Can anyone tell me what this is???
 

I don't know if this is a child's tea set or not. It seems much too delicate to be a toy. There appears to be residue from tea leaves in the tea pot. It was in my mother-in-laws house when we cleaned it out several years ago. I don't know quite what to do with it. I tried to get a picture of the markings on the bottom--but could not get a clear picture. I'm assuming it is Japanese
writing. Any ideas? Hopefully I will be able to get the pictures on this post--

SwampCreature--good idea, never thought of that. Little girls today to not know what a tea party is. I'll check ebay. Some how or other I don't think it was a child's set.

Does the bottom of the tea pot say Nippon? If not what does the marking read? You can do a goggle search or go on e-bay to find out more about what you have. You may even see another set like the one you have with some price information.

I had a dainty and delicate tea set when I was a little girl. I loved it!

p.s., "A very merry un-birthday, to you, to you..."
:sing:

It's a Japanese tea set. The red stamp is likely the Japanese company that made the set... Probably not worth a lot of money...just sentimental value. However, there's the potential that is from an era that is rare.

Hard to know for sure and I don't know where you could find out.


Ja matte....

That label looks familiar, Seen that label in this site, http://gotheborg.com/

Hasta luego.... :)

Bill

Tea set
 

Tippyclubb, thanks for your response, no, it does nor say Nippon. It has Japanes style figures. I checked Ebay and found nothing even similar. Will keep on searching!

Bill-n-Brillo. Hasta leugo? What does that mean?

Hi Atlantic,

Something you might try is to take your pictures and one of the pieces to the public library. Ask to see the reference librarian.

If it is a small library, they might not have books that could help with identification and learning more about your lovely tea set, but a reference librarian knows how to make contact with bigger libraries where sources needed could be found.

It might take the librarian a while to locate the proper source for the info if she has to go outside the local branch so you might need to make copies of the pictures available to be sent along with the request for help with finding the answers you would like to have. Of course, you would not leave the piece behind, but you would need a clear picture or drawing of the mark. Maybe a Xerox would work to get that part.

Reference librarians really do like to help people track down information so if you track down a reference librarian, she just might know exactly what to do to help you.

Part II
 

Hello again, Atlantic,

I am a bit discombobulated tonight because the post above was my very first TOTV post done on my brand new iPad. This iPad sure is a touchy little thing and I am having a heckuva time with its quirks. It would not let me add anymore to the above post and it also sneaks in word changes when I am not watching. I caught it trying to change library to leper when I must have made a typo. I have been pc for years and I do not get this thing, but it sure is portable. (just caught it changing portable to potable. Geez.) But I digress......now back to your tea set........

Might it be possible that the tea set was brought back home as a gift for your mother-in-law from her husband or a son who was stationed in Japan at some point. If that might be it, that could help you narrow down the time during which she could have received it.

Good luck.

Boomer (sent from my iPad which does not yet understand me.)

(Caveat -- I know next to nothing about antiques of any kind, let alone china, so all comments are semi-educated guesses.)

Considering the cups have handles and saucers, I'd guess this is a pretty modern set, comparatively speaking. I've never seen an antique Chinese or Japanese set with handles -- those were usually made for tourists after WW II. The color reminds me some Chinese tea sets I've seen, but the design looks more Japanese.

You might want to bring the teapot to the Asian-American Club and see if someone there can help you determine at least the country of manufacture and possibly even the manufacturer.

Good luck. It really is a pretty set.

I brought back a similar porcelain tea set from London for my daughter in the early 1970s. She played with it for years and it remained intact, except she eventually lost the teapot lid. Sturdier than it looks.

Congrats on the iPad. You'll love it, when get used to its little quirks.

Whatever happened to the Droid ???? You started the thread and I ended up buying one .... :loco:

memason closed post #6 with "Ja matte", which I believe roughly translates from Japanese to "See ya later" in English. "Hasta luego" is Spanish for essentially the same thing! :)

Bill