Bamboo Bamboo tiles come in different sizes and thicknesses. These tiles were used in a wide range of different types of sets ranging from cardboard boxed beginners sets to tin boxed sets and traditional five drawer rosewood boxed sets. The carving on bamboo tiles in general is not as fine and detailed as in bone or ivory due to the difficulty in carving the bamboo material. Bakelite Bakelite tiles were produced with hand carved faces as well as also molding into the tile faces, the molded tiles will show ridges from the displaced plastic from the molding process. Bakelite ranges in colors, typically bakelite tiles are a light yellow to a dark orange color.
Some tiles have a yellow face and a piece of red or black bakelite glued to the back of the tile.
There are also solid black bakelite tiles. There are different tests said to be able to identify bakelite, personally I feel by look is the best method. Bakelite was developed in 1907 and most American sets with added jokers were produced in bakelite in the late 1920s and 1930s. Its basically a refined bakelite plastic and looks very similar but is a little more translucent. When heated or rubbed it will produce a formaldehyde smell.