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Brief history of import marks and the dating of Japanese ceramics

Before 1891: Items imported into the US did not have to be marked with the country of origin.

Most of the Japanese ceramics did not have any stamp on the back or were marked with the name of the Artist or Manufacture in Japanese.

1891 – 1921 – Beginning in March 1891, after the enactment of the McKinley Tariff Act, all products imported into the US were required to be marked in English with the country of origin.

In 1914, the Tariff Law was amended to make the words “Made in” in addition to the country of origin mandatory. This wasn’t rigorously enforced until around 1921, so some pre-1921 pieces can still be found without the word “Made In.”

Most of the Japanese pieces from this period were marked “Nippon” or “Hand Painted Nippon”. Very often they will have a company logo. You will find some pieces from this era that have just been marked by Japan and some without any marks.

1921 – 1941 -In August 1921, the US Customs Service ruled that Nippon could no longer be used and that all products had the “Made in Japan” stamp. Some items entered the US with only a “Japan” stamp. In an effort to save on labor costs, not all parts in a setting were stamped backwards. This means that you can have an 8-place configuration that was imported as a 12-place configuration without any stamps. Before WWII, the few paper stickers that made it to the US were very flimsy and were glued with very weak glue.

1941 – 1945 – It was World War II, so there were no imports from Japan. Imports from Japan did not really resume until the summer of 1947.

1947 – 1952 – The US occupation of Japan began in September 1945, but no items reached the US from Japan until about August 1947. All imports from Japan until 1949 were required to bear the stamp from “Occupied Japan” or “Made in Occupied Japan.” .

In 1949, the US Customs Service decreed “Occupied Japan”, “Made in occupied Japan”, “Made in Japan” or simply “Japan” when acceptable. Most of the pieces were stamped on the back with black ink. Later in this period, flimsy paper stickers began to appear on more and more items. Most of these were removed or dropped so these pieces are not marked.

1952 – Today – The vast majority of today’s imports are marked “Japan” or “Made in Japan.” This is when foil or paper labels came to life. The 2 most common tags now seem to be:

1 – A small oval or rectangular shaped paper sticker. These will most likely be done in blue or black with white lettering.

2 – A black or red foil label with gold or silver lettering.

Some imports still have an upside-down mark today, but not many.

Caution: Many knockoffs were imported from China in the 1980s through the early 2000s and to a lesser extent are still arriving. They are so well made that recognizing these fakes just by looking at the stamp on the back is next to impossible.

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