Posted 13 years ago
pelican
(1 item)
I would like some information on this item which was discovered when cleaning up a deceased relatives home. The box which is badly faded and worn has the title "Ancient Game of the Mandarins" Inside there are tw0 trays containing 144 wooden tiles, 4 wooden racks to hold the tiles, a small container holding 4 disks E, S, N & W one dice & a number of yellow, green, black & red plastic? sticks. . There is also an instruction book "The Ancient Game of the Mandarins" by Hugo Manovill. The only date I can find is on the cover of the book "Copywrite 1923 by Piroxloid Products Corp"
Any information on the possible age of this item and if it would be of interest to a collector would be much appreciated.
It is an early Mah Jong game and the date is about right. Mah Jong was played in China (and other places) and brought to the USA during the Roaring Twenties by a man named Babcock. It took off and sets began to be imported from china and then produced here. Less expensive and children's sets were wood, then there were the bone and bamboo sets in beautiful boxes, and the bakelite and catalin (early plastics), and today's plastics. Of course there were the very expensive ivory sets and jade sets. This is a 30 sec. summary for a long and complicated subject. I am a beginning collector and would love to buy this set from you if you are interested. I would have to research its value unless you know what you want to sell it for. Two sites that have tons of info on Mah Jong and sets, although it may be more than you want to plow through are http://www.sloperama.com and http://www.charlisstickers.com hmmm, not sure that address has two s's in it. try it both ways. However, neither are likely to tell you the value of the set. Charli's site might have a picture of it if she has done any work on the wood section. Not sure. anyway, hope that helps some. Let me know if I can be of more help or if you want to sell it.
Thanks,
Hope
PS. Not sure that book is original to that set. I will see if I can find out.