I've been playing mahjong solitaire for the last three years or so and I've been wanting to trade in my plastic set that I bought in Chinatown for an antique one. One finally came along that I liked and could afford. It came with a couple of mystery parts (see below)
I started writing this post and and was going to ask the age, but this site:
http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/age.htm seems to date it to the 1920's. (I was guessing 20's to 40's).
A very similar set (note the birds and the front panel brassware) currently on Ebay is dated at the 1920's.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CIRCA-1920-MAH-JONG-JONGG-BONE-GAME-SET_W0QQitemZ140374183270QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAsian_Antiques?hash=item20aef40d66 The booklet was published independently and apparently isn't original to the set but was added in. The booklet dates to 1923.
http://www.mahjongmuseum.com/timeline.html Mine has a few flaws. Most of these sets seem to have this or that missing, or some include different things or people added them. Typically, they run about $200-$300. (I got mine for $138) Pricing on Ebay and retail seems to be about the same, give or take. Low starting bid auctions go lower, but these are heavy and the shipping can get pricey. (The one on Ebay above runs $30 to ship) On mine, the front panel top edge is missing and one drawer pull that I think I can replace with a little hunting. It also may have once had some Bakelite tile racks that are no longer there. These often come in American export sets. I know that is an export set is because of the numbers on the tiles.
Here's the box:
Here are the bone sticks used to keep track of the score. Mine also came with four bone wind direction indicator discs a little bone container with a lid to keep them in. I have no idea what the rings are, but they seem to belong in there! They too are bone.
So here's my question, what are the rings for? I've never seen them in a mahjong set and even the site above doesn't mention them.
Up-close on one of the bone and bamboo tiles, these are all hand carved, you can see lots of tiny variations in the carvings from tile to tile. Note the number nine for American players.
The bamboo backs are pristine. Surprisingly so. Every one of them looks like this:
Here are the drawers full of tiles. It's a complete set, none missing, no problems with any tiles.
Unfortunately someone wrote on four of the blank tiles, but this set comes with more than the four that are necessary for play. Some may have been added in?
The season and flower tiles are really unusual. I've never seen ones like these, although there are some similar here:
http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/special.htm
Up-close on one of these:
