My Grandfathers Mah Jong set

[CMW403]

Yesterday I finally got around to hauling all of the goodies that my grandfather left me from his property out near waiparous back to my house.

He had this Mah Jong set stashed away in his safe room. I was hoping someone could translate the Cantonese on the inside of the lid and/or give me as much information as possible about this set.

The fact that he had this stashed in his 10'x10' concrete safe room tells me it was extremely valuable to him and/or just plain valuable.

Thanks Guys!

[lilmira]

It's hard to read from the picture. All I got is that it's from some shop in Yau Ma Tei in HK. The phone number is 58981, yeah 5 digits. That should indicate the time period.

[NissanFanBoy]

It belonged to a king in 1898...jk, all I can read is 1898.

Edit...mira is right, it says telephone number with 58981 in it

[CMW403]

am I understanding this correctly? This was made in a time period when chinese phone numbers were 5 digits?!

EDIT: I increased the size of the picture

[HiSpec]

Damn... 5 digits HK phone number?!?!

A loose translation of the bottom black and red text... 'Specialized in mahjong made with the teeth of some kind of Shanghai fish. Also distributor of arthritis medicine. Retail and renter of various types of mahjong. Located at shop number 630 Canton Road, Yau Ma Tei.

[CMW403]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Damn... 5 digits HK phone number?!?!

A loose translation of the bottom black and red text... 'Specialized in mahjong made with the teeth of some kind of Shanghai fish. Also distributor of arthritis medicine. Retail and renter of various types of mahjong. Located at shop number 630 Canton Road, Yau Ma Tei.

That's what I thought!... A quick Wiki search informed me that phone numbers in North America were 5 digits long from around 1920-1940. Wouldn't that mean that 5 digit phone numbers in HK definitely pre-dates the turn of the 19th century? Is that an accurate estimate?

[TomcoPDR]

Always thought u were a white guy @CMW403 . Unless ur one of those hybrids.

Are the tiles made of ivory you think?

[HiSpec]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Always thought u were a white guy @CMW403 . Unless ur one of those hybrids.

Are the tiles made of ivory you think?

Can't say for sure. The piece of paper says fish teeth (maybe even bones?.

[Tik-Tok]

Google says 1960's for 5 digit numbers. Don't forget, they weren't as technologically advanced as North America back then. Most households wouldn't have a phone.

[CMW403]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Always thought u were a white guy @CMW403 . Unless ur one of those hybrids.

Are the tiles made of ivory you think?

You got me lol, I am, German/Italian Hybrid.

In his time, my grandfather was considered one of the best in Canada (likely North America) at building era-accurate log cabins. He probably knew 50 different ways to put a log cabin together. So when a movie set required a log cabin, my grandfather would get the call. I guess he made friends with a couple people in the movie business from HK, and they would come visit and teach him how to play mah jong while he drank them under the table. I guess they really liked him because they gave him this set before they went back to HK for good.

I have no idea what the tiles are made out of, but I don't think its Ivory. I mean I could be wrong... Hispec mentioned that he was able to translate a part of that text that said the tiles were made out of the teeth of a special Shanghai fish.

- - - Updated - - -

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Google says 1960's for 5 digit numbers. Don't forget, they weren't as technologically advanced as North America back then. Most households wouldn't have a phone.

yeah you're right... I just factored in population when I was doing that calculation in my head, definitely never took that into consideration.

[jwslam]

Most typing I've done in a while lol

本齋專辦上海蘇
竹魚牙全白五彩
色背等新式麻將
牌正烏梅木全白
天九牌十五湖兼
辦上海雷允上六
神丸正行澤堂風
濕膏以及各種玩
品零沽批發格外
克已久蒙中西士
商推許叨承 惠
顧無任歡迎


並有上等頂靚全
白新式雀牌烏梅
天九牌租貨

I didn't get much out of it... Could read individual words but they don't really mean anything to me together?
I believe they are made of 烏梅木; Plum blossom wood

This is the address on the left part:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/630...8gEwAHoECAUQAQ

[CMW403]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Most typing I've done in a while lol

本齋專辦上海蘇
竹魚牙全白五彩
色背等新式麻將
牌正烏梅木全白
天九牌十五湖兼
辦上海雷允上六
神丸正行澤堂風
濕膏以及各種玩
品零沽批發格外
克已久蒙中西士
商推許叨承 惠
顧無任歡迎


並有上等頂靚全
白新式雀牌烏梅
天九牌租貨

I didn't get much out of it... Could read individual words but they don't really mean anything to me together?
I believe they are made of 烏梅木; Plum blossom wood

This is the address on the left part:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/630...8gEwAHoECAUQAQ

Wow, thanks man. Plum blossom wood, very interesting!

