Collector’s reference
Mahjong collector’s glossary
The language used to describe tile composition, vintage materials, construction, condition, and modern variants—defined the same way the catalog uses it.
Tiles and composition
- Bams Bamboo suit
- The numbered bamboo suit. One-bam is often represented by a bird or other motif.
- Craks Characters suit
- The numbered character suit, named from the Chinese character for ten-thousands used on the tiles.
- Dots Circles suit
- The numbered circle suit, shown as repeated round motifs from one through nine.
- Honors
- The four winds and three dragons. They are neither numbered suit tiles nor bonus tiles.
- Flowers and seasons
- Bonus tiles, usually pictorial and often numbered or grouped. Extra pictorial tiles are not automatically jokers.
- Joker
- A wild tile used in American mahjong under rule-specific limits. A blank tile or flower used as a house-rule wild is not necessarily an original printed joker.
- Blank
- An unmarked spare tile or, in some sets, the white dragon. Context and the rest of the composition determine its role.
- Rack
- The holder each player uses to stand tiles, often with an attached pusher. Matching original racks add value to vintage American sets.
- One-bam bird
- The bird or other motif used for the one of bamboo. Its design is a useful clue for comparing makers and eras.
Materials and construction
- French ivory
- A trade name commonly used for ivory-imitation celluloid. The name does not mean the material came from France or is natural ivory.
- Catalin
- A cast phenolic resin known for rich translucent or marbled color and used in collectible mid-century American sets and racks.
- Oxidation
- A surface color change caused by age and exposure. Protected areas of some vintage plastics may remain lighter.
- Injection molded
- Made by forcing softened plastic into a mold, often leaving highly uniform details and small seams or gate marks.
Catalog and condition
- Identification archetype
- A catalog record for a recurring family of sets defined by shared material, date, construction, carving, and case clues—not one confirmed model.
- Attribute fingerprint
- The combined evidence used to identify a vintage set: material, date range, composition, carving, case, accessories, and marks.
- Complete
- All tiles and expected components for the documented composition are present and original to the set as far as known.
- Complete with replacements
- Playable and numerically complete, but one or more tiles or components are later substitutes.
- Incomplete
- One or more required tiles or documented components are missing.
- Provenance
- The ownership and family history of a physical set, including who owned it, where it was acquired, and how it was passed down.
- Maker mark
- A name, logo, label, stamp, patent, or other mark that may connect a set or case to a manufacturer or seller.
- Replacement tile
- A tile added later to stand in for a missing original. Differences in back, size, color, font, or wear often reveal it.
- Colorway
- A modern set’s named color or finish variant. It belongs in the open-ended variant label, not the release-type tier.
- Release type
- A bounded modern commercial tier such as standard, limited release, collaboration, seasonal, or retired reissue.