No matter how many generations are present at your upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations, you can be sure that mahjong will still be something that transcends time and technology. With gatherings slowly being allowed and the world recovering from all the lockdowns, mahjong has enjoyed a recent resurgence, especially with how aesthetically-pleasing the tiles are.
It’s no wonder that various brands and artisans all over the world have started making luxury sets. Check these out in case you want to add them to your collection or gift them to someone mahjong-obsessed in your life.
Prada Saffiano Mahjong Set
Going by the name, this set is wrapped is acrylic wrapped in Prada’s signature Saffiano leather and features the black and red motif iconic to the brand. The pieces come in a sleek, black case that features metal lettering. You can get one here for just a little over $5,000 if it ever comes back in stock.
Louis Vuitton Savoir Faire Universe Mahjong Set
Another set posted on the ELLE Taiwan Instagram account was the set included in the Louis Vuitton Savoir Faire Universe exhibit. Instead of being a popup store, the event was made to showcase the artisans of the brand, since the exhibit also showed Louis Vuitton trunks that turned into dollhouses and tea sets.
The mahjong pieces were made out of jade, and only ten sets were reportedly made available for purchase when the exhibit was in Taiwan in September 2020. You’d only be set back by $80,196 for a set so for the usual Singaporean rich kid, this would be no big deal at all.
Hermes Helios Mahjong Set
Another luxury brand that released their own mahjong set was Hermes, which they called the Helios. While Hermes bags are worth so much more than the Prada or Louis Vuitton pieces, this palisander wood set is only half the price of the Louis Vuitton set. Aside from wood, the tiles are full printed leather calfskin.
This one is also available on the brand’s official website for $40,400–but will reportedly experience delivery delays if ordered there.
Geoffrey Parker Luxury Games Mahjong Set
While this luxury game producer is no stranger to creating expensive versions of the world’s beloved games, they said that they searched high and low for the best tile carver, and said that person was Mr. Liu Jun.
Their set has several customizable options and could be priced as high as $53,742. Customers could ask for the standard (for Geoffrey Parker, at least) Ox bone and bamboo tiles to have metal dragon-etched casings. The set comes in a red ostrich leather trunk that also has paraphernalia for cigars.
S.T. Dupont – the world’s most luxurious mahjong set
If S.T. Dupont considered price the benchmark of luxury, then this set surely wins the competition, hands down. Priced and available at $1,373,462 at The Lifestyle website, this set is completely handmade out of Tanzanian ruby and takes around eight months to produce.
According to the website, here is what you get for the almost million-and-a-half price of this mahjong set, “The set consists of 144 extra-large tiles: 36 in the Bamboo suit, 36 in the Circle suit (or tongzi), 36 in the Character suit (or wan), 16 Wind tiles, 12 Dragon tiles and 8 bonus tiles (4 Flowers and 4 Seasons), 98 coins in different sizes and two dice, all handmade so each piece is unique. ‣ The metal work protecting the ruby tiles was engraved and hand hammered in gold vermeil, the symbolic color of the five legendary emperors of ancient China and signifying neutrality and good luck. Adorning each tile on the face and reverse side, the artist used more than 1000 Burmese rubies and 300 top quality diamonds all of which provide an added feel of luxury.
Counters to play are represented by coins carved of black or white mother-of-pearl with gold vermeil borders. The dice were carved in ruby: one with large faceted Burma rubies to show the numbers and the other with pave-set diamonds, both also protected by corners in gold vermeil.”
Do you think it could any more luxurious than a set made of rubies and diamonds? We don’t think so.
