New member - need help with Japanese marks

[Emil Wojcik]

I have a small silver Japanese fan shaped box (incense box?) and I'm trying to decipher the marks. I'm more familiar with European marks but I often come across Asian pieces and have been looking for a site where I might be able ask about specific Asian marks.

I think I figured out that the two characters on the bottom left read something like "made of silver" but that's all I know (assuming that's correct). Is there a way to tell what grade the silver is? Is this considered a mark for sterling? I also assume the mark directly about these characters is a makers mark but I have no idea how to find out who this maker is and when this piece would date from.

Also, any help translating the other characters would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any and all help!

[davidross]

Welcome to the Forum.

The retailer is Tsuruya Department Store of Kumamoto. Their logo mark is a crane (tsuru translates to "crane"). According to their homepage (in Japanese) they were founded in 1951. If the link below doesn't work, just Google "Tsuruya Department Store" for a photo that shows the logo atop their store.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鶴屋百貨店

The inscriptions says "Congratulations from the Kakimi Family," so this was most likely distributed to guests or clients at some felicitous occasion.

The jungin mark translates to "pure silver."

Regards
DR

[Emil Wojcik]

Wow! Thanks for the very fast and detailed reply...it's really appreciated!

The next time I come across Asian silver, I know where to come for information. Thanks again.

[davidross]

Sorry that I have to emend what I wrote above (broke my reading glasses yesterday).

You are right, the mark is ginsei "silver-product" or "made of silver," not jungin. There is some debate about whether ginsei marks were used on solid silver objects, but in my experience, ginsei always indicates silverplate.

Although it is hard to determine from a photo alone, there seems to be a bald spot surrounding the character kotobuki ("congratulations," "long life" etc), where the base metal is showing through.

Were this item solid silver, it would probably bear either a maker's mark or hail from one of the major metropolitan department stores, such as Mitsukoshi or Sogo.

Sorry if this is a disappointment. It is interesting to see an item from Kyushu, so thank you for posting.

Cheers
DR

[Emil Wojcik]

Thanks for the correction. I am sure it's solid silver, though. It has been tested by a jeweler and I just double checked it myself. So I guess that makes me one more vote for the mark being used on solid silver.

The spots you see in the photos around the characters isn't wear at all and in fact only shows up in these photos because of the camera view. The spots are actually just polished a bit more in those areas and aren't base metal showing through. From other angles, those spots can't even be seen, especially in real life.

Thanks again! You've been very helpful!

[davidross]

My, you certainly do work fast at testing silver!

For the sake of other readers, let me reiterate that yours is a minority opinion, where a postwar ginsei mark is concerned.

DR