Fully carved sets are rare, as are ivory ones, so it was amazing to get an email about one. The owners were curious about it. Their set is a true Mahjong Treasure, and I am delighted to share the images with you. We'll start with the box.
It's made of pigskin, painted in red and gold and embossed. Note there's a keyhole for a lock toward the top of the front.
People who have tiles that are a combination of a white material and bamboo often think their sets are made of ivory and bamboo, but usually their sets are bone and bamboo. This set is pure ivory. You can see the criss-cross chevron pattern, known as Schreger lines, on the top two tiles.
We'll go to the One Dot, the inspiration for the Joker pattern of many of the newer sets. Here the Dragon is pretty easy to decipher, although he is way too big to be entirely on the tile. He's curled up, and we see three parts of his body. If you think of the circle as a clock face, his head is in the center of the tile, his neck at 4:00, the middle part of his body (upside down) from 11:00 until 1:00, and his tail at 8:00. Fabulous!
Now we will see how the craftsmen designed all the suits.
The One Bam is a hawk on a globe, a symbol of Chinese military strength. I love that MJ is carved into the tile. The other Bams are bamboo shoots. Dots 2-9 are lovely delicate flower heads. The Craks are floral garlands. But look at the Chinese numbers on the Craks. Those of you with sharp eyes, or those of you lucky enough to own Dee Gallo's Money Set, will notice the numbers are not those we normally see on tiles. Instead they are the ones used in Chinese banking: the numbers are different so as to make it more difficult to change a number into a higher one. Think about Arabic numbers-it's pretty easy to change a 1 into a 7; the Chinese banking numerals made altering numbers impossible.
The other numbered tiles continue with the same patterns.
Onto the Winds, Dragons and Flowers. The Winds, normally quite dull in appearance (except in a Dee Gallo set) are garlands with different squash. In Chinese culture, squash or gourds are symbols of wishes for lots of children, because they have so many seeds in them. And I think the garlands are really vines. (per Primal Trek)
From Primal Trek http://primaltrek.com/gourd.html
The Chinese language has a large number of written characters but a smaller number of spoken sounds so many Chinese characters share the same or similar pronunciation (please see Hidden Meaning of Symbols). The Chinese have a strong propensity to associate similar sounding words. For example, trailing gourd vines are described in Chinese as man (蔓}. This same character can also be pronounced as wan and has the exact same pronunciation and meaning as 万 which means "10,000". Because the gourd contains many seeds, the Chinese associate the gourd with "10,000 children". In ancient China, parents hoped for many sons and grandsons so the gourd became an important charm symbol for a large family with many children.
We have a Dragon with the Red Chung symbol (The Chung represents China, as does the Dragon) and the Phoenix with the Green Dragon. (When the Dragon and Phoenix are paired together, the Phoenix represents the Empress. ) The White Dragon is the abstract frame we often see on newer tiles. And of course we have the always delightful children at play, this time some are playing with firecrackers. You will see the #1 tile at the bottom shows a boy holding his ears: he does not want to hear the explosion!
Thanks to Ray Heaton, we have a translation of the characters on the Flower tiles:
皆大歡喜, jiēdàhuānxǐ, to everyone's delight and satisfaction.
逍遙快樂, xiāoyáo kuàilè, unconstrained happiness.
The full set, in all its glory.
From the owner of the set:
I have a vintage Mah Jong set brought from China by my grandmother who was in Shanghai with the U.S. Navy in 1936. She enjoyed Mah Jong very much and had three sets when she died, but this one, an ivory set in a beautiful decorated pigskin box, I kept. The tiles are 1' 3/16 x 7/8" x1/2".
I have ascertained the tiles are ivory, not bakelite or any other substance by examining them with a 10 power lens and comparing them to the photos of ivory that you placed on your web page.
In thinking more about it, my father was about 5 years old when he was in China, because he talked about his mischievously pushing his "Ama" (nurse) over very easily as she had bound feet. That would put the family there in 1928 which I think is a logical date for acquiring the set.
