Some people do have ivory tiles but most people don t.
Ivory mahjong tiles.
People who have tiles that are a combination of a white material and bamboo often think their sets are made of ivory and bamboo but usually their sets are bone and bamboo.
This set is pure ivory.
Ivory was in very short supply in china in the 1920s and china was a poor country then.
You can see the criss cross chevron pattern known as schreger lines on the top two tiles.
Those looked as if they would glow in the dark not attractive at all.
Ending oct 8 at 12 39pm pdt 5d 5h.
This is a quality set of mah jong tiles.
Only a few sets would have ever been made of ivory and many of these would have been made for the export market as could be seen with western indices on the tiles instead of just chinese characters and numbers.
Antique mahjong bovine bone bamboo set in case plus 4 old footed wood racks.
But just because tiles are not made of ivory does not mean they are less valuable.
Antique chinese mah jongg set bone bamboo wood chest case dice 1920 s.
Many people think they have ivory mahjong sets either because they assume they do or that is what they have been told.
Bone bone is by far the most common material used in antique chinese mah jongg sets and it is usually dove tailed with bamboo.
Deeply carved well painted and a good weight.