Techniques for Identifying Imitation Ceramic Dinnerware in Collections
There is a particular intimacy to opening a china cupboard or unboxing a mixed lot from an estate sale. Glazes catch the light, gilding still whispers of holiday tables, and every plate seems to promise a story. Yet in today’s market, those stories are often muddied by reproductions, later copies, and outright fakes.
Specialists who study Chinese porcelain have been sounding the alarm for years. One expert cited by Bear & Raven antiques, drawing on Bidamount research, estimates that fewer than five percent of Chinese porcelains on some large online marketplaces are genuinely old. At the same time, contemporary makers are producing beautiful, correctly marked dinnerware that consciously reinterprets historic styles. It is no wonder even seasoned collectors feel uncertain.
As a tabletop stylist and pragmatic lifestyle curator, I sit right at that intersection between aesthetics and authenticity. I want your dinnerware to look exquisite in candlelight, to be safe on the table, and to hold its value where it matters. This guide draws on specialist research—from Chinese reign marks to Italian maiolica, from bone china diagnostics to industrial quality standards—to help you navigate imitations in your own collection with both discernment and ease.
Imitation, Reproduction, Fake: What Are You Actually Looking At?
Before you can sift your shelves, it helps to define what sort of “imitation” you are dealing with. The antique trade often uses language loosely, but a few distinctions show up consistently in reputable sources.
Many dealers in Chinese art, including those profiled by Bear & Raven, distinguish honest reproductions from deceptive fakes. Reproductions might be Republic-period Chinese wares copying earlier dynasties, or late nineteenth century European factories recreating earlier styles. These later pieces are not necessarily made to deceive. They can be beautiful, collectible and perfectly appropriate for the table; they simply should not be priced or described as original period works.
Fakes, by contrast, are created or marketed specifically to masquerade as something they are not. In the Chinese field, that might mean a modern jar painted in “Yuan style” with an invented provenance and a price that pretends it belongs in the six-figure auction range, a scenario Bear & Raven explicitly warn about using auction-price comparisons. In Italian ceramics, the problem often shows up as machine-stamped, mass-produced pieces sold as hand-painted works from famous centers such as Deruta, as described by the team at ThatsArte.
There is also a third category that is very relevant for dinnerware lovers: contemporary reinterpretation. Modern studios such as Middle Kingdom in Jingdezhen, introduced in the Gotheborg research on later Chinese porcelain, use electric wheels and gas kilns to create pieces inspired by classic forms and glazes. They are correctly signed, intentionally modern, and not pretending to be imperial wares from centuries ago.
When you evaluate a piece in your collection, you are really asking three separate questions. Is this safely functional or just decorative. Is it fairly represented for its actual age and origin. And does it belong in my “everyday table” zone or in the “handle with care” cabinet.
Start With the Story: Sellers, Provenance, and Context
Even for home collections, the most reliable authenticity clues often come from the story around the piece rather than the porcelain itself.
Specialists in Chinese porcelain stress that the first layer of protection is not a magnifying glass, but a skeptical eye toward the seller. Bear & Raven advise checking independent reviews, examining how professional a seller’s website or catalog looks, reviewing the mix of items they usually offer, and confirming that they have real, reachable contact details. Unknown or very small auction houses handling supposedly rare imperial wares without a track record are inherently high risk.
Provenance matters particularly when you are dealing with rare and expensive objects. Documented ownership history, old receipts, or evidence of past sales through reputable auction houses all build confidence. Bear & Raven also caution that even labels from major auction houses or collection stickers can be digitally copied or peeled off lesser objects and moved onto more impressive fakes. The presence of a glamorous label should be treated as supporting evidence, not proof.
When you are curating your own cupboards, you may not have auction receipts, but you often do have family stories. A set of American semi-porcelain traced in Collectable Ivy’s exploration of Edwin Atlee Barber’s work, for example, can be pinned to specific potteries and decades through base marks. White & Woodgrain’s case study of Homer Laughlin and Cunningham & Pickett china shows how production dates spanning the 1950s and early 1960s, plus memories of S&H Green Stamps, help reconstruct how a set was assembled over many years.
In practice, that means you record what you know as you go: who owned the piece, where it was bought, what country marks or retailer labels say, even which holiday it always came out for. These details become your internal provenance file and are surprisingly powerful when paired with the technical checks that follow.