The other thing is that the Flowers, or as my grandmother called them "Pretties", are a set showing a boy lighting doing all sorts of play things, such as lighting firecrackers, standing on his hands or playing an instrument.
A later email:
But I am extraordinarily pleased to discover that it is such a superb example of Mahjong sets, and possibly one of a kind. My grandmother shipped it out to me when I was first married in 1965, along with some oriental carpets and a Chinese pillow box that had been presented to my grandfather by a "mandarin". U.S. Military men were held in high esteem back in the 1920's and it is possible that the ivory set was a gift to him as well. I think it is interesting that the chest/container is relatively unremarkable, and I wonder if that was to "hide" the ivory so that it was not so tempting to steal. Just speculation on my part.
I think its interesting the box has a real lock on it. (There were many ways to secure mahjong boxes to try to keep their contents safe. Opening panels with tricky ways to open them were all the rage.) Thieves could just have been picked up the box and stolen it, so the lock was probably just to keep people from opening it and taking out pieces to play with, perhaps losing them.
I think I "speak" for all of us with a big thanks to this reader. What a beautiful way to start the new year.
Here are a few additional images of the box, and the dice holder which reminds me of one of those chops used to stamp characters at the bottom of documents or letters.
Crisloid has been making mahjong sets here in the USA for years. For those of you who don't know, in the past they mass-produced sets for Ten Flowers, Lowe, Royal, Cardinal, and Eastern Distributors. Recently they made special limited-edition ones for Red Coin and MJLA. This is their latest, and I have to admit, for me, it was love at first sight. I can almost guarantee these tiles will bring a smile to everyone's lips. Known as the Trach/Bach set, it's named after its designers Robert Trachtenberg and Tom Bachtell. You can see how charming it is just by looking at the Joker. Many of us feel we multi-task, but look at this elephant who puts us all to shame: on its two hind legs, roller skating while yo-yoing. (I looked it up, this term exists.) For purposes of this post, I borrowed liberally from the Crisloid website:, including the following two paragraphs and all photographs of the tiles.
Renowned photographer and Emmy-award winning director Robert Trachtenberg learned to play mahjong two years ago. This quickly evolved into a weekly game with a group of rabid “mahj” enthusiasts. Between them, they have at least fifteen vintage sets— and a lot of Trachtenberg’s money. When he began searching for a set of his own, he soon learned that however beautiful, they were pretty much all variations on the standard theme.
Determined to create a one-of-a-kind mahjong set from scratch, Trachtenberg has reimagined every tile with wit, flair, and a riot of color. Collaborating closely with legendary illustrator Tom Bachtell (whose work has been featured in The New Yorker magazine for over twenty years) and the team here at Crisloid in a creative partnership, we’re sure you’ll love the result — a hand-painted, wildly original, inventive take on the classic game.
It's not easy to come up with variations on a theme for mahjong sets. Tiles have to be recognizable for what they are. I was enchanted by their creative take on designs, and I quickly caught on to what was what. Let's start by looking at the Dots.
Dots
The number of dots on her dress changes, as does their placement, making it easy to see which tile is which. Don't you think this lady is off to her mahjong game, a bit late? You see her necklace flying as she quickly makes her way. Her NMJL card can easily fit into her purse, right?
Time for the Bams: pandas eating bamboo stalks, as they are wont to do.
Bams
Each and every panda is adorable. Look at the guy sitting in the Adirondack chair! And the expression of the one on #7 is too much.
The Craks, usually the dullest of the tiles, have a chance to shine. Here they're fabulous.
Craks
See how the number of cracks are the same as the Crak number, at least as long as the vase is still whole. But eventually the cracks take their toll. Number 9 is just barely a recognizable pitcher, so don't rush to put any water in it. Counting the number of cracks reminded me of that visual game mystery: "What is different in these two illustrations?" But I cracked it! (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) You can count the number of injuries to the vase.
And now for the Dragons, which really had me laughing out loud.