EDIT: thanks for the address, that's awesome!

[rage2]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Google says 1960's for 5 digit numbers. Don't forget, they weren't as technologically advanced as North America back then. Most households wouldn't have a phone.

Technically 6 digits as there’s a 1 digit area code. In the 70s and 80s it went to 6 digits, plus the area code.

[hrdkore]

its just a vintage mahjong tile set, could be bamboo or wood on the backing while the actual tile is a different material.

http://www.mahjongtreasures.com/gett...ng-sets-value/

[Xtrema]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

本齋專辦 - This shop specializes

上海蘇竹魚牙 全白五彩色背等 - Shanghai Suzhu Fish Teeth - All White (in this case, blanks), 5 color back etc

新式麻將牌 New style Mah Jong tiles

正烏梅木 全白天九牌十五湖- Authentic Black Plum Wood - All White (in the case, blanks, some sort of other tile, I think Pai Gow)

兼辦 - Also Carries

上海 雷允上六神丸 - Shanghai <name medicine>

正行澤堂 風濕膏 - <name of shop> arthritis paste

以及 - And

各種玩品零沽批發 - Other Toys, retail or wholesale

格外克已久蒙中西士商推許叨承 - (No 100% here) All businesses western or eastern

惠顧無任歡迎 - are welcome to do business


並有上等頂靚全白新式雀牌烏梅天九牌租貨 - Also rent top quality new black plum wood pai gow

My rusty comprehension break it up as that. It's basically an Ad of what the shop carries. The probably set is build with the pulverized fish bone is very high.

The bolded line, I probably got it wrong but very close. There are some words that I don't know if they are adjectives or nouns.

EDIt:

Was trying to find a set from the 60s to confirm, but here's a set from the 80s despite what seller say.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/5584...set-by-tak-lee

Notice the phone number format as Rage said.

So your grandpa's set is 60s or older.

[CMW403]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

My rusty comprehension break it up as that. It's basically an Ad of what the shop carries. The probably set is build with the pulverized fish bone is very high.

The bolded line, I probably got it wrong but very close. There are some words that I don't know if they are adjectives or nouns.

EDIt:

Was trying to find a set from the 60s to confirm, but here's a set from the 80s despite what seller say.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/5584...set-by-tak-lee

Notice the phone number format as Rage said.

So your grandpa's set is 60s or older.

Wow, thanks a lot Xtrema, I really appreciate that. I truly am praying that it is made of pulverized fish bone because I think it will end up being valuable when its 120-140 years old.

I have a few big safes I can stash this away in. I am going to leave it in there until I know for sure its over 100 years old.


NissanFanboy says he can read 1898 on there... what else could that be other then the year that advertisement was run, meaning it was surely manufactured the same year, no?


For all my Mah Jong playing homies on Beyond; Is there a place in the city where it is common for people to sit down and play Mah Jong where I could go and hopefully ask someone that is knowledgeable about these sets? There has to be someone in the city who sells these or knows a lot about these sets, from what I understand this is a very popular game.

[rage2]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

For all my Mah Jong playing homies on Beyond; Is there a place in the city where it is common for people to sit down and play Mah Jong where I could go and hopefully ask someone that is knowledgeable about these sets? There has to be someone in the city who sells these or knows a lot about these sets, from what I understand this is a very popular game.

There's a lot of places where people sit down and play Mah Jong, but I highly doubt they will listen to you ask questions. They'll probably yell at you for distracting them and missing a pong lol.

[CMW403]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

There's a lot of places where people sit down and play Mah Jong, but I highly doubt they will listen to you ask questions. They'll probably yell at you for distracting them and missing a pong lol.

Yeah, I visualized that happening haha.

I was hoping maybe someone had family that like Mah Jong enough to be able to pick up my tiles and tell me what I've got. I'll gladly bring a basket of greenhouse grown tomatoes, cucumbers and some carrots from the garden.

[mr2mike]

TL;DR for all the white guys on the site and Storage Wars fanatics...

Max worth $5000 or just over in a VERY rare instance.
Probably has more sentimental value which is why it was in the safe.

[CMW403]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

TL;DR for all the white guys on the site and Storage Wars fanatics...

Max worth $5000 or just over in a VERY rare instance.
Probably has more sentimental value which is why it was in the safe.

lol

I'm white as hell