Reading the Body and Glaze: Hands-On Tests at Home
Once you have the story, you turn to the object itself. Several simple sensory checks, grounded in both artisanal and industrial research, can help distinguish robust, high-quality dinnerware and likely reproductions from pieces whose claims do not match their reality.
Weight, Balance, and Sound
Authentic vintage mugs and tableware, according to guidance for collectors on vintage ceramics, often feel sturdier and somewhat heavier than many of today’s thin, mass-produced imitations. Smart guides for identifying vintage ceramic mugs note that older pieces tend to use denser clays and thicker walls, which gives them a satisfying heft in the hand.
At the other end of the spectrum, genuine bone china is known for being light yet strong. Technical overviews of high-quality bone china describe it as a mix of bone ash, kaolin, feldspar and other clays, fired multiple times, resulting in a fine, non-porous, translucent body that still feels sturdy. When lightly tapped, good bone china and high-grade porcelain should ring with a soft, clear tone rather than a dull thud. Quality-assessment guides for tableware emphasize this “bell-like” sound as evidence of proper vitrification.
If a plate that claims to be bone china feels heavy and opaque like stoneware, or a supposed nineteenth century mug feels suspiciously lightweight and plasticky, those are early warning signs. Weight and sound alone never prove authenticity, but they quickly separate plausible candidates from pieces that deserve more skepticism.
Translucency and Color
Holding a plate or cup up to a bright window tells you a great deal in a few seconds. Bone china specialists explain that genuine bone china shows a warm, soft translucency when backlit, whereas many porcelains are more opaque and heavier. Industrial-quality guides for porcelain agree: high-end porcelain, fired at temperatures around 2,370–2,550°F, can be slightly translucent with extremely smooth surfaces, but it is usually less “glowy” than bone china.
Some modern wares try to pass off generic, lower-fired ceramics as “fine bone china” simply because they are thin. Guides to spotting genuine bone china recommend checking that the manufacturer discloses bone ash content and warn that vague ingredient claims or very low bone content should raise questions.
Color in the glaze also carries clues, especially for Chinese wares. Bear & Raven note that Kangxi-period porcelain paste is extremely white and refined. Many older white glazes have a gentle bluish tone from cobalt, while ultra-bright, pure white glazes can indicate more modern manufacture. Inversely, very creamy, warm whites often align with certain European factories and periods. None of these shades prove age, but when the claimed date and the glaze color are clearly at odds, you know something is off.
Glaze, Crazing, and Surface Clues
The glaze is where both time and craftsmanship write their stories. For everyday tableware, industrial quality guides such as those from Joyye and Yongjian focus on surface smoothness, even glaze coverage, and resistance to scratching and staining. High-quality pieces should feel glassy or satiny, with no pinholes, bubbles, flow marks, or color patches, and should stand up to forks and knives without immediately etching.
For older pieces, you expect some wear. Smart collecting tips for vintage mugs describe natural crazing as fine, spiderweb-like cracks beneath the glaze that feel smooth to the touch; these often appear on truly old ceramics. Surface scratches that feel raised or rough tell a different story: they usually describe later wear, not age of the clay body itself.
Scientific work on Chinese ceramics, such as Matthew Bunney’s “ceramic trace model method,” goes even further, examining glazes at roughly five hundred times magnification. One trace they emphasize, called floccus mottling, looks like milky, cloud-like formations beneath the surface that tend to appear on unearthed wares older than about three centuries. When a dish advertised as early Ming or Wanli shows a perfectly glassy glaze with no trace of this long-term salt deposition, their research suggests it is unlikely to be as old as claimed.
For home collectors, you will not recreate a museum lab, but you can borrow the principle. Glazes that look too perfect, too plastic-like, or too uniform in shine for the claimed age are suspect. Guides to fake mugs and Italian ceramics point out that extremely smooth, plastic-like glazes, with no brush stroke texture and no subtle unevenness, are often signs of mass production, not hand painting.
Footrim, Base, and Unglazed Areas
Flip every piece over. The underside is one of your richest sources of evidence.