Dragons
The White is a bar of soap. It has soap written on it, but you can see bits of the frame that often stands in for The White Dragon. Tom and Robert really "nailed it" (another pun, tho right on topic) ) with the Red guy buffing his claws. The Green Dragon one is flossing, something more of us need to remember to do.
The Flowers are beautiful, with their multi-colored palette.
Flowers
The ladies holding the floral bouquets have color-coordinated their rings to their bracelets. There is some mahjong jewelry there, if you look carefully.
Here's a delightful twist on the normally dull Winds.
Winds
These are so inventive. We have four areas of the USA represented on the tiles. Two made me laugh out loud: the North's camper and the bear, and the East's jaunty fellow, just off the ocean liner, hailing a taxi (or at least that's my interpretation). The South's Scarlett is keeping cool, thanks to her fan, and that updraft, and I can feel that hot desert sun in the West. That detail of the sunglasses outside of the scarf is too funny.
This wind indicator should bring a smile to everyone's face. I may just have to start playing with one.
I know some people really just like playing with traditional sets-the tiles are easily recognizable and all the players need to do is to focus on their hands. But, given that many of us love art and giving our brains a work-out at the same time, this set should not to be overlooked. The tiles are big, allowing for those players with older eyes (myself included) can easily see them, and the visual differences on each allows us (nudges us?) into using our brains a bit more on every hand. A few of us played with one the other day, and it was a great fun, only requiring a tiny bit of extra focus. And the visual joy of playing with these tiles was an added bonus.
Both of the men responsible for designing the set told me a bit of background about how the set came to be.
Robert Trachtenberg:
“As an avid Mahj player, I was interested in the possibility of creating a set that would take a completely new visual approach to the game while still remainingaccessibleto any player. The first - and only - illustrator I thought of was Tom Bachtell with whom I had previously collaborated on my book, WHEN I KNEW. He didn’t (and to my knowledge still doesn’t) know the first thing about how to play, but he is such a creative giant, I think the idea of turning his work into something three dimensional intrigued him. The set was in development for about a year and I tested it out for several months with my regular Mahj group. Tom and I tweaked and adjusted and had the great team over at Crisloid turn this into a reality."
Tom Bachtell:
Robert has always had an appreciation for my art and sensibility, and vice versa; we’ve long followed each other’s work. In 2016, my LA-based-photographer-cum-editor-and-film documentarian friend called and said, “Tom, I’m going to ask you an odd question. What do you know about Mahjong?” What I knew about the game was my lifelong fascination with it as a cultural phenomenon — the 20s Mahjong craze I read about in my childhood TimeLife books, the 20th century urbanity, the Chinoiserie, the smart game with the noisy tiles that ethnic families loved to play, the bubbies who played it at the deep end of our swimming club’s pool next to the shuffleboard, the wonderful tile designs. I’d never actually played it. Robert presented the idea of doing a sort of American take on it, but with our combined sensibility —- I was surprised it had never been accomplished before. We quickly got started, and it proved to be an excellent distraction from my regular work. Robert is a Mahjong maven, and involved all his Mahjong pals for guidance and testing out my designs. I discovered that some of my own friends play it. I came to know the quirks of the game, as well as the quirks of engraving miniature drawings. It was a fascinating process. Plus, Robert is fun and smart and funny, so he’s a joy to work with. It’s a great pleasure to see it produced, and the delight people are finding in it. And now I belong to a Facebook Mahjong page.
The set has gotten a lot of write-ups, including in the New York Times and American Express's Departure Magazine.
For more information about this talented two-some, you can click on these links.
Most of you know I love the quirky and charming sets made by someone, for someone. This is one, hand painted on wood, a labor of love. The tiles are tiny: here's one on the left, compared to an average Chinese bakelite one.
These are the Bams, and the One is unique. The others look a lot like cucumbers to me. Anyone notice the unusual arrangement of the 7 Bams? It's as if the painter just fit in that last one on the bottom. And the 9s have their own flair.
The Craks have a certain panache, calling attention to themselves. The artist took some liberty with the Chinese numbers and the wan character, but they're fun.
