I have a couple sake sets of the same design and composition. Those are nice, and very indicative of the type of pottery not typically touristy and flashy. My sets came from around Gunma prefecture, made in local pot shops. Yours are a set made for Western tastes (creamer and sugar and handles on the cups). Why do you call them 'whistling'? Is there something on/in them I'm not seeing? These aren't "junk"....it's a nice set. I don't know what they'd be getting stateside, since most Americans opted for the flashy stuff........though this is more authentic of styles you'd actually see in use in that time frame.

I can see enough of the back stamp to see that it's Mt fuji....but not a lot more. Check out the link below ands ee what you can find. Linda c Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese marks

I'm sorry, I answered once and the site was glitching. From what is showing on my monitor, it appears the ware is not thin and delicate, like eggshell, but heavier. Can you verify that? This speaks to me that it is more utilitarian, than what is usually presented in Dragonware. The dragons themselves are also less defined than the typical set one sees. This will also impact value. Can you share what you know of the provenance? How do you know it is 'old', which is a subjective term, anyway. I can tell you it is make for the occidental market, because of the number of settings, and the addition of the sugar and creamer. If it is indeed Japanese, the bulk of these sets coming in to the U.S. were brought back by returning military, visiting or stationed there and not exported. This helps to set a timeframe, because those bases started phasing out in the mid fifties. Is is newly acquired, or has it been handed down through the family? Is there any gold trim? A close-up of a plate, front and back might be helpful. It's nice that it's a complete set, because it's more typical to find sellers breaking a set and selling by the piece on this type of ware. Unless it were particularly old, and I can't see evidence of that, I would suspect it to not sell for what the eggshell lithopane Dragon sets can garner. Just can't tell from the picture much more. I can't see it well enough to even substantiate the design is Japanese. Is there any more information you can share?

When I was married for the first time 50 years ago, my father's brothers and sisters (I think there were 5-6 still living at that time) gave me a silver tea service. They asked to me choose the one I wanted and I choose Reed & Barton's Winthrop Hand Chased. It is silver plate, not sterling. They were unhappy I got plate - hard to tell them the check needed to be WAY bigger for sterling! It's lived first on a Victorian chest and then on two different side boards for 50 years. My previous side board, though not as fine as my present one, was a better size for a set that is so large - that tray is HUGE! If I were choosing today, I'd choose antique silver-plate and a more classic, plainer style. But I love it and I love that they gave it to me, so it stays on my small sideboard. Here it is decorated for Thanksgiving a few years ago. At the moment, it needs polishing - yard man's doing a major silver polish next Sat!