5 Drawer Mah Jongg Chest, 3 Brass Corner overlays, 144 CELLULOID Tiles with Black Bakelight ? backs, 114 counters, 1 set dice, NO Jokers in this set..Rare & difficult set to find, especially in this condition..Also have a 1940 New Handy Mah Jongg Hands and Rules,copyrighted 1939 in excellent condition that goes with this set.
CELLULOID..Was one of the first man-made plastics, having been developed by John Hyatt in the 1860's. It was made from cellulose (usually from cotton shirt manufacturing waste) and camphor. It was developed as a direct substitute for ivory and tortoiseshell.
Early celluloid was extremely flammable and burned with the smell of camphor and nitric acid. It is unlikely that many Mah Jongg tiles were made from celluloid, since it was more expensive to produce than the other plastics by the time Mah Jongg tiles were being mass manufactured.
Notice the fine vertical lines in the closeup of one of the tiles..created to make the tiles look like ivory - which is why celluloid of this type was referre to as "French Ivory", but the grain is too regular to be ivory.
We have several VINTAGE Mah Jongg Games in our private collection that will be listed on this page in the coming weeks. All are complete, some have original Jokers, others have sticker jokers.
With each listing I will have photos and descriptions of the Tiles, Carrying Case,Dice,and other important information. | Mah Jongg 5 drawer top |  | |
| Mah Jongg Front |  | |
| Mah Jongg 5 Drawers |  | |
| View of Side & back of Mah Jongg Tiles |  | |
| Dice & wind Disc's |  | |
| counters |  | |
| close up showing French Ivory marks |  | |
| Mah Jongg Hands & Rules |  | |
| Rules opened up |  | |
| Winds,Dragons,Flowers/Seasons |  | |
| Mah Jongg Dots |  | |
| Mah Jongg Cracks |  | |
| Mah Jongg Bamboo |  | |
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