The Dots just make you want to smile. Once again, original takes on the arrangement of the images.
Lots of flourishes are here on the Winds and Green and Red Dragons. The Flowers are the most traditional part of the set, though they look like they were just picked from the meadow earlier that morning. The #3s are quite droopy, perhaps in need of water?
Each counter was painted, and given a value.
Here's the box, next to a more traditionally sized one.
Many of you know Chinese Bakelite is the name given to a variety of plastics used to make mahjong tiles that are carved by hand. These sets are prized for the delicacy of the designs (the plastic allowed for incredible details) and the often unusual Flowers. Most often the tiles are a single color, but sometimes you can find one with a wafer back, such as this one. These wafers ( different plastic glued to the Chinese Bakelite) are one of the more unusual colors: red.
What's not to love about this set? The wafers are the prettiest red I have seen. The striped One Bam bird is charming, the Dots beautifully carved with pretty details, and the White Dragon is one of my favorites. Up until now, every time I've seen a deeply carved Red Dragon, it's been in an owl set. (Notice how deep that gauge is?) This obviously is not an owl, but another very high end set.
There are 16 Flowers, but right now I am only going to show you 15. For those of you who have Mah Jongg the Art of the Game, you'll see how some of the images are very similar to those seen on page 123, but without the traditional clothing.
These ladies are having a day in the country. They look like young women might have in the 1930s, enjoying leisurely activities and relaxing. Everyone looks pensive, lost in thought. There's a reason: They are all modeling! It's a photo shoot of some sort!
And here's the guy responsible: the photographer. Don't you love that big camera?! This is the first time I have ever seen a full set of the photo shoot. So keep your eyes out one for these!
Needless to say, I am not going to cover up any of these tiles to turn them into Jokers. I'll use the little dot stickers that some people mark the hands they've won with, and put the stickers in empty spaces on the tiles. The tiles with the dots will be the Jokers. I'll take the stickers off after each game so as not to ruin the tiles. But that photographer is never going to be a Joker! So I guess those maidens are never going to "lighten up."
It will not come as a surprise to any of you that I love many different types of sets. I have a special place in my heart for one-of-a-kind ones, perhaps made for children to enjoy. I came upon this special little set, briefly on ebay, and I had to share it with you. These tiles are hand-painted, not carved, and the set must have been loved.
How adorable are these Dragons? They might have even been painted by a child. Each one is different. They each have their own distinct looks: some look like caterpillars, others like dogs, and even T-Rexes.
The Wind characters have been painted with élan and enthusiasm. I like that the Western letters are on the top and bottom of the tiles so that they can be read both right-side up and upside down. I suspect that someone older must have worked on these tiles, if I am right about the Dragons.
These Craks are delightful, and the energy on the Chinese numbers and Wans radiates out from the tiles. Once again, the designs are much more sophisticated than those of the Dragons.
The Bams have their own unique designs, so likely done by someone with great creativity (unless they were copying some other set I have yet to find and identify).
The Dots have their own special style as well.
The more I think about it, the more I feel this set was made by several people, working together to make a set to be played with and enjoyed. I imagine a scene around a table, with perhaps a parent or two, and a child, collaborating on a game which would be a wonderful way to pass the time together as a family.
Certainly these tiles brought a smile to your face, as they did to mine.
A set does not have to be a masterpiece to be a treasure.
A gentleman sent me photos of his wonderful treasured ivory Mahjong set, purchased many years ago from a very wealthy Chinese family in old Vietnam. I must admit I gasped when I saw the images. This One Bam is one of the most beautiful peacocks I have ever seen on a Mahjong tile. Note the exquisite peacock tail, with the varied depth of the carving- you almost feel you can touch those feathers. The set was made by master craftsmen in the 1920s, created for the export market given the presence of Western letters and Arabic numbers.
You will note the longevity symbol in the center. *
The White Dragon is especially lovely, with the delicate butterflies at the corners of the tile. These may be the most detailed butterflies ever on a Mahjong tile.
