Well....duh!....says on the bottom..."Murano"! LOL! It is a blown cobalt vase, decorated with (probably) 22 K gold and enameled flowers. I can't really date it....but to say it's most likely after 1889, and was probably bought as a souvinere from someone making a trip to Venice. Very similar stuff is still being made... But...I'll give you $2 for it.....double your money right now!!...I'll even pay postage!! What is puzzeling is the style is usually typical of Bohemian glassware....but your's has that label! It's not quite as fine as the one pictured below.....but close. Linda C Here is a link that might be useful: vase

There are a few other examples of this same rose chintz pattern marked with the MM on the internet. Replacements has a small category of dinnerware listed simply as MM Japan. No pictures are shown of the undersides on that site to see their marks. I'm thinking Linda is right in the ballpark on the time frame of manufacture. Maybe a little earlier but not 'old' china by any stretch. I'm thinking as well it may be vinegar and oil cruets made for export. I am smiling, however, because I think the black O over the spout might was to identify the OIL cruet. And the other should have the black V but is also marked O. IOW you have two OIL cruets. Mistakes like these were not so uncommon in cheaper exported items in the post war years when the markets were flooded with pottery items from Japan and aside from the very established makers like Moriyama and Noritake were not always quality controlled. What also makes me wonder about this being a more mundane item is the MM mark. Moriyama used an M over M mark with a wreath. Their pottery was located in Mori-Machi Japan and that area is still associated with a high end potting business. It makes you wonder if the MM mark is not an effort to make people associate the ware with more prestigious companies and play off their names. I hope you make a discovery and find out it's a valuable piece, but I also suspect the possibility is great it was produced by one of the many little potteries who represented economical Asian exports before China stepped in to be the major suppliers. If you do find out any information on it's manufacturer, I love to see you share it with us so we'll know the next time we see it on an item. Good luck.

I love Sees candie. Miss living out West, one of those things we can't get out in the East. ) : I have no idea what to take to someone in Japan. Years ago, my mom went to visit her family there and took gifts for her family. I don't remember what she took, but she brought back things for all of us, including a Western style tie thing for my dad. I thought that was odd, but my mom said you can buy anything in Japan that you can get in the U.S. I guess that's not totally true, according to the above posts, lol. Wish I could go with you on your cruise, Jodi! I'm sure you'll take lots of pictures and post them when you get back?

, but will remove the light fixtures and hang the builders grade back up. Frankly when I just sold my condo, I removed all my quality light fixtures, packed them up to be put in my new build and got inexpensive light fixtures that looked good for resale. I also had some expensive cabinet pulls in my two bathrooms and replaced them with basic HD ones. Emma and Cpartist, so my 2700 sq ft house irreguardless of any upgrades is comparable to a builders grade, bare bones home? Well as Frank Sinatra once sang, Ain't That a Kick in the Head. lol I'm confident the house will show quite well, and i'll recoup a good portion of my upgrades, The point is if all the builder basic houses in your neighborhood are selling for $300k then you may get $310k. So even if you put 50k in, you won't get it back. As mentioned, it will make your house show better and will probably make it sell much quicker. You don't want to price it above the other houses in the neighborhood because no one wants to buy the most expensive house in a neighborhood. What happens if you're priced too high is one of two things. Either lots of folks will come through looking to see why you're the most expensive house in the neighborhood but won't write you an offer. So you'll wind up having to drop your price. Once you have to start dropping your price, it makes your house feel less desirable. Or someone will come in with a very lowball offer to see where you might go. From what you've said it's still a builder basic house, that you made nicer.