posted on June 1, 2005 08:51:52 PM new
anyone have experience with Japanese markings? I don't know if it is true, but someone told me recently that you can identify age of items from Japan because older one's simply stated, "Japan" while newer or reproduction items would state, "Made in Japan". Any truth to this? If so, what date or period did it change?
posted on June 2, 2005 03:42:58 AM new
That's not a reliable way to date any oriental piece. There are so many forgeries out there it's difficult to tell what is what anymore. eBay is the full of fakes. If you are buying, stay clear of the "antique" items coming from Japan or especially China. That is, unless you mind getting ripped off. If I'm not mistaken, you cannot take antiquities out of China without government permission.
As for Japan and Made in Japan, you can still find a lot of products that are simply stamped Japan or China. Since both Japan and China make items for the world market, they will sometimes simply mark the piece with Japan or China and then slap a "Made in" sticker on it for the U.S. I do believe it changed to "Made in" around WWII. Stopwhinning can probably answer that more accurately.