The Craks have the elaborate version of the wan.
Note the care put into every Dot, with the floral centers.
The color palette of the One Bam is very unusual, and highly attractive. It is rare to see such a big beautiful peacock, certainly taking ownership of the tile!
The Winds have our Western letters, but the Green and Red Dragons have Chinese Characters.
Enjoy these exquisite Flowers!!
This image is often seen: a boy playing the flute on the back of the water buffalo. The number of details on the tile is extraordinary, and all the Flower tiles have this level of care.
We certainly see a lot of maidens in Mahjong, but this set has very fine depictions. I feel all the maidens on these tiles are the same person, most likely a goddess. The craftsman has added delightful details: her highly decorated fan, beautiful robe and hair ornaments. The ribbons on her robe (on all the tiles where she appears) are blowing in the breeze, adding a graceful touch. As is almost always the case in Chinese garden scenes, there is a wall. Chinese garden walls harken back to the Great Wall, a source of pride.
Given all the curlicues on the tile (curlicues represent the heavens), we are looking at a goddess. I love the idea that even up in the heavens they drink tea! The ribbons from her robe blend into the clouds. The semi-circular shape here might be a moongate.
This is one of the best carvings of a horse I have seen of one on a Mahjong tile. The scenery the horse and rider are traveling through conjures up all those beautiful and sometimes sacred mountains in China.
The next suite of Flowers show the goddess/maiden with the four plants important to the Chinese: plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum.
We often see maidens walking down stairways, as our maiden is doing, here holding plum blossoms in her hand. There's a rock behind her, part of the created landscapes in the gardens of wealthy Chinese.
Even though this maiden is a goddess, it important to note when young ladies appear on Mahjong tiles, they are either at the window looking out, or in a garden. Wealthy young women in China were not allowed out of their home area after they "became women." Their homes and gardens were their worlds.
Here we see her walking past an urn where orchids are in bloom. The pole she is carrying might be a hoe, used for flower cultivation.
How charming is this image of her, bamboo in hand, playing with a butterfly? It is amazing how detailed the butterfly is, and remember, the whole tile is only over an inch in length.
And finally we have this scene where she is holding that large pot of chrysanthemums. She appears to be floating, although I don't see any evidence of clouds.
As many of you know, ivory is the only substance with the cross-hatching you see here. You might have to look at several tiles to see it, and it is often on the sides of the tiles, but if you find that cross-hatching, you have ivory. If you see a tile without any backing, such as bamboo or ebony to name a few, you probably have ivory. Look carefully for the cross-hatching, not the squiggly lines you would see on French Ivory. Given that China was very poor in the 1920s, ivory was not in great supply, and thus real ivory sets are very unusual.
Isn't this set fabulous??!! I think I "speak" for all of us that we are very grateful to the set's owner for sharing these images with us.
*Many of you will have noticed another symbol, the gammadion cross or swastika, ringing the center of the One Dot. To the Chinese and others in Asia, this symbol is very important, and it is best to remember that it has positive associations in Asian art, opposite of the horrifying one representing the Nazi party.
From wikipedia:
The Swastika (also known outside the Indian subcontinent as the Hakenkreuz, gammadion cross, cross cramponnée, croix gammée, fylfot, or tetraskelion) (as a character 卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious symbol originating from the Indian subcontinent, that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross with four legs each bent at 90 degrees.[1][2] It is considered to be a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism and dates back at least 11,000 years.[3]
Western literature's older term for the symbol, gammadion cross, derives mainly from its appearance, which is identical to four Greek gamma letters affixed to each other.[4] The name Swastika comes from the Sanskrit (Devanagari: स्वस्तिक), and denotes a "lucky or auspicious object".[4] It has been used as a decorative element in various cultures since at least the Neolithic Age. It is known most widely as an important symbol, long used in Indian religions.
