I am looking for some assistance with the identification of a coffee/tea pot with a creamer and sugar bowl. I have attached photos to help with the identification. The pieces have a Maker’s Mark on the bottoms of each item. I have searched the internet for both the physical pieces and by the Maker’s Mark. I also searched Kovel’s Mark section. Can’t find anything matching. The pattern is the same on both sides of each piece. Not sure if I was using the correct site to search for Maker’s Mark. If anyone has any recommendations of a good site or sites, that would also be appreciated also. The coffee/tea pot is 8 ½” tall to top of lid, creamer is 4” tall to top of lid & sugar bowl is 3 ½” tall.
Larry,
one can bump into quite peculiar things when dealing with base marks. Sometimes the solution to a given question is just an inch away, in this case you are looking at the “off brand” version of one of their their “full brand” marks.
Even today not every producer needs or wants full brand products all the time. There are various reasons (country of origin in the doghouse of the target market, undermining region protection contracts, price protection of own goods, et cetera, et cetera).
As to why not use a different mark altogether … near all producers like a little vanity, like showing a little but not allowing it to be more than the knee. In some cases that could lead to embarrassing moments, e.g. when items bearing such a minimal mark are claimed to be “fake” by an uneducated store owner or china “expert”.
Chris,
Thank you for the information you provided. The web site was very helpful and I bookmarked it for future reference if needed. I am pretty ignorant on collectibles and would never take credit for something I know little about. Probably screw up if I did. I do have one other question if you care to answer. Why did the coffee/tea pot set I found on the web site have the have the horizontal bar and bottom curve filled in but mine did not. Just curious on this question.
Again, thank you for the information.
Larry
You may find it on gotheborg.com, the presented information there was again stolen from me. This has happened on other occasions (WL1895, Aerozon, etc.) so I always hold back info – I do not want to waste my research on sites which do not give credit and claim my results as their own.
Your mark is one of precisely two versions of this mark, with the horizontal bar and the bottom curve remaining empty. The second mark reads AICHI in the horizontal bar and SETO JAPAN in the bottom curve.
I could add dates and an image here, but as implied certain individuals seem to gladly steal my findings and repost them as “theirs”. The provided information should give you enough clues to find out more for yourself.
