Monthly Archives: August 2015

Beautiful Purple Set • 2 Comments

Kuan Yin • August 26, 2015

A very lucky reader sent me photos of her newest Mahjong set. She confessed she had taken a big risk at auction, not having been able to see photos of any tiles close up. She was delighted when the box arrived and she knew this time her instinct was correct, and her excitement about this purchase got her to send me photos to post on this blog . According to her, the colors of the tiles are true in these photos. It seems all the colors in the tiles were painted. And the sharp crisp corners of the tiles indicate perhaps a German or Austrian manufacturer.

This is one of those great times when a set is rare, the colors are fabulous, and the designs terrific. Purple tiles allow for many different color effects on the tiles themselves. Here on the Bamboos we see yellow instead of our usual green. The flying crane of longevity is simple in the white outline with his red legs and bill. The 8 Bams have a real Art Deco look to me.

The One Dots look like targets, don't they? What's interesting here is that you can see that all the tiles are not the same size, despite being machine made.

The Winds, Dragons and Flowers certainly don't disappoint with their unique and spirited Character renditions, all very angular in keeping with the squared off quality of the tiles themselves. The Flowers have a neon sign look to them, don't they? The top ones are the Four Arts of the Scholar and the lower ones flowers, although not the traditional ones we usually see.

Who would have thought the Craks would be a favorite suit? Everything about the spirited Chinese numbers and Characters delights the eye, including the colors.

The Wind Indicators and the counters are the same beautiful material and color. All beautiful, don't you think?

Maybe she will have to learn how to play the Hong Kong version, Wright-Patterson or another form of the game so that she can play with the set!

I am undertaking a new project involving the social history of the game. You can read about by clicking History Project at the top of the Page. Perhaps you would like to participate.

For those of you who don't yet know, there is a wonderful magazine, The Mahjong Collector. You can find out more by emailing them at this address:

subscriptions@mahjongcollector.com

To see when I am doing author appearances, click here

You can now follow me on Twitter!

@MahJonggGregg

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle.

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

Spectacular Thick Bone Set • 2 Comments

Kuan Yin • August 19, 2015

This fabulous set did not last on ebay for long, (maybe half a minute?), but I thought I would be remiss not to share the photos of it with all of you who did not even get a chance to see it. To begin with, it is in unbelievable shape given that it is getting close to being 100 years old. It was made for export, as can be seen by the Arabic numbers and Western letters. The One Bam birds are among the prettiest I have ever seen. In China, eagles, falcons and hawks represent boldness. A hawk standing on one leg, as we have here, can be a rebus for "a hero stands alone, peerless," because the homophone for eagle is one of the two Chinese characters that comprise the word "hero" in Chinese. This bird is on a lotus; a lotus symbolizes purity and perfection because it "rises undefiled from impure muddy waters" ((Bjaaland Welch), and it is also a symbol of Buddhism.

One Dots like this always remind me of those wonderful Chinese porcelain decorative balls.

The Flowers are simple, and delicately carved.The top row from left to right are bindweed (?), lotus, peach, and oranges(?). The bottom row are the expected plants, associated with the seasons: plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum.

And just look at the thickness of the bone:

As you may know, the thicker the bone, the more expensive, thus the more experienced and skilled the craftsmen who made them.

And just look at this wonderful box! The crane and the eagle are painted on the front panel.

Interesting that the set was updated, in all probability, by an owner, who placed the plastic counters in the drawer, adding a bit of personal history to the set.

Pips (added small dots) on Flower Tiles

Kuan Yin • August 15, 2015

This set was recently auctioned off on Liveauctioneers.com

You will quickly notice the lack of Western letters and Arabic numbers which indicate the set was not meant to be exported from China, but somehow or other it finally made its way out of China to the States.

If you look carefully at the Flower tiles, you'll see there are two sets of dots, one set is dark, and the other one red. Each set has tiles with 1, 2, 3, or 4 dots on them. Tiles like this show up from time to time. You may know that often Flower tiles have numbers on them, two sets of numbers in red and green, numbering from 1 to 4. These tiles have pips that represent the number associated with each tile. For many of us, the number on Flower tiles does not make a difference, but for others who play Hong Kong style, for example, these numbers do make a difference, because each player has a number associated with their seat; if they get the tile associated with their seat, they get an extra point in that game. So from time to time you'll see pips on tiles, and at other times Arabic numbers might be added. It is possible that this set has pips because the rest of the set does not have any Western letters or Arabic numbers, and pips are in keeping with the type of set it is. It is hard to tell from the photo but these pips may have been carved into the tile; sometimes pips and numbers are added in pen or pencil.

There are a few other interesting aspects to the set, proving that photographs can be deceiving. From the top photo it looks like a Chinese Bakelite set because of all the yellow tint. However it is actually French Ivory, as seen in these next photographs.

You can see the alternating colors on the tile, indicating it is French Ivory.

And the true color is probably closer to this:

The White Dragons, seen in the top photo, are pretty wonderful too.