cool) set, and amazingly came in what looks like its original box, with the Guarantee and 'key' to which each piece is. (Something i'm really happy about).
I bought the set off some guy in the states; it's a wonder that no pieces got damaged in transit and also that the set hasn't been damaged AT ALL over the past 35 years of its life. He said they had only been taken out of the box a handful of times. I've checked each piece and there isn't so much as a scuff on any of them.
Chuffed to bits with this purchase not only due to the mint condition of the set but also that it's original at least in year if not quite to the film. I may well build an uplit chessboard next as the one in the photos is from a random set I have and is too small to accommodate the pieces.
I welcome all input / extra info guys as always, so feel free to chirp up (sorry i'll stop) with any useful information. Hopefully some of you may find this interesting as well.
I had read these come up rarely and so I went to eBay to try my luck. And found one instantly. First time. Unreal.
I am aware that the King (and I believe the Queen also) is not the true to the screen version. Those ones seem impossible to find.
I also read that apparently the set should be a mixture of Kingfisher and Wren pawns and mine is only kingfisher. I then later read somewhere that some old bird
D) who used to work for the company said the mould got damaged or something and so some of the later kits basically ended up with just Kingfishers instead of Wrens.I had also read that if you only had one type of Pawn then the set was a cheap knock off. This as far as I can tell seems not to be the case as you can see by the below pictures that this seems to be an original 1982 (same year blade runner was released oddly enough:cool) set, and amazingly came in what looks like its original box, with the Guarantee and 'key' to which each piece is. (Something i'm really happy about).
I bought the set off some guy in the states; it's a wonder that no pieces got damaged in transit and also that the set hasn't been damaged AT ALL over the past 35 years of its life. He said they had only been taken out of the box a handful of times. I've checked each piece and there isn't so much as a scuff on any of them.
Chuffed to bits with this purchase not only due to the mint condition of the set but also that it's original at least in year if not quite to the film. I may well build an uplit chessboard next as the one in the photos is from a random set I have and is too small to accommodate the pieces.
I welcome all input / extra info guys as always, so feel free to chirp up (sorry i'll stop) with any useful information. Hopefully some of you may find this interesting as well.
