Mandarin Hat button bell

[JanGroen]

Good evening
I have this Mandarin Hat button that was changed into a bell. The bell part are enameled, silver plated with bats. It has 2 marks, CHINA and a W in a circle. Any information about the object will be welcome.
Groete
Jannie

[Traintime]

Though not an exact match, the mark looks like it may have been borrowed from the Webster Company sometime after it became a divisional holding of Reed & Barton...but don't get your hopes up, it is a bit off. One possibility could be a licensing arrangement to produce in China for an American company, while another could be an outright limited lease of a trademarked name. All of this assumes that the mark is not simply copied (a fake), and that for some unknown reason R&B would allow for a respected name in sterling to be applied to silverplate (based on your notes). [Bells were an R&B line in both sterling and plate from their own company.] Just from the photo, I don't see silverplate but something like sprayed paint on the inside to give it a look...but you have a better view from your end. All of which is, at this point, non-conclusive.

[Traintime]

Two photos of the same small late Webster mark...one to the naked eye, and the other under a 10x loupe. If someone looked at such a mark without examining it closely, the might think it was a W-enclosed-in-oval. A faker might just run with this kind of idea and throw it on an object to increase its' marketability. Sorry, but it's very hard to trust what goes on out there. Hopefully, this won't turn out to be the case for your bell.

[oel]

Hi,
W oval ring (or M oval ring)conjoined in a rectangular frame.

I do not believe it to be a (pseudo) Webster Co. mark and has nothing to do with Webster Co.
To compare see;

http://www.925-1000.com/ax_webster.html




Chinese Mandarin hat bell, enamel, glass finial with typical Chinese symbolism; the bat is a symbol of happiness and joy. The Chinese for bat (fu 蝠) sounds identical to the word for good fortune(fu 福) making bats a popular Chinese rebuses. Five bats together represent the ‘Five Blessings’ (wufu 五福): long life, wealth, health, love of virtue and a peaceful death.

Should call it unknown Chinese factory/retailer/maker's mark.


Peter

[zhaosu]

Made in China around 1970s to 80s for export with an old amber hat top.