mahjong tiles

•

tn2_bamboo-BB36

This lovely bone and bamboo mahjong set features a One Bam bird perching on a branch.

bamboo-close-BB36

Attention was given to depicting the different feather patterns. You can clearly see the claws holding onto the branch, and a graceful twig echoing the curve of the bird. The other Bams are of the barbed variety and here  they are much more sturdy looking than others. Notice the number of strokes used to make each Bam. There is something that always delights on this type of 8 Bams.

tn2_character-BB36

The Craks have elaborate wans, and green Arabic numbers.

tn2_circle-BB36

The One Dot is the flower within a flower, with the outer flower looking like a sunflower, and the other Dots continue the flower pattern. The 2 Dot has eight petals and the rest of the Dots have six. Note the Arabic 5 is carved with a unique style, and the One Dot has a red number and the others have blue ones. This same arrangement is seen on the One Bams. We have seen this on other sets too.

The Winds, Dragons and Flowers will be shown tomorrow.

We thank Mahjongmahjong for sharing these photos with us. To see more of their Mahjong Collection, click here

 

•

DSC_0690

Carol Ann Harper "CHarli" has a writeup about Pung Chow

http://www.charli.org/Mah_Jong/Museum/PungChow/index.htm

The swooping crane One Bam and the flat ended Bams, the simple wans with Arabic numbers, and the Dots going from a stylized flower center to circles within circles appear in these mahjong sets.

The Winds are standard, but the Dragons are highly unusual, and probably were one of the selling points for the game. Who can resist those beautiful creatures?

The Flowers deserve some study, however. They all have the Western letters for the seasons, but the top row has the Chinese words for seasons, whereas the bottom one has the words for the four flowers.

DSC_0692

The interest in showing different forms of architecture appears on these tiles as it does in other sets such as those by the Mah-Jongg Sales Company of America, one of Pung Chow's biggest competitors in those early days.

DSC_0679 MJ

It is clear the images are quite similar, but the Pung Chow designers have a more streamlined approach. The mountains and hills in the background have turned into triangular pyramidal shapes. And don't you love the birds? Look carefully at the South and you will see a bird flying up to the sky, as opposed to all the others flying downward.

And now for the forms of transportation:

DSC_0695 enhance

 

DSC_0678 mj

You can see how Pung Chow's images are simpler here too, but birds still are included on three of the tiles. (The only bird in the Mah-Jongg version is the duck seen on tile 4 under the tree.) The hills are  triangular here too.

To see another write-up about forms of transportation on this site, click here

 

• 1 Comment

•

IMG_6306

 

The photograph of this lovely set was sent by reader Bill Price.

The very thick bone and bamboo tiles have some very interesting designs.  Each One Dot is unique, rarely seen in sets. The centers feature three flowers we associate with the seasons: chrysanthemum, plum blossom, and orchid. The farthest left tile image remains a mystery, but if anyone has any ideas please let us know.

The One Bam sprout is somewhat unusual. You can see the sprout, with the bamboo shoot below it. Sometime people call this the "pineapple" Bam, and you can easily see why.

-1

 

The set was made for export as can be seen by the presence of Western letters and Arabic numbers.

Other tiles have some unusual qualities as well. The Dots are the flower within a circle. We have seen the 9 Dot arrangement before, but it does not appear that often and remains a favorite among collectors.  It is possible this only appears on sets made for export. The Craks are the elaborate Wans. The Bams are of the barbed variety.

The remaining tiles will be posted tomorrow.

Our thanks to Bill for sharing these photographs with us.

• 2 Comments

•

DSC_0881

This is a fabulous French wooden Mahjong set by Arkmel. The design of the box is delightful, with a center logo which somewhat resembles a stylized eye. The wonderful lizard will reappear on the One Dots. The set is made of simple small pieces of wood with paper decals.

DSC_0884

 

Enjoy the One Dot and One Bam. How delightful are they? More tomorrow!

• 1 Comment

•

IMG_0759

 

Sometimes a set stands out because of the lovely and unusual color combinations of the material and the paint colors. This is one such set.

IMG_0766

 

Of course Bams cannot be green here, they would never be seen! So we have white Bams on the green background. The pink adds a bit of snap to it.

IMG_0763

 

The pink Crak wans are lovely when paired with the blue Chinese numbers.

IMG_0767

The Flowers are the beauties often seen. The Green Dragons are White, the Red are the pink, and the White are an elaborate white frame. The Winds are the lovely blue color.

IMG_0768

 

IMG_0772

The One Dot has a meander as one of the outside rings, with a flower petal center. The other Dots are the flower heads inside a circle.

 

• 1 Comment

•

IMG_0723

A reader sent these photos of an interesting set. It features the Singapore capture tiles, seen on the left: the rooster and the centipede, and the cat and the mouse. The pheasant looks very much like pheasants we see on some of the cb and bakelite and even tri-color tiles. The Flowers have Chinese numbers on one set and Arabic numbers on the other. The tiles look delicately carved and painted. The Bams in this photo seem to have an interior ghost circle, perhaps the same circle seen in the White Dragons below. Another reader pointed out that some Dots have that same ghost circle. Does anyone know why? Could this be symbolic or the result of some "manufacturing" process?

IMG_0721The Dots are the simple circles with actual dot interiors, the Craks are elaborate Wans, and Bams the rounded stalks. Both Green and Red Dragons have Chinese symbols, Fa for prosperity on the Green, and  Chung for Center on the Red. The White Dragon is a simple frame with a circle interior.

This set is very similar to one CHarli has on her website, in the Book, Wood Chapter, page 11. She feels this kind of set may be from Tibet, and of recent origin.

•
Chinese hawk
Chinese hawk

Most people would not think there is a great deal of symbolism behind this image. To many it looks like a hawk on top of a cage. It actually is a hawk on top of a globe of the world.  The ribbon in the bird's mouth signifies military strength and the tile represents China's power in the world. Propaganda, both in images and in words, frequently appears on Mahjong tiles.