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Starting in 1860 in Birmingham city centre, Joseph and Alfred Johnson set up a stationery business.
In 1897 Joseph and his son Alfred J. Johnson moved the company to a newly-erected factory in Harborne, close to the Chad Brook – hence the name Chad Valley. The firm trade initially as Johnson Bros. (Harborne) Ltd., making stationers’ sundries and cardboard games, many educational.
With the outbreak of the Great War, all imports of toys and games ceased, giving a boost to the British toy trade. The company expanded the range of products in spite of wartime restrictions, making their first soft toys (teddy bears). With the ending of the war, the firm needed more production space, and acquired the Harborne Village Institute as their printing works, making box covers for their toys and games.
The Wrekin Toy Works was opened at Wellington, Shropshire in 1920 and soft toy production transferred there. The three factories merged into one firm, Chad Valley Co. Ltd. During the 1920s the company continued to expand, and the production of Mah Jong sets took off in 1923, at the start of the craze, acquiring Peacock & Co. Ltd., of London, long-established manufacturers of wooden toys.
Their Mah Jong product line ranged from cheap cardboard & playing card sets, through bamboo & wooden tiles, to casein (sold as ‘Ivorine’) – there may have been Chinese bone & bamboo sets sold, but I have not seen any examples, and there is nothing in the literature.
The company logo is a green sinogram on their oak boxes, a silver sinogram on their monocolour card boxes and a circle of tiles surrounding MAH JONGG (note the 2 Gs) on their gingham cardboard boxes and the same in silver on the blue boxes.
There are 2 distinct styles to their tiles; the ones printed on a paper slip glued to a wooden base occasionally feature a swooping crane, but more usually a displaying peacock with erect tail, separated rod Bamboos, (sometimes serifed), always simple wan Craks, and simple circles. The impressed wooden tiles have the slightly different displaying peacock, but still recognisably Chad Valley. The bamboo tiles are not to any standard form, as these were made by small artisan firms in China and imported, to be housed in Chad Valley boxes.
During the Second World War the company handled many Government contracts, but one factory was retained by the Government for toy manufacture, specialising in jigsaws for military hospitals and board games for the Forces generally.
With the ending of the war, Chad Valley factories quickly returned to toy production, adding metal toys to their range. In the immediate post-war years, several metal-producing businesses were acquired, including A.S. Cartwright Ltd., manufacturers of aluminium hollow-ware’. But Mah Jong sets are not seen as viable any longer and are discontinued in 1957.
During the next 20 years, the firm expanded, acquiring several businesses, until recession caused the bubble to burst and the company was bought by John Bentley, of Barclay Securities, for a relative song – £600,000. A millionaire at 31, he had a reputation for thoroughly streamlining companies, re-styling and re-packaging their products. Which he did again at Chad Valley; hundreds were made redundant, 3 out of the nine factories were closed and 2 years later John Bentley moved on, having sold Chad Valley for £1,800,000 – trebling his outlay! After 2 more years the rot had set in and only two of the Chad Valley factories remained open. The Harborne factory was demolished and in 1978 the company was taken over by the Leicester-based firm of Palitoy. More factories closed as they were considered poorly adapted to the production of the new, increasingly popular plastic toys, and in 1988 Woolworths acquired the trade name Chad Valley, the toys still being manufactured elsewhere.
1923 Card Mah Jong Set.
The box has only a few scuffs, no tears and the inner sleeve has 4 compartments with holes in the back to facilitate ejection of the cards.
The cardboard box measures 138 x 98 x 32mm,
A well-preserved sliding case card set from Chad Valley c.1923.
The set comes with a Chad Valley pad of scoresheets and Pocket Guide to Mah Jong by Thos De La Rue, probably a later addition.
The Chad Valley rulebook mimics the cover of the box and is a condensed version of the larger Chad Valley booklets.
The pasteboard cards are hardly worn, only a few dings on the edges, but slightly bowed.
The designs are the slightly modified standard pattern Chad Valley, with numbers only in the top LH corner, measuring 62x42mm.
Blue Bamboo Mah Jong Set.
The inner box was very badly damaged so a new one was made with card painted to match the original.
The front is still work in progress, but will match the outer case and be hinged using cloth tape.
The tray corners were glued and the scuffing touched up with blue Humbrol gloss enamel.
Slightly more up-market (IMHO) than the previous Chad Valley set; the tiles are bamboo, with a thin <1mm film of some material (not sure what) on the inner surface, then the characters are carved into the film - this gives a much better finish than carving straight into the bamboo.
The 4 spare tiles are pretty rough compared to the rest.
Blue Box Wooden Mah Jong Set.
I have a similar set, but with bamboo tiles, and this one has nice accessories.
This is in very good condition, it even has the front flap, which is normally missing with these sets.
The cardboard box is covered in blue embossed paper, housing 4 card trays for the tiles and a wooden 3 compartment bottom tray for the accessories. It measures 230x155x90mm, has only a few scuffs and tears, a broken lid restraint and the inner box is becoming detached and needs gluing.
