Ceramic tiles, really?
In the 1920’s Joseph Babcock and other expatriates living in China set off a massive trend in America and then Europe. The trend, of course, was for mahjong and as demand grew businesses looked at ways to produce mahjong sets without using the limited resources of cow bone, bamboo and the skills of Chinese bone carvers. What emerged were sets made in all types of the newly developing plastics, in wood, metal and to a very small extent ceramic.
Many of the ceramic sets that have been found intact have been credited to German manufacture, but the set that I came across recently is British made by a company known as Bertram Hickson Limited of New Oxford Street London WC1. A label inside the lid of the flip-top yellow card box containing the tiles and accessories in 5 internal trays states “the tiles of this All-British Made Set are washable and sterilizible (sic.). Lost or damaged tiles can immediately be replaced on application to your supplier.” Confirming that they are both British and breakable.
The tiles themselves are ceramic stoneware, glazed on all sides including the base and with underglaze designs. Whilst the romanised numbers and letters on the corner of each tile, the bamboo and circle signs have been added with a stencil, stamp or transfer, the Chinese characters show sufficient variation to be hand painted. My set has all tiles intact with very little crazing, although 3 wind tiles have sustained some damage around their edges.
Of particular interest, of course, are the 1 bamboo birds and the flower and season tiles. The bird is a diving green bird, with a long blue tail and a red beak. Not a sparrow, a swallow or a peacock, but simply a bird. The flower and season tiles are painted with the same mix of colours and are decorated with the usual flowers and seasons together with a character naming each one. There is a further nod to tradition by the inclusion of bone dice with the set, but sadly the sticks are wood not bamboo.
The box itself and the Mahjong Rule Book inside, both carry the fierce dragon logo that seems to have appeared on all Hickson sets, both in their yellow card boxes and their more elaborate wooden boxes with drawers. The 8-page booklet is titled “Mah-Jong: The Correct Method of Play” and describes the game in very similar terms as our own handbook based upon the Chinese Competition Rules, although the scoring is rather different. The opening paragraph to the booklet is interesting as it gives a flavour to the status of mahjong in the early days of its spread beyond China.
Mah-Jong is a Chinese game which has been played in the Orient for centuries. In China considerable local variations in the rules exist, and the inhabitants of the different provinces attributed different values to combinations of cards or tiles. Within the last decade, however, the game has attracted many Europeans, and a standard set of rules has been evolved and tested by several years of serious play. Mah-Jong is played by all communities in China and the Far East, and in most progressive towns and cities of the United States. It has now become popular in Europe but it should not be looked on simply as a novelty or a passing craze, but it is a game which has been played by Europeans in the East for some seven years, and it has become, and will become increasingly popular and widespread, because of its own extraordinary fascination. It has already largely superseded Bridge and what is more, appeals strongly to people who are temperamentally averse to card games. Mah-Jong can be played for stakes, but is so fascinating in itself that the monetary incentive is actually not in the least necessary. Above all it is a game which trains and educates the mind in rapid calculation and decision it is a single-handed game in that the individual is not burdened with a partner, and hostesses will appreciate the fact that it does not have to be played under the conditions of quietude necessary for serious cards.
Imagine what washing this set of tiles sounds like!