This is what I would call a pretty nondescript box. Years ago I would not have bothered to open it, thinking there would not have been anything of interest in it. But wrong!! I have learned that there is not necessarily a relationship between the ornate nature of the box and the quality of the set: often great sets come in simple boxes, and wonderful boxes can house simple sets.
I found these images while looking at sets up for auction on ebay. The set itself is incomplete, but the tiles that are left are stunning. It is interesting to note that many sets can have all the tiles (Suits, and Winds and Dragons) "fully carved" but not all do. Here we have a mix of fully carved and (somewhat) plain although beautiful.
The Bams are lovely. I love the slightly rounded edges of the stalks. The One Bam is the Phoenix, the King of the Birds, holding a peony, King of the flowers. Notice the finely carved details on the bamboo stalks.
The Dots certainly have lovely details, especially the One Dot with the floral center. Obviously six tiles are missing, and replacements will have to be found or blanks located and carved.
But look at the normally drab Winds. Here butterflies surround the Wind characters. These tiles are somewhat similar to the White Dragons we saw on the ebony set. When sets are incomplete and tiles have to be located and subbed in or carved, my dear friend Katherine Hartman designs beautiful White Dragons to be carved instead of the plain white tiles often seen in old bone and bamboo sets. Given that tiles are missing, this embellishing does not interfere with the integrity of the set.
Stylized frames surround the Craks.
The colors are lovely. You have to look carefully, but the Green and Red Dragons have bats at the corners, with longevity symbols on each edge. The Red # flowers probably were all children at play. I have seen that #2 one before, and I never can quite figure out what that child is doing- perhaps he is a contortionist??!! (If you click on the photo you can see it enlarged, to take in all the lovely details.) There are enough blanks to have the missing four Flowers carved, and these are groupings of Flowers that are seen from time to time, so the right Flowers could be carved to add to the set.
So, worth taking a peek , right?
BTW: The set sold for over $3,000. Let's all remember to open any boxes that might contain a MJ set!!
Dee Gallo's Limited Edition Money set, with tiles arranged for this year in Chinese history.
The year of the Fire Rooster in Chinese years, seen on a Shanghai Luck set.
In China there are 12 signs of the zodiac, and five elements can modulate each sign. The elements are metal, water, wood, fire, and earth. This year we have the Fire Rooster. People born this year are said to be strong-willed, leaders, and organized. They get things done, but they are not always considerate of the feelings of others.
2017, the 100 year anniversary of the "discovery' of Mahjong by Joseph P Babcock, on a Shanghai Luck set. Symbols of longevity abound: the peaches at the top and bottom of the Crak tiles represent longevity, as do the Bats on either side.
In our calendar, 2017 is an important year. One hundred years ago, in 1917, according to legend, Joseph P. Babcock saw Mahjong being played. Babcock was working for Standard Oil and living in Soochow. As the story goes, he was on a ship on the Yangze River when he heard a lot of noise and laughter. He went to investigate, and found crewmen playing a mysterious game with tiles. Babcock spoke fluent Chinese, and he quickly learned how to play the game. He is credited with being the first person to realize the game might be a hit with the foreign market. He joined with others to form the Mah-Jongg Sales Company. Babcock added Arabic numbers and Western letters to the tile sets, so that Americans and Europeans could understand which tile was which. He also may have been the one to come up with the concept of "dumbing down" : thinking the Chinese rules and scoring were way too complicated for the non-Chinese market, he simplified everything. His version was printed in a little red soft-cover book which was enclosed in every set exported from China. A hard cover one was available for purchase.
The original Little Red Book, pre-dating Chairman Mao's by 20 + years. Mao outlawed mahjong during his rule.
Babcock was at least partly responsible for helping to save a struggling Chinese economy. China had a very difficult time in the beginning of the 1900s, which allowed for the overthrow of the last Emperor of China, and the establishment of The Republic of China in 1912. The new republic continued to have a "challenging" economy, but Mahjong helped to save the day in the 1920s.
