Nippon Ice Cream Set

Q: My set of antique dishes includes this 7-by-12 1/4-inch platter and five smaller plates, 5 1/4 inches square. The design on the gold border includes leaves and grapes. The green mark on each plate is the letter M within a wreath, with the words "Hand Painted" above and "Nippon" below. Can you tell me anything about these dishes?

A: You have an "ice cream set." The set was made between 1911 and 1921 by the company now known as Noritake Co. Ltd., a well-known Japanese manufacturer of dinnerware. The M in the mark stands for Morimura Bros. Co., a New York City importing company. The Morimura family founded Morimura Bros. in 1878 to import china from Japan. In 1904, the family founded Nippon Toki Kaisha Ltd. in Japan. The firm was renamed Noritake Co. Ltd. in 1963. Collectors refer to your dishes as "Noritake Nippon" because the mark includes the word "Nippon"-the Americanized spelling of the Japanese word for "Japan." Your ice cream set would sell for about $100.

Many books have been written about early Noritake and Nippon porcelain. One helpful series is the seven-volume Collector's Encyclopedia of Nippon Porcelain by Joan F. Van Patten (Collector Books, Paducah, KY, c1979-2002).

 

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