Tag Archives: Tony Watson

YOU’VE HEARD OF STAR WARS…

…well, here comes BIRD WARS!

You’d better sit down because you are about to see some of the most spectacular One Bams ever!!!

nov 18, 2014 birds 007These tiles are all ivory, bone and bamboo, and bone and ebony tiles.

Next – get ready…

nov 18, 2014 cb fi birds 005These tiles are resin, Chinese Bakelite, Chinese Catalin and French ivory.

All of these One Bams have something in common – they are all hand-carved. Wow!!!

And they are all part of the breathtaking collection – kept locked away in a secure location, of course –  belonging to my dear friend, the wonderful, ethical, fantastic, and knowledgeable seller of vintage sets, Fracas1 – click on this link to see the beautiful vintage sets she has for sale on eBay.

But wait…there’s more!

885510_864856030192408_4114994913563141877_oThese One Bams are all bamboo tiles, from 1920-1980, courtesy of my great friend, Tony. Double wow!

Want more?

10517408_10204297445828319_7873444320993174131_oThese come from the collection of Shirley, who has been known to save the day for readers of this blog with matching tiles from her incredible orphanage. Triple wow!

Thanks to  Fracas1, Tony, and Shirley, for so generously sharing these fabulous and amazing One Bams with us!

And, before I close today, let me share a poem with the first two lines started by Joy and the second two lines finished in a completely different email by Diane – and I don’t believe they even know one another! This is so fabulous – thanks, ladies!

Ten little birdies, all in a row,

Sitting on a Mah Jongg rack

Flew to a tree, made a show,

Rode the wind; didn’t look back.

EXCITING NEWS!

10689665_304460279757228_752622894281725916_n

I am delighted to announce some very exciting news. A new publication,THE MAHJONG COLLECTOR, a quarterly print magazine, is about to be launched by a group of people I revere and consider to be dear friends. They are experts in all things Mah Jongg and, even though the first issue has not been released just yet, I promise you that it is going to be fabulous.

And so, I am delighted to announce the collaboration of Mahjong historian, Michael Stanwick, along with mahjong researchers/collectors Bill Price, Tony Watson, Ray Heaton and Katherine Hartman, on this new mahjong magazine for collectors.

The quarterly print magazine will be out in early 2015. Through email they will let you know when they have more subscription information available.  If interested in subscribing to the magazine, please send your email to this address: subscriptions@mahjongcollector.com

THE MAHJONG COLLECTOR’s Mission Statement: “The purpose of this magazine is, firstly…
To provide a platform for Mahjong Collectors and enthusiasts to share their knowledge, skills and expertise of the history, materials, and the underlying symbolism of the designs on the tiles and, secondly… To provide a platform for showcasing the variety, beauty and the collector’s passion for Mahjong sets that will stimulate discussion about these elements of the game.”

They will be contacting collectors in the future, for interviews and to be featured as Guest Collectors.

I know that these five wonderful people all thank you in advance for your interest in their new venture; I hope you will respond to their request for subscription information by sending in your email address to subscriptions@mahjongcollector.com.

MAH JONGG FOR BEGINNERS…

Much thanks to the wonderful Tony (“Bony”) Watson for telling us about this rare Mah Jongg book:

DSCF1561 Continue reading →

MYSTERY SOLVED!

photo 1

Back in March I posted pictures of a Mah Jongg set I had purchased and asked for some help on trying to figure out what the heck it was!  I also asked if anyone had some tiles in their orphanage to replace the missing tiles from this unusual set. Well, all good things certainly do come to those who wait. Dear Tony Watson, Mah Jongg authority and historian extraordinaire, has sent the following explanation. The original post follows Tony’s explanation. Now all I have to do is wait some more and perhaps someone will be able to help me fill in my missing tiles! Much thanks and lots of hugs to Tony!

Sorry this is so late, somehow I missed this blog update…
Zooming in on the pics, it looks like the tiles are made of hardwood with either a slip of printed acetate melted onto the top (either by heat or solvent), or more likely, given the crazing, a thick layer of paint with a transfer applied and sealed with a coat of shellac.
Very similar construction is used in Richter’s ‘stone’ tiles.
Anyway, I’ve not seen these tiles before, but they have shades of the French and Austrian sets that we have seen recently, especially the Lizard set.

And here is the original posting:photo 4

A few months ago I purchased this unusual set and am still at a loss at trying to identify it. Perhaps someone out there reading this blog will be able to help…It seems to be very similar in composition to the Portland Billiard Ball Company set that was featured on this blog last month. The tiles are blocks of what I suspect is bamboo with thin pieces of colorful plastic/celluloid glued or somehow affixed to the wood.

The Bams and the Dots are easily identifiable – although I suspect I may have displayed the Bams upside down!

photo 5

But it is the Craks that has thrown me way off…Here are two rows of the Craks (1 – 9) and, as you will see, the symbols in the first row are quite different from the symbols in the second row.

photo 5

Take a closer look at this row of Two Craks:

photo

Each Two Crak is unique.  Have you seen this before?

The Flowers are quite beautiful:

photo 3

And the depiction of the Winds is lovely (although possibly upside down again!). Unfortunately, the set is missing the four West Winds.

photo 4

Both the One Bams (missing two) and the Dragons (missing two Red Dragons and one Green Dragon) show different images. BTW, if anyone can supply the missing tiles, please contact me.

photo 1

photo 2

So, what do you think? I appeal to you to help explain what this unusual set is all about. I look forward to hearing some opinions from you and I will publish them in an upcoming post which happily will be called, “Mystery Solved!”