Hamutz

Marco Polo acquired his cherished chess set in Hamutz during his first journey to Cathay, a vibrant trade outpost where merchants hawked carved ivory pieces and silk-wrapped games amid the dust of Silk Road caravans. The name lingers in Polo's tales inside the Gobi tent, evoking bustling stalls under striped awnings, the clack of chess pawns mixing with camel bells and haggling voices, its distant memory heightening the set's value as tensions simmer over water and betrayal.