This guide to pottery marks offers a wealth of resources for pottery enthusiasts looking to identify makers and establish the value of pottery pieces.
Introduction
In this article we ask what pottery marks are worth money and offer advice on recognizing a few of the most important marks. We also include a section specifically about identifying Japanese pottery marks.
First of all, though, just what are pottery marks anyway, and exactly where on ceramics should you look for them?
Understanding Pottery Marks
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What Are Pottery Marks?
Like a brand’s logo or an artist’s signature, pottery marks are unique symbols placed on ceramics for identification. Typically embedded or painted onto the piece before firing, these marks can include initials, crests, geometric motifs, or signatures unique to a particular maker or company.
Basic Pottery marks had been in use as far back as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. By the Edo period in Japan (1603–1868), pottery marks had become more formalized, with common features including kanji characters, seals, and pictorial symbols. Over the last few centuries, European and American potteries have increasingly used pottery marks to appeal to domestic and international markets, and these have evolved to include factory names, trademarks, and even signatures of individual painters or potters.
Today, collectors and historians alike rely on pottery marks to authenticate ceramics, determine their age, understand their historical or artistic significance, and estimate their monetary value.
Where To Find Pottery Marks?
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In order to avoid interfering with the design or decoration of a ceramic piece, marks are typically located in inconspicuous areas of a pot, such as on the base. This means that most marks can easily be found simply by turning the piece over and checking the underside. However, sculptural ceramics and more ornamental pieces may feature marks incorporated into the decoration or hidden within recesses. In such cases careful inspection of the item under good lighting may be necessary.
How To Identify Pottery Marks?
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Identifying pottery marks requires a combination of keen observation and patient research. Start by examining the mark's shape, design, and any accompanying details such as letters or numbers. Reference books, online databases, and collector forums can help decode specific markings - see the resources section below for more info.
Pottery marks should always be considered together with other features of the item. In particular, pay close attention to the type of clay, glaze, and other techniques, as they can significantly aid the identification process. It's also helpful to photograph the mark for closer inspection, or when seeking expert advice.
What Makes a Pottery Mark Valuable?
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When considering which pottery marks are worth money, a number of important factors must be taken into account. Collectors often cherish pottery marks as a bridge to the piece's history, so information such as where it was made, who created it, and its journey through time all play an important role in determining monetary value.
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Historical significance, rarity, and connections to a renowned maker or kiln will also increase a particular mark’s desirability, and marks from well-known manufacturers or historically significant time periods often command higher prices. Additionally, the condition and clarity of the mark itself can play a central role in dictating how much buyers will be willing to pay for a given piece.
Is My Pottery Mark Worth Money?
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Over the centuries, and around the world, there have existed literally hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of pottery makers, studios, and manufacturers. The vast majority of these were either unknown hobbyists or major firms churning out low quality ceramics on an industrial scale – neither of which are likely to be especially valuable.
There’s also a great deal of forged pottery out there. And while pottery marks exist to help identify authentic pieces, the fact is that not all pottery marks are genuine.
This being the case, it’s important to keep your expectations realistic when looking for information about a particular pottery mark. The chances that you are potentially sitting on one of the most expensive ceramics ever sold are slim.
Nonetheless, some flea-market and attic discoveries do turn out to be worth millions. So if you’ve come across an unusual or especially old-looking piece of pottery, with a clearly visible mark, it’s certainly worth investigating. If it resembles any of the following, you could be sitting on a winner!
6 of The Most Valuable Pottery Marks
There are almost as many potter’s marks as there have been potters in the world. What follows is just a tiny selection, and many other valuable marks exist, too. Nonetheless, it should serve to illustrate the diversity of pottery marks and the differing ways in which potters have approached them.
01. Meissen Ware
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Maker: Meissen
Description: Meissen porcelain holds the distinction of being Europe's first hard-paste porcelain. The production techniques were initially confidential, allowing Meissen to maintain an exclusive hold over this innovative ceramic in Europe for many years.
What To Look For: Meissen is renowned for its iconic white porcelain creations and intricate sculptures that are highly prized by collectors worldwide. The Meissen pottery mark frequently features the cursive letters "AR," signifying Augustus Rex, and/or crossed swords. These marks may also incorporate variations such as signatures, stars, or dots, which help identify specific time periods or individual artisans involved in making the piece.
02. Spode
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Maker: Spode
Description: Established in 1770, Spode is an English pottery brand renowned for inventing bone china and refining transfer printing in underglaze blue on fine earthenware.
What To Look For: Spode pottery is famous for its blue and white transferware, though later pieces may include other colors. Its mark often includes "Spode" or "Spode's Stone China," applied as an impression, painting, or transfer print underglaze.
03. Chenghua Porcelain
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Maker: Imperial Chenghua kilns
Description: Porcelain from the Chenghua period (1465–1487) of Ming Dynasty China, celebrated for its refined craftsmanship and materials.
