I need help identifying a porcelain figurine that I found while digging in my flowerbed. It is a young girl holding vegetables in the apron of her dress and there is a white dog by her side. There are no marks or stamps on the piece to identify it. I want to find out who made her, when she was made (circa 19??) and her value, if any. I have pictures posted on the following links. Thank you. http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o21/froggirl642002/f.../figurinepics001.jpg
My first thought was "Occupied Japan". Usually they are marked though. Lots of people collect "Occupied Japan" because it was such a historical time for our country.
Look on ebay and see if you see something similar.
I sent pictures of this mystery piece to an appraiser. She agreed that it was Japanese, but doubted it was Occupied Japan stating it would be clearly marked as such and she didnt feel it was worth my getting an appraisal. I kind of got the feeling she was insinuating that this piece is a "piece"...well, u know where Im going with that statement. I am not going to let her opinion stop my quest to find out more info on this. Your suggestions and comments are very much welcome.
Posts: 4 | Location: Modesto | Registered: Feb 04, 2008
How lucky for you that she is in such lovely condition. Even if she is not work a lot of $, she is priceless to you. If I were you I would put her in a special place and cherish her forever. And, keep digging!!!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dooozie,
--- Don't sweat the small stuff--It's all small stuff!!
Posts: 1220 | Location: Hot, Hot, San Joaquin Valley of California | Registered: Oct 27, 2003
Yes, now that I think about it, all things made in Japan during the occupation were required to be marked, "Occupied Japan" so it may pre date that time.
She may not be worth a lot money wise but I agree with Doozie, she's priceless to you! I wonder who and why she was buried in your yard? Too bad she can't talk.
froggirl64, What a great find! She is lovely,even if you cannot find out anything about her, she is a treasure! Off the top of my head I can think of a couple places to do some resurch on your figurine. Go to your local libary(sp) and ask for help in locating some books about figurines. See if you can find anything similar to what you have. If you have a musmume(sp?) in your town, take it there and ask for help in identifying it. Or if you are in a collage town that offers courses in antiques, take your figure there and see if they can help you to indentify it. The features on the girls face and dogs face remind me of some Lamoge(sp) figurines I have seen, abd collect, but am not sure, plus as far as I know, those were always marked. The other idea I have is,if you can, contact the previous owners of the house and ask them is they know anything about the figurine. As strange as it may seem, I know, in some caluters(sp) that it is a practice to bury a stature of ST.Josphe, head down, to bring good luck in selling the house.Maybe they did not have a statue of St.Josphe and buried her insead? Other possiability is that at some point,a long time ago, the house that stood on your property burned down and "she" survived the fire and was burried in the ashes of the fire. If I really let my imagination run "wild" I could give you a lot of othe reasons for the figureine being buired where you found it, but, on the other hand, isn't it a lot more fun to just wonder about it and make up your own stories about it? Another possibility is that, for some reason, the statue was thrown out in the trash, years ago and the trash decomposed, leaving the statue intact. At any rate, good luck with your resurch and let us know what you found out about it. Even if you never find anything out about it, put it in a special place in your house and enjoy telling the story about how you found it. As I said, you have a real treasure, enjoy it!!!! msmarymac2
Anythiing made AFTER 1895 (or thereabouts) HAD to be marked in some way per federal law. So, either she is older than mid 1890's or she was some china painting project of a former owner, who didn't have to sell it - tho it doesn't look like such to me.
Enjoy it - you never know when you'll run across something similar and get some add'l information.
Posts: 2263 | Location: MI | Registered: Apr 03, 2007
I kind of got the feeling she was insinuating that this piece is a "piece"...well, u know where Im going with that statement. I am not going to let her opinion stop my quest to find out more info on this. Your suggestions and comments are very much welcome.
