Posted 7 years ago
koala44
(9 items)
I recently acquired this set and cannot seem to find out anything about them. I think they may be old mud men, but I am not sure. The only thing I know from the retired gentleman I got them from is that they are playing a game called go. Would love to know more!
The figures are totally different from mud men from the 20's to 50's completely. No resemblance at all. I used to collect them. The newer mudmen do not come close in collectability as the old ones.
Yours look so new compared to the old mudmen.
They have discoloring on them that does not show up in pictures, and they were very dirty when I got them. I wiped them up a bit. The gentleman I got them from had them for years, but not sure how many. I am not sure if they are mud men as I have no idea what to call them. ;)
Hi the Game is called "Go" your men are Asian and could be Japanese ,Chinese or Korean . They appear to be made of porcelain when I see painting of cloaks and tips of fingers . They look like they got yellow from cigarette smoke maybe . They do not look like Mudman and I agree with Phil look more contemporary but are cool pieces :-)
I was so excited when I saw this set! I have one just like it! What I can tell you about it is my parents were given this set as a gift when we lived in Fukuoka, Japan. Mom always said it was very valuable, being appraised at around two hundred dollars a few decades ago! We got it in the early 1960’s. It was one of her prized possessions and she had a lot of collectibles. I’m sorry I can’t help more, but my parents are gone now. I wish as a kid I would have taken a better interest in the culture around me. May I encourage any of you with collectibles to write somewhere what you know about the piece? I’m currently trying to wade my way through all my parents stuff to see if I can identify it. That’s how I came across this site!
Thanks so much, Ureflect! That at least narrows it down to Japan! I welcome all the information I can gather. If I find out any more, I will definitely let you know.
That makes sense as small mudmen are Chinese, made with brown pottery clay and usually have the enamel colors of green, yellow and blue on their garments and hats. I also owned some.
I would have said Japanese too because of the hair, the ceramic is like pale bisque, carefully crafted and fired. Seems that it's a game played with two people, one with the white beads one with the black ones, there are often people observing the play if it's an illustration.
https://www.universal-prints.de/media_kunst/img/36/m/36_58453.jpg
What I can remember about the game “Go”- you put your smooth round pieces at either end of your opponents line of pieces and if you succeed in putting yours at both ends, you capture the ones in the middle. Sounds easy but it is not!