China and pottery manufacturers have used pottery or china marks as a means to provide for identification of their products nearly since the inception of the glassmakers craft.

A china, or pottery mark, is very much like a fingerprint is to a human. A means of identifying and letting the purchaser or owner know when and by whom their china or pottery was made.

The porcelain mark serves us as evidence of the maker, the origin, age and in many cases the quality of a piece of porcelain or pottery, and is in most cases the first thing that will be viewed and checked prior to the purchase of an item whether that item is newly produced or is an antique.

To the Porcelain or china maker, their own mark is also a symbol of pride, in their craftsmanship, and will often inspire confidence and loyalty in the buyer.

Most porcelain marks on fine china, such as the Meissen marks of the crossed swords, or the Limoges marks, are what are known as under glazed, which is to say they were applied to the piece of porcelain prior to the firing, or curing of the china.

For about the first hundred years of production, there were only two pigment colors that could take the high heat that firing produced and so the colors of the older porcelain marks will usually be either cobalt blue or iron red, the two colors that could remain even under the high heat.

Cobalt blue was the more popular color of the two so it is the most often seen in older porcelain marks. There is one big exception to this, which is in Dresden porcelain, which was present in the latter part of the 19th century. The Dresden decorators covered the porcelain marks with a gold glaze, and then applied their own above-glaze mark; usually a blue crown.

In many cases a piece of china will have two marks, applied in this fashion, one beneath the glaze, indicating the factory that produced the blank, and the second above the glaze indicating the decorator. Much of the Haviland for example, has the green underglaze mark “Haviland France,” and the red decorators stamp: “Haviland & Co. Limoges.” In this case, the china bears two marks even though the pieces were produced in different parts of the same factory.

China marks today are many and diverse and are used to show the year, the original and the type of china that is the piece you are holding.

In many cases, porcelain marks are difficult to find, if they are much older in nature and require some vast research to find the age, origin and value of a piece.

To research them more fully, there are several books as well as the following sites which can help you in finding your own china mark.