ROYAL GAMES Bakelite Mah Jong Set

164 Tiles COMPLETE SET 

CASE plus BOTH keys


This is an amazing piece of the past from my mother in laws collection. Probably from the 1940's, it is in truly amazing condition, and may not have ever been played. I'm calling it used, but it appears to have been opened and looked through, then placed on a closet shelf for most of a century. Nice bright colors, with lots of flower, bird, and lady tiles.


The CASE seems to be a wooden box covered with paper. The outside has some scrapes and wear. The inside is of course brighter and has no tears. The paper covered tile holder boxes are both in excellent shape. The latches do work but the brass has oxidized and could be cleaned up. The latches need to be lined up to close well and need some help to do so. They seem a little crooked but they do stay locked. BOTH keys are present and work. The handle is present on the case as well.


I did not clean this set up or even dust it for photos. You're looking at the as found condition.


COMPLETE set of TILES 164 pieces including Chinese character, numbers, figures, parrots, birds, vases and urns of flowers, Ladies at the window, at the river, or bridge, or water. The joker shows a man in traditional clothing, the trade winds, all the tiles are bright and shiny all are the same size and measure about 3 cm x 2 cm x 1 cm. 


The TILE REST BARS aka RACKS AND PUSHERS are BAKELITE in very bright colors with shiny signed ROYAL GAMES bright brass counter coin holders. They all have mustard yellow ends, which is a noticeable difference on early versions of this game. Marbled forest green, marbled CHARTEUSE green, marbled ORANGE, marbled RED and marbled YELLOW.


Please note the cardinal company produced mah-jongg mahjong games with bakelite tiles but used the cheaper quality celluloid or Catalan plastics for the game tile rest bars. In this set, ALL PIECES except the coins TEST POSITIVE AS BAKELITE.


The DICE are BAKELITE tested and are brown colored with off white dots. They are approximately one half inch in all directions.


The COUNTER SPINNER aka BETTOR WHEEL is BAKELITE tested in ruby red and spinach green drilled with a brass center. Through the round windows you can find the numbers 2, 3, 4, E and a Chinese letter character.


There are 121 celluloid chips in the shape of Chinese money in colors of pink, white, blue, red, yellow, green. A complete set of 120 chips, plus one extra. While laying out the chips, I found 2 yellow stuck together. I'm guessing this extra yellow chip was an accidental inclusion from the factory; again further evidence that this set may not have ever been played..


You would be hard-pressed to find a set like this in this condition.


Total of 164 tiles. COMPLETE. 


Signature will be required for delivery. Will be shipped Priority Mail fully insured.