Reproductions and fake marks: the known problem areas

This guide collects the known problem areas where our sources give specific tells. It can help you spot a mark that shouldn’t be trusted. It can’t authenticate a piece, and for some makers (Roseville especially) the sources we have say copies are common without saying how to catch them.

Reproduction, fake or fantasy?

The Nippon Collectors Club draws a useful three-way line. A reproduction copies a real pattern or mold. A fake uses a pattern that was never made in the Nippon era. A fantasy piece is a form that was never made then at all; the club gives some oyster plates and wall pockets as examples.

thepotteries.org describes pottery fraud in two forms. Either someone copies a trademark directly, or they design wares to look like a famous maker’s without copying the mark. Once the real firm has closed, the site says, clay body, glaze and weight become the main tests.

Nippon backstamps

Gotheborg.com points out that higher prices for Nippon-marked pieces than for Japan-marked ones have created a market for fake Nippon marks. According to the Nippon Collectors Club, fakers mainly copied Morimura Brothers marks, especially two:

• the Maple Leaf mark, 1891 to 1911
• the M-in-Wreath mark, 1911 to 1921

US Customs eventually ruled a counterfeit M-in-Wreath unlawful, which forced importers onto removable paper labels.

Then look past the stamp. The Nippon Collectors Club describes genuine late Nippon porcelain as bright white, thin, light and translucent. Genuine gold is lustrous with a warm patina. Fake gold looks brassy.

Occupied Japan

A long-time collector quoted on Gotheborg says Occupied Japan fakes are common, especially figures depicting Black people. Ceramic historian Irene Stitt is quoted on the Modern Japanese Pottery and Porcelain Marks site describing some fakes as lighter, hollow inside and marked in orange or black.

Genuine Occupied Japan marks came in several forms as well, from stamps to paper labels, which makes a single comparison unreliable. Our guide to Nippon, Japan and Occupied Japan marks covers what the real marks looked like and when they were required.

Roseville

This is the weak spot in what we can tell you. Wikipedia says replicas and counterfeits of Roseville are common, and that genuine Roseville used a wide variety of labels, backstamps and kiln marks, or none at all. That variety is exactly what confuses collectors: there’s no single correct mark to compare against.

Roseville made its last designs in 1953. None of the sources we opened gave mark-by-mark tells for modern copies, so we won’t invent any. Start from our Roseville Pottery entry and treat the mark as the last thing you check, not the first.

Names that borrow from Wedgwood

Spelling matters here. thepotteries.org records that William Smith & Co. marked wares “WEDGEWOOD,” with an extra E, and switched to “VEDGEWOOD” after an 1848 injunction. Neither is Josiah Wedgwood.

“Wedgwood & Co.” is a separate case. Genuine Josiah Wedgwood & Sons never used “& Co.,” so a mark reading “Wedgwood & Co.” belongs to a different firm, Enoch Wedgwood. That isn’t a fake, but it isn’t Josiah Wedgwood either. See our Wedgwood entry for the marks the main firm did use.

Outside porcelain: stoneware and costume jewelry

The same logic applies to other categories, with their own physical tells.

Stoneware crocks. One collector site says old crocks have an unglazed foot ring and often bits of kiln grit, while a perfectly glazed bottom points to a reproduction. It’s a low-authority source, so use it as one check among several. Our guide to reading stoneware crock marks covers the marks themselves.

Costume jewelry. Robin Deutsch, writing for Costume Jewelry Collectors International, notes that copies of patented pieces sometimes show “PAT PEND” in raised letters instead of incised ones, a sign the mold was taken from an original. Another CJCI article says fake designer marks often look illegible or misshapen under magnification, for the same reason: the mold came from pressing a genuine piece into molding material.

A check order that works on any piece

1. Handle it. Note the weight and, for porcelain, hold it to the light for translucency.
2. Look at the gilding and the quality of the painting. On Nippon, brassy gold is a warning sign.
3. Turn it over. On stoneware, look at the foot ring and any kiln grit.
4. Only now read the mark. Check its spelling, color and details against the tells above.
5. For jewelry, put the mark under magnification and check whether letters are raised or incised.
6. Compare with the maker’s entry and its documented marks.

Putting it together

A mark is a claim, and the object is the evidence. When the two disagree, go with the object. Look the maker up in the Mark Finder to see which marks they actually used and when, and treat anything on this page’s list of known problem marks with extra care.

Sources

1. Reproductions Alerts – Nippon Collectors Club
2. Identifying Fake Nippon Pieces – The Glassylady
3. Warning!!! Fake Nippon Porcelain Marks – Collectors Weekly
4. Glossary: Nippon porcelain 1891-1921 – Gotheborg.com
5. Roseville Pottery – Wikipedia
6. Q&A: Occupied Japan – Gotheborg.com
7. Made in Occupied Japan 1945-1952 – Modern Japanese Pottery and Porcelain Marks
8. Identify: fakes and misleading branding – thepotteries.org
9. The Wedgwood Name – Misuse and Misidentification – thepotteries.org
10. Rare Antique Stoneware Crocks – Know Old Stuff
11. Foiling the Style Pirates: Costume Jewelry Exclusives, Patents and Copyrights (Robin Deutsch) – Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l
12. Are My Flea Market Find Chanel Earrings Real or Fake? – Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l