Reader Paul J. sent me a wonderful article from a monthly newsletter published in 1924, and some of that information appears here. Mahjong is credited for helping Chinese employment numbers, and exports. In 1921, China exported 6,305 HK Dollars worth of goods. In 1922, all exports totaled 198,000 HK Dollars. By 1924 it was predicted that mahjong exports alone from China would account for, drum roll please, 3,000,000 HK Dollars!!!
Much of the credit for this world-wide craze was the brilliant marketing of the game. China in the 1920s was exotic and mysterious, and the admen took advantage of this. People at the Mah-Jongg Sales Company created wonderful lore, and wrote it in flowery phrases, pre-dating the J. Peterman catalog by 50 or more years. The MJSC catalog read:
What is it? This is the universal question found on the lips of everyone who has not yet been initiated in this fascinating game of the hour.
Mah-Jongg is our registered Trade Marked name of a game, an ancient Chinese game, and about it clings all the lure of the Orient. A game as fascinating to the Occident as are the rich silken and embroidered garments of the ancient courts of China.
Since the days of the great teacher Confucius, this ANCIENT HONORABLE AND ROYAL GAME has been handed down from generation to generation.
At the time when Babylon the Great was mistress of the Western World, long before the days of the Roman Empire, this marvelous game fascinated the cultured Chinese with the click of its ivory tiles and its “Pung” and “Chow.”
What better way to celebrate this Chinese New Year than to ring it in with symbols of good luck?
Lucky cat, lantern, rooster charm, chocolate coins, red envelope, new year symbol, peanuts (nuts are good luck), spaghetti (long noodles) tangerine, ginger chews
I was lucky enough to buy an Inaugural Friendship box from Pearl River Mart (pearlriver.com). The box includes:
Rooster charms to help people tap into traits associated with the sign
Red Envelopes used to gift hard cash (or maybe chocolate coins)
Lanterns, the end of the 15 day celebration: the full moon. The moon symbolizes the return of spring and the reunion of family.
Lucky snacks: ginger for longevity, and sweets for a sweet new year. Not included: tangerines (because the Chinese word sounds like the word for luck), peanuts and long noodles symbols of a long life.
The lucky cat with a beckoning paw is thought to bring good luck-the left paw attracts customers to a shop, and the right invites good fortune and money.
I have the good fortune to know Allan and Lila Weitz, two wonderful Mahjong collectors from Canada. They send out a card every year. This is the card I got this year. Of course it is always fun to see the two of them, and the lovely boxes and set really caught my eye. Needless to say, although hard to see clearly in the photograph, I knew the set was a beauty. Allan kindly sent me photographs, and the story of the acquisition is at then end of the post.
The box is one of the most deeply carved boxes I have ever seen, with a Foo dog handle and two doors. Already the piece is a stand-out.
This is a very unusual One Bam crane. The other Bams are Bodhi leaves, from the Bodhi tree, important to Buddha. On rare occasions these leaves appear on Bam tiles in Mahjong.
The Craks are surrounded by garlands, with chrysanthemums at the top and bottom. Many of you eagle-eyed readers may also notice the Chinese numbers are different. This number system is the way numbers were written in the Chinese banking world, because the numbers could not be altered on checks and other banking forms.
The Flowers are beautiful and delicately carved. The ones on the right are those plants associated with the seasons, chrysanthemum, bamboo, orchid and plum blossom. And look how thick the bone is! The creature on the Green Dragon looks to be a leopard.
The Red Dragon features a fabulous hawk. If you look closely, the bird is holding a ribbon which surrounds Chung, a symbol for Center, representing China. Many of you know that a hawk on a globe means Chinese military strength, and I think that is what this means here too.
The winds have plants. The East looks to be a carrot or parsnip, West is a lotus root, North a Bamboo shoot and South a gourd.
Here is the story, written by Allan, about how the set got to the Allan and Lila Weitz collection.
Here is a brief history of set #1
The hallmark of a true collector is patience and knowledge. For the last 19 years, I have been acquiring mahjong knowledge and am still learning facts every day. Patience was willed to me by my father. He was a perfectionist and in his retirement, built violins by hand from scratch. I observed him working on a front or back for weeks and if he was not satisfied, onto the scrap pile went the piece and he would start again.
