Category 'Austria'

Sooner or later you are bound to bump into one of the mark versions shown below. What should rise your suspicion is the plain fact that no reference book actually shows any of these marks, even those specialized on Austrian ceramics. Hence it is often very easy to prove that information given in some auction description is simply made up.

According to a few German antiques dealers, some of these marks came up during the mid- to late 1980s and are well known as reproductions. Depending on source, these items are said to have originated in Korea or Taiwan; thanks to Bill Bennett I have a nice picture of a vase bottom that has been scraped open to show the material used: his item was simply made from dirty leftover stuff and then whitewashed to create a clean surface.

For some time a larger potion of these marks was claimed to have belonged to one certain (relatively badly documented) manufacturer, which (of course) never used any of the marks shown here and only produced plates and dishes (no vases, figures or other items).