Lusterware & Made in Japan Ceramics

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Comment by Carole Bess White on April 16, 2012 at 3:27pm

You got a good deal.  The Occupied Japan ceramics period was 1947--1952 because it took them a while after WWII to get organized and into production again.

Comment by Lillian Dunbar on April 16, 2012 at 2:54pm

I stopped at an estate sale this weekend and picked up about a dozen figurines marked either "Made in Japan" or "Made in Occupied Japan" in mainly in red letters, but some are black.  and I figured for what I paid, they cost me $2 each. Several had more interesting marks. Can anyone gibe more info on the makes shown and tell how the market is now on Occupied Japan. In other words, did I get a good deal?

Comment by Lillian Dunbar on March 23, 2012 at 11:27am

Cute little planter. The dog is about 3.25" tall.

Comment by C. Dianne Zweig Editor's Desk on February 24, 2012 at 7:31am

Carole, thanks for voting, you can vote once a day for a week, spread the word, thanks.

Comment by Carole Bess White on February 23, 2012 at 2:35am

I did vote and saw that we are way ahead of the others!

 

Carole Bess

Comment by C. Dianne Zweig Editor's Desk on February 22, 2012 at 7:20pm

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Comment by Ellen Wiley on February 19, 2012 at 8:35am

Great Information Carole.  This will be very helpful to me also as I try to sort out many of my items. 

Comment by Lillian Dunbar on February 19, 2012 at 5:54am

Thanks for all that info on Japanese ceramics companies, Carole.

Comment by Carole Bess White on February 18, 2012 at 7:24pm

Hi, Lillian,

 

Noritake is a company and Nippon is the Japanese name for Japan, or at least it is a close approximation.

 

Pieces with the "M in wreath" mark such as those in your photos were made by the Noritake Company regardless of whether they are marked Nippon, Hand Painted Nippon, Japan, or Made in Japan.

 

In 1891 the U.S. started requiring foreign imports to be marked with their country of origin.  For whatever reason, Japanese makers chose to use Nippon instead of Japan.

 

In 1921 the U.S. law was changed to require the English name of the country of origin, so the Japanese factories started using Japan, or Made in Japan.

 

There has been a fair amount of discussion over the years about Japan vs Made in Japan.   I spent many month at the U.S. Customs office looking through their log books of marking law clear back to the 1890's and could find no edict about using  or not using "Made in."

 

The Noritake Company was founded by the Morimura brothers, and Morimura Brothers was the company name during the Nippon era. 

 

Noritake was the largest ceramics company in Japan, so much of the Nippon or Hand Painted Nippon ware was made by them.  Joan Van Patten has written some great books on Hand Painted Nippon, and David Spain's series of books on Noritake are a trove of information.

 

Carole Bess White

 

Comment by Lillian Dunbar on February 18, 2012 at 12:34pm

Can someone with deeper knowledge than mine tell me what is the difference between Nippon and Noritake ceramics? Are they two different manufacturers, or is Nippon just a general term for Japanese porcelain? I have several pieces marked with both designations. (see photo below for a few examples).

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