Marsh & Pearl Mahjong Set — 160 Tiles

The Joker is a lobster seen from straight above, claws up, tail fanned out, with JOKER set in serif above it and two sprigs of gold-bronze weed at the bottom corners. Because the color is filled in by hand, the lobsters do not match: some come out deep navy, some a lighter blue, some a grayed olive. That is honest to how these were made rather than a defect — the engraving is identical, the paint is not. The one thing that stays put is the lettering, always that near-black moss green, so the tile reads the same across the rack.

Dots stack opened oysters, shells in layered contour lines of olive, navy and teal, each with its raised pearl. Bams fan jointed reeds up from a flat mud bank, with a standing blue heron taking the 1 — crest up, neck in an S, long bronze legs. Craks keep the same crab at every value, changing only the corner numeral and the gold Chinese figure on its shell. Winds put blackletter letters in teal reed frames under half a rising terracotta sun. The red and green dragons are the same alligator seen from above, one rose-bronze and one dark olive; the white is a navy reed frame with an open oyster in each corner. Flowers are a layered camellia in slate blue and coral. Backs are deep navy-cobalt with white-gray smoke swirling inside, every tile a different swirl, and the cream-over-navy edge seam runs faintly wavy — poured and carved by hand, not printed.

Set: 160 tiles

Play style: NMJL-ready — American mahjong

Players: 4

Material: Acrylic

Faces: Milky ivory, slightly translucent at the rim, with a soft rather than mirror finish

Backs: Deep navy-cobalt with a white-and-grey smoke swirl running through it — every tile swirls differently; no mark, no logo

Edges: Two layers of roughly equal depth — cream-white at the face, marbled navy below, the seam between them faintly wavy

Artwork: Engraved, then hand-filled with color — the paint pools in the cut lines and no two tiles fill exactly alike

Lettering: JOKER in serif and N, E, W, S in blackletter; a gold Chinese numeral sits on the shell of each Crak

Numbers: Serif Arabic numerals at the upper left — bronze-gold on the Dots, rose-copper on the Craks, near-black moss on the Bams

Dots: Opened oysters in layered contour lines of olive, navy and teal, each holding a raised gold-orange pearl

Bams: Jointed marsh reeds fanning up from a flat mud bank; the One Bam is a standing blue heron with its neck in an S

Craks: The same crab at every value, seen from above, changing only the corner numeral and the gold Chinese figure on its shell

Winds: Blackletter letters inside teal reed frames, under half a rising terracotta sun

Dragons: An alligator in rose-bronze; the same alligator in dark olive; a navy reed frame with an open oyster at each corner

Flowers: A layered camellia with a bronze centre and an olive leaf, in slate blue and in coral

Jokers: A lobster seen from above with JOKER in serif above it; hand-filled, so the lobsters run from deep navy through light blue to grayed olive