In traditional Italian maiolica, ThatsArte explains that authentic pieces almost always have an unglazed ring on the base where the terracotta body shows through. During glazing, artisans dip the bisque into a liquid glaze, but they deliberately remove glaze from the foot so the piece does not fuse to others in the kiln. On genuine pieces, this ring feels rough under the fingers and may even show tiny pincer marks near the rim from the tongs used in glazing. A base that is completely glazed, perfectly white and smooth, with no sign of terracotta, suggests a modern industrial shortcut rather than traditional methods.
In Chinese porcelain, the footrim itself carries stylistic information. Bear & Raven stress that the shape and finish of the foot should align with known examples from the claimed period, and that bases on reproductions often have incorrect or inconsistent finishing. Detailed studies of later Chinese marks by Gotheborg show that some commercial wares around the turn of the twentieth century even used the stamped phrase “Made in the Official Kiln” as branding, without actually being imperial wares. Understanding the expected base finish for a category is therefore essential.
Modern quality-control research adds another simple test: the water droplet. Yongjian’s guide to ceramic quality suggests placing a drop of water on an unglazed area of the base. If it soaks in rapidly, the body is relatively porous, more prone to absorbing odors and harboring bacteria over time. High-grade porcelain, with a water absorption rate around half a percent or less, should resist absorption. This is a durability check, not an authenticity test, but it helps you decide which pieces are best reserved for decorative duty.
Decoding Marks Without Being Fooled
Marks can feel like the holy grail of ceramic identification. They are crucial, but they are also one of the easiest places to be misled.
Lakeside Pottery’s overview of porcelain marks reminds us that the earliest European porcelain marks, such as Meissen’s eighteenth-century “AR” monogram and later crossed swords, quickly became the most copied marks in history. Later factories, decorators and outright fakers borrowed these symbols so freely that some nineteenth-century imitators once despised by connoisseurs are now themselves collectible.
Research on later Chinese porcelain compiled by Gotheborg draws similar conclusions. Reign marks in Chinese characters rarely guarantee that a piece dates from that emperor’s lifetime. Instead, they often function as stylistic fingerprints that help date mostly late trade and export wares. Many twentieth-century porcelain marks identify factories, export brands, or hall names rather than imperial kilns. State-run factories, Hong Kong decorating workshops, Macau labels used for tax reasons, and private halls all left their own inscriptions. Modern replicas also widely reuse earlier collector-type marks.
The practical lesson, echoed across multiple sources, is simple: never rely solely on a mark to date or authenticate a piece. Always cross-check it against the ceramic body, glaze, decoration, and known factory timelines.
Types of Marks You Are Likely to See
Collectors’ guides and reference sites such as The Ceramics Marks Guide, Pender and Peony’s plate-identification work, The Brooklyn Teacup’s resources, and Collectable Ivy’s long excerpt from Edwin Atlee Barber together paint a picture of just how many types of marks can appear on one dinner plate.
You may find a factory mark showing where the blank was made; a decorator’s mark from a company or studio that applied the enamels; a retailer mark from the department store or shop that sold the finished piece; pattern names or codes; and sometimes date codes. In the English and American context, that might be a green underglaze factory mark paired with a red decorator stamp, plus a department-store brand, as described by Lakeside Pottery. In Chinese wares, it might be an auspicious motif mark such as “Bat, Peach and Leaf,” symbolizing happiness and longevity, that has been reused from the Daoguang period into later wares, as Gotheborg notes.
Modern trade and import rules also show up in backstamps. Pender and Peony’s research on antique plates highlights that a country name alone often indicates post-1891 production for imports into the United States, while the phrase “Made in …” generally appears from the early 1920s onward. Phrases such as “English Bone China” or simply “Bone China” usually point to twentieth-century wares. Some British design registration marks, with “Rd” in a central cartouche, were used between the 1840s and the 1880s.
Date codes can be invaluable when they exist. Manufacturers like Wedgwood, Doulton and Meissen, according to plate-identification guides, used numeral or symbol codes near their main mark to encode production years. White & Woodgrain’s case study walks through how Homer Laughlin used letter–number combinations to indicate month, year, and factory location. These codes require reference books or online mark databases to decode, but once you crack them, they give very specific ranges.