Blue Gingham Bamboo Mah Jong Set.
An ordinary Chad Valley set, with flip-top, drop-front, housing 4 trays with 148 bamboo tiles, measuring 230x150x95mm. Interestingly, this has GENUINE CHINESE BAMBOO printed above the logo.
The tiles measure 30x22x12mm made from well-seasoned bamboo and are ostensibly ordinary. However, there are a few special features to the tiles (see following images).
The #1 Circle as a flower is a special feature.
Note an unusual ribbon-tail bird #1 bamboo.
The 'Flowers' have vases for flowers and 'strange stones' - guaishi - for the seasons.
Oak Box Pillow Casein Mah Jong Set.
The set is in immaculate condition, the tiles have hardly been used and the box is in great condition.
The shelfless box measures 235x160x120mm, made from oak, as are the drawers;
The counters are unusual double-sided aluminium chips in triangle, hexagon, circle and oval shapes, with 4 painted aluminium Wind indicators and 2 bone dice.
The pillow tiles are made from casein with impressed designs and measure 30x21x9mm with the standard Chad Valley pattern.
Oak Box Casein Mah Jong Set.
An oak box, measuring 235x160x120mm, with originally 5 drawers (one missing) containing 144 square-cut casein tiles, measuring 30x20x12mm and a good quantity of casein counting sticks.
Comes with instructions by Jackpot & RC Bell.
So... the plan is to make a new drawer, re-do the paintwork on the tiles and try to correct the minor damage on some of the tile edges.
The paint has worn off many tiles and they have been previously restored, but the colours don't match the original very well.
Red Box Enrobed Mah Jong Set.
This is in almost pristine condition, with only a couple of bits of sellotape (Argh!) on the corners of the top.
We normally see these in a long red box, not the more normal lift-top drop-front like this.
The thin card box measures 220x150x85mm, covered in red paper, housing 4 trays, 3 shallow and 1 deep with an inner tray for the card counters.
The tiles, measuring 32x22x13mm, are made from red-painted wood with a recess on the top for an acetate & paper slip, emulating 'enrobed' catalin tiles.
The designs are one of the standard CV patterns (see below).
Complex Circles.
Peacock Bambird with serifed Bamboos.
Simple wan Craks.
Vase Flowers.
Red Enrobed Wood Mah Jong Set.
A higher-end wooden set from Chad Valley, housed in a lift-top flat cardboard box measuring 415x165x45mm covered in red paper with the standard Chad Valley logo pasted on.
The set comes with 4 green painted wooden racks, 2 small dice, card wind indicators and counters.
The tiles are unusual; red-painted wood with a recess on top to hold a sliver of paper with the normal Chad Valley printed design, they measure 31x21x12mm.
The standard Chad Valley tile set, the inset wafer is rather too small, I think, and they have suffered puckering and lifting from water damage.
The tiles are painted wood with a recess for the printed paper slip, Wind indicators printed card, bone dice.
The booklet is a reprint of the 1923 edition dated November 1953, right at the end of Chad Valley's Mahjong production.
Red Flip-Top Wood Mah Jong Set.
A very nice, well-preserved set from Chad Valley c.1923.
The cardboard box is covered in red crocskin rexine, housing 4 card trays for the tiles and a wooden 3 compartment bottom tray for the accessories and measures 230x155x90mm, has only a few scuffs and tears, a broken lid restraint but the inner box is becoming detached and needs gluing.
The tiles are made from unvarnished wood, with impressed symbols in the standard Chad Valley pattern, measuring 32x22x13mm.
Comes with very nice aluminium counters, wind direction tokens and 2 bone dice - no spare tiles.
Red Gingham Wood Mah Jong Set.
I was the only bidder, surprisingly, as this set has even got the original outer box, model 2054.
In amazing condition, with only a few worm-eaten pages - there are no splits, or broken joints and almost no scuffing.
Sold by Gamages of London, it has a brochure advertising sets dated 9/11/1923, plus the standard Chad Valley rulebook.
The lift-top cardboard box is covered in red/yellow check patterned paper with the standard Chad Valley logo on top, it has 5 trays stacked inside with a drop-front.
The tiles are made from lightweight sawn wood, measuring 30x22x13mm, with the standard Chad Valley images on the paper top and grey paper backing, this set is lightly varnished on top.
I already have 2 of the same set, but none in as good condition as this.
Blue Gingham Bamboo Mah Jong Set.
An ordinary Chad Valley set, with flip-top, drop-front, housing 4 trays with 148 bamboo tiles, measuring 230x150x95mm. Interestingly, this has GENUINE CHINESE BAMBOO printed above the logo.
The tiles measure 30x22x12mm made from well-seasoned bamboo, ostensibly ordinary, but haver some special features(see below). Complete with black horn ming, cricket box with dice and bone counters.
#1 Circle as a flower,
An unusual ribbon-tail bird on the #1 bamboo.
Vases for flowers and 'strange stones' - guaishi - for seasons.