Posted 9 years ago
Lfutch
(1 item)
I would like more info about this tea set that was purchased in Japan right after WW2. Most of it is in excellent condition with tea pot, sugar bowl, creamer, 4 cups and 6 saucers. The gold is worn from use on the two lids, and some of the plates have very small chips. No cracks that I have seen.
Every once in a while I get in trouble, which is good because it’s educational. Perhaps we can get some help from a Nippon or Noritake collector. Briefly, the U.S. McKinley Tariff Act required articles shipped from Japan be marked as Nippon from 1891 to 1921, and after that, as Japan, which continued until 1940. Immediately after WWII the requirement became ‘Occupied Japan’ until April 1952, but that mark is on occasion found until 1956.
I think your set dates to 1891 to 1921 although I find your mark attributed in an auction to c. 1940, which could be in error. I don’t know who SNB is, but it also appears in pink (with Nippon) as a cherry blossom made from five M’s in a circle, the M being for
Morimura. According to Gotheborg elsewhere, the Cherry Blossom in the shape of five M’s is a mark sub-contracted to independent companies making porcelain for the USA market, by the Nippon Toki Kasha Company (Noritake Company). More reading at the link:
http://www.gotheborg.com/marks/noritake.shtml