antique tea cup - japan, hand painted- nippon marking, valuable?

13 years ago

Hello,

I recently purchased a hand painted japanese tea cup and saucer set. It has pink petals on it with a brown trim along the handle and lip and a green box trim underneath that. The same pattern exists on the saucer.

underneath the cup is a blue marking. It displays a rising sun with hand painted written above and NIPPON underneath. It is somewhat off center.

I don't know how to post pics on this forum.

Is it of value?

Featured Answer

nhb22

13 years ago

Well thank you everyone! :)

Very interesting information on Nippon/Noritake.

My mother-in-law died at age 78, about 15 years after she gave the plate to me. I've had the plate for 30 years. If it also belonged to her mother (I am certain that she told me "this belonged to Honey", then it could easily be 100 years old. ;)

luig111 - Sorry for taking over your thread. Didn't mean to.

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Comments (13)

blueheron
13 years ago
Check Ebay for Nippon and you can get an idea of what the items are going for.
lindac
13 years ago
See if you find the mark here.

Here is a link that might be useful: japanese markings
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wendy177
13 years ago
Nippon can hold high value, would need to see photos of cup, saucer & mark.
nhb22
13 years ago
I took a look at that website and did not find the marking for my plate. The plate was inherited from my MIL, and I believe she said it belonged to her mother. It says Hand Painted Nippon. Again, I could not find any markings to match it. :(
lindac
13 years ago
A picture would help a lot. Go to Photobucket.com and follow the directions.
Linda C
nhb22
13 years ago
No need to follow instructions, I am a long time member! lol

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Funny thing is that a newer plate that I own, was listed on that site. It's the #743 blue "Arita" Modern mark, Late 20th century. I think we received it for a wedding gift 32 years ago. :) Did a double take when I saw it.
lindac
13 years ago
I think ti's an early mark from a company that later became part of the Noritake group....
Let me see if I can find for sure.
Linda C
PS....it's beautiful! I am sure not worth a fortune....but very pretty!
lindac
13 years ago
Here it is.....

Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down
calliope
13 years ago
The article is a little misleading in its explanation. Noritake was an early (and current) firm and it did indeed incorporate some smaller companies into its structure IOW gobbled up smaller companies.......so it's correct to say a lot of early Nippon pieces may be made by Noritake or companies who later produced under Noritake, but for one thing, I doubt this plate is that old. The second being that Nippon simply means Japan in Japanese and an article marked Nippon could simply mean it was made in Japan by any one of a number of companies, and there were and still are many china manufacturers.

A lot of collectors called anything marked Nippon Noritake and it surely is not. That's like calling any tissue a kleenex because Kleenex is the most well known brand.

The mark in the center is going to be your definitive clue. I don't know it right off and have not time to look it up but that's what I'd be researching.
lindac
13 years ago
Calliope? Wondering if you scrolled down to see the specific mark and not generalization?
According to other sources it's an early symbol used by companies in the Morimuma Kumi group, which as you know were part of the early Noritaki conglomerate.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maruki symbol
wendy177
13 years ago
Your mark is from Nippon & Linda is right on!! the symbol in the center is called Tree crest the crest of the Morimura family also called the spider mark.
calliope
13 years ago
You're right, Linda. I didn't scroll down and read the rest of the article. I just started reading it because I was time crunched. I have this 'thing' about all Japanese ware being called Noritake and that's so common. Sorry.

antique tea cup - japan, hand painted- nippon marking, valuable?

nhb22

Comments (13)

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