Japanese Tableware of the Early 1900s

Nippon

• Tableware made before 1921 was called "Nippon" in Western countries. These pieces were made out of porcelain, hand-painted and imported to the United States. The U.S. government marked them with a stamp on the back to tell consumers that they were made in Japan. The most common stamp looked like an "M" inside a wreath.

Noritake

• Japan began exporting another type of porcelain tableware to the United States around 1910. This tableware was similar to Nippon in that it was hand-painted and contained the wreath mark on the back. Most Noritake tableware had very simple, black-and-white designs and often had a layer of gold around the edges of the plates. This tableware was made specifically to cater to the interests of Western culture. Starting in the 1920s, Noritake tableware was made by machines instead of being individually crafted by hand.

Royal Crockery

• Royal Crockery was a special type of Noritake tableware. This tableware had a different stamp on the back. The stamp had the initials RC and was sometimes combined with other symbols, such as a twig or a Japanese toy. The Royal Crockery insignia reappeared after World War II, but this tableware was less fancy and was made out of lower quality materials than Noritake or Royal Crockery tableware.

Collecting Tableware

• Japanese tableware from the pre-World War II era is considered a collector's item. Purchasing this type of tableware may be a good investment. However, make sure you are buying authentic Japanese tableware. Counterfeiters sometimes make reproductions of Japanese tableware and claim it is an original piece from the early 1900s. The United States does not allow manufacturers to import these pieces with fake stamps on the back, so fake tableware usually has no back stamp, although the colors and patterns may be similar to real Japanese tableware from this era.