I source my sets from many areas. One area in particular is appealing. There are dozens of small auction houses with websites not associated with platforms such as Invaluable, or eBay. They do not send reminders on key words. Months of patient regular checking can go by without a hit. In November, 2015, a mahjong set poorly described and photographed popped up from a small company in Canada. My knowledge told me that this was a special set. If I was correct, I witnessed two similar sets sell for $8000US and $12000US. I telephoned in my bid the day before and waited. Two days later, my phone rang and I was informed that I had won the set. My heart stopped and I asked the hammer price. $650Can + 20% . I quickly paid by credit card and instructed the local UPS store to mail the package to me. I had previously done business with this store and they were very efficient. The same day, UPS sent out the box with tracking. I was able to follow to follow the progress of the package and delivery was scheduled for two days before Christmas Eve. I stayed home all day waiting for the driver and at 5.00pm, the tracking site flashed "Package Delivered" I rushed to the front door and found........nothing. Patience went out the window. What was my next move? I decided to go and search for the box. It was dark and freezing cold, The plan was to search in concentric circles from my house. I live on a crescent with about thirty homes. I walked along the middle of the road and checked front doors from left to right. About six homes up I spied a large box in the shadows of the front door. I quickly scaled the stairs to the door and there was a large box. Before touching the box, I rang the front door bell-no answer, I rang a second time- nothing. I picked up the box and read the address label. Allan Weitz 12.... from UPS. As I walked down the stairs, I looked at the address of the house posted on a narrow column. It was number 21, But because there was little room on the plaque, the 2 was on top and underneath was the 1. The UPS driver was probably super tired and read the address wrong. I floated home and placed the box on the kitchen counter. Slowly I unpacked the set and my heart stopped again. The set is magnificent and is listed in my top ten sets. This is an example of what collecting is all about.
So, this holiday season, in addition to the really important wishes and prayers we have for family, friends, our country and the world, maybe we can be hopeful something wonderful like this set can show up in our lives too!
Many of you are familiar with the delightful Crisloid set, with its peacock wearing a crown. Just looking at the color of the tiles, and the cheery images can cheer up a dreary day. No wonder this set is a fan favorite.
One of the most talented designers and craftswomen in the Mahjong business today, Dee Gallo of Red Coin, worked with Crisloid to create a new set for them, putting her touches on some of Crisloid's beloved images, and adding new wonderful designs for the Dragon Set, released in 2015. What a great result.
I thought I would show you some of the original tiles, and the ones that Dee tweaked to fit in with her vision for the new set. The plastic used for each kind of set is very different which probably leads to some design choices as well.
The lighter tiles will always be the original Crisloid set. Here are some of the suit tiles. The new One dot has the R representing Red Coin and the C representing Crisloid. The 7 Bam on the new set looks inspired by the designs of the 7 Dots we often see. The One Bam peacock is a bit more detailed, with the coins on his wings really resembling the Red Coin/Crisloid One Dots.
The original Crisloid Flowers look sunny, with what looks like a Swedish design influence in their simplicity and bold colors.There are two groups of Flowers on the new set : actual flowers (the eight ones on the left), and those that can be used in the Singapore Capture style of play (on the right.) The rooster gets the centipede, the rich man the pot of gold, the fisherman the fish, and the cat the rat.
The Crisloid Big Joker has a wonderful bold and simple look to it. The new sets give the buyer a choice of Jokers. This one is the Ma-Ma Hu-Hu, half horse and half Tiger.
I must admit, I never thought I would have Winds as my favorite part of the set, but on this set they are. A Winds hand, seen below, is just beautiful. But when you see how Dee has directed the fans to the four compass directions, you will understand why the tiles are so beautiful.
But what would be a Crisloid set without their darling dragons? See how Dee has finessed them to fit in with the new set.
What wonderful inspirations, and great teamwork!
Given that the holidays are just around the corner.... 🙂