What To Look For: The Chenghua style is characterized by a white body, a smooth glossy glaze with fine bubbles, and cobalt blue decoration. It typically features a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue within a double circle or square.
04. Delftware
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Maker: Various makers
Description: Originating from Delft in the Netherlands around 1600, Delftware initially drew inspiration from 14th-century Chinese porcelain, which was highly prized in Europe at the time. Some later Delft pottery imitated Japanese Imari ware.
What To Look For: Delftware encompasses a wide range of pottery, including plates, vases, figurines, tiles, and decorative items. Made from a beige or pinkish clay, it features blue-and-white hand-painted designs with a tin glaze, mimicking Chinese porcelain. Since "Delftware" isn’t trademarked, marks differ between makers and approximately two-thirds of Delftware has no mark at all. However, all genuinely antique Delft pottery marks are hand-painted, typically taking the form of two or three letter initials.
05. Wedgwood
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Photo by wikimedia
Maker: Josiah Wedgwood and Sons
Description: Founded in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd, Wedgwood excelled in producing fine earthenware and stoneware.
What To Look For: Wedgwood is best known for its unglazed Jasperware, featuring contrasting colors, especially the iconic Wedgwood blue and white. Wedgwood pottery marks typically include the words "Wedgwood," "Wedgwood & Sons," "Wedgwood & Bentley," or just "W. & B." – sometimes enclosed in a circle.
06. Ogata Kenzan
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Maker: Ogata Kenzan
Description: Ogata Shinsei was an Edo period potter, painter, and calligrapher who, after opening a kiln in northwest Kyoto – an area known as "Inui" or "Ken" – began to sign his works with the name "Kenzan."
What To Look For: Ogata employed a variety of colors in his painted earthenware. Admired for their harmony of design and form, Ogata Kenzan’s pottery typically featured light and free brushstrokes depicting distinctive motifs of bamboo, grasses, blossoms, and birds. His potter’s mark varied from a tightly packed kanji “chop” in red, to a looser signature such as the one shown here.
Pottery Mark Identification Resources
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General Pottery Identification
If you’ve got an unusual piece of pottery that you are still struggling to identify, the Identify My Pottery section of the 20th Century Forum should probably be your first port of call – just be sure to read the guidelines before posting. Meanwhile, Reddit is a great place to continue your search, with the following subreddits offering a wealth of knowledge:
As the number of existing pottery marks is so vast, the more useful guides to pottery marks tend to stick to specific kinds of pottery. British pottery marks only, for example. Or exclusively Chinese Ming and Qing dynasty pottery marks.
Over the years, many good books have been published on the subject, too. And if you are serious about understanding which pottery marks are worth money, you may want to invest in a few of the better titles. For British pottery, A Handbook of Pottery and Porcelain Marks is generally considered to be the definitive tome.
How To Identify Japanese Pottery Marks
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Identifying Japanese pottery marks presents some extra challenges. Especially for non-Japanese speakers. One of the biggest obstacles to identification is simply the huge number of different Japanese pottery marks in circulation. Even a single ceramics company, with a history spanning only a hundred years or so, may have used several hundred different marks over the course of its existence.
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And even once you have worked out what you’ve got in your hands, establishing exactly which Japanese pottery marks are worth money can also be quite difficult. Primarily because not many relevant resources exist online – either in English or Japanese.
Of course, translation and search tools like Google Lens are an amazing aid to collectors of antique Japanese pottery. But they aren’t completely infallible. And marks featuring Japanese kanji characters can add an extra layer of confusion to the process. This is because most kanji can be read in at least two different ways – depending on whether you follow the original Chinese or local Japanese pronunciation.
Nonetheless, with a little determination and hard work, most Japanese pottery marks can be deciphered in the end. To help you in your quest, we’ve compiled a few resources:
- For a start, this highly informative article goes deep into the topic of Japanese porcelain marks and is a great point of departure for anyone wondering how to identify Japanese pottery.
- In a similar vein, another excellent list of Japanese pottery marks can be found here.
For questions about a specific piece of Japanese pottery, you can also try posting your item in one of the following antique collectors’ Facebook groups. It’s important to be aware, though, that many such groups have a few basic requirements for posts, such as providing clear photos and including measurements in your description. Be sure to find out what the group’s criteria are before posting, or you may risk having your question deleted – or worse.
Conclusion
Identifying valuable pottery marks is both an art and a science, requiring detailed research, careful observation, and just a little bit of luck. With so many different marks and makers out there – both past and present – understanding precisely which pottery marks are worth money is, for many, a lifetime’s study and adventure. And although not every pottery mark will lead to hidden treasure, the journey of discovery can be highly rewarding.
Keen to learn more about ceramics from Japan and beyond? You’ll find plenty more knowledge on our blog. Why not start by checking out part one of our A-Z Guide to Japanese Pottery? Or, if you’re in the market for some contemporary Japanese ceramics, either to add to your own collection or as a gift for others, you might want to take a look at our guide to buying handmade Japanese ceramics from Minne.