Finally, Collectable Ivy’s overview of Barber’s work reminds us that marks themselves evolve. The Geijsbeek Pottery in Colorado, for example, changed marks several times between 1899 and 1901; Wannopee Pottery introduced new sunburst and scarab motifs for different product lines. In one striking example, Wannopee’s semi-porcelain pitchers with pitted grounds and relief busts of Beethoven, Mozart or Napoleon are sometimes offered as rare antiques, even though Barber’s documentation shows they first appeared in the mid-1890s as inexpensive products. Knowing the documented introduction date of a mark can puncture inflated claims.
A Simple Mark-Research Routine
The most effective mark research combines traditional reference books with digital tools.
Practical guides suggest starting by carefully transcribing every letter, number and symbol from the underside of the plate, then entering that text into a standard search engine. Image-based searches such as Google Lens are especially helpful when marks are partly smudged or when the decoration rather than the stamp is your main clue, as both Pender and Peony and White & Woodgrain emphasize.
Once you identify a likely manufacturer, brand-specific resources become powerful. The Brooklyn Teacup points to specialist pattern directories for firms such as Meissen, Shelley, Spode, Noritake and Haviland. Replacements’ database, highlighted by multiple authors, allows you to search by maker and then filter by design motif, color and rim style to narrow down possible patterns. The Ceramics Marks Guide recommends starting with a country index, then consulting brand histories and an expanding resource library of external mark databases to build a full picture.
The key is to treat online listings as hints, not authorities. Plate- and mug-identification guides repeatedly warn that seller descriptions are frequently inaccurate. Look for consensus across multiple reference sources. When in doubt, or when dealing with high-value or unusual pieces, Bear & Raven and other experts recommend seeking out certified appraisers or deeply experienced specialist dealers for an in-person opinion.
Style, Palette, and Shape: Visual Clues Beyond the Underside
Marks and glazes tell one part of the story. The overall visual language of a plate or cup can be just as revealing, especially when you are looking for period authenticity rather than simply determining whether something feels “special.”
Veranda’s overview of antique and vintage ceramics shows how palettes, glaze types and forms cluster by era. Kangxi-period Asian ceramics are associated with shiny underglazes and bright, watercolor-like designs that often tell narrative scenes. Song-period wares, by contrast, favor subtle monochrome glazes and free-flowing lines. Ming blue-and-white porcelains have their own characteristic motifs and brushwork. On the European side, Art Nouveau ceramics lean into romantic, curving forms and floral motifs, while Art Deco pieces embrace bolder geometric patterns and a modern feel. Mid-century modern German ceramics are described as emphasizing surface texture and glaze effects such as ombre and striations in restrained color palettes.
Pattern-identification guides make a similar point: pattern is not just wallpaper. A pattern is the specific decorative scheme used across a line of ceramics, and recognizing it can help you determine ceramic type, production dates, and sometimes rarity. Pender and Peony note that pattern names and scholar-assigned pattern numbers can be inconsistent, especially for large manufacturers such as Haviland, which acquired post-facto pattern cataloging systems. That makes visual search engines and comprehensive databases especially valuable.
In a curated dinnerware collection, it often becomes clear that one or two pieces do not quite “speak the same visual language.” Perhaps the gilt border is slightly too brassy, the shapes are fractionally clumsier than the rest of a service, or the palette is more muted than makes sense for the claimed period. When those visual discrepancies line up with technical red flags in the body, glaze and marks, imitation becomes the likeliest explanation.
Home Tests and What They Tell You
Several of the checks described above can be gathered into a simple comparison to help you triage pieces at home. This does not replace expert appraisal, but it quickly identifies which plates or cups deserve closer scrutiny.
Home Test |
What You Observe |
What It Suggests |
Light test through body |
Strong translucency with warm glow, or almost no light passing |
Supports bone china or high-grade porcelain, or a denser stoneware; extreme opacity in a piece sold as bone china is a red flag |
Tap and listen |
Clear, bell-like ring versus dull thud |
Proper vitrification and low porosity versus cheaper, under-fired body; a dull sound can also indicate hidden cracks |
Feel of unglazed base |
Rough terracotta ring, visible clay body, pincer marks or fully glazed, slick base |
Traditional hand-glazed terracotta or porcelain versus modern industrial shortcuts; rough base is expected in Italian handcraft, but not in every modern brand |
Surface and glaze inspection |
Subtle brush strokes, slight uneven sheen, or uniformly glassy, plastic-like coating |
Hand-painted decoration and artisanal glazing versus machine-printed decoration and sprayed glazes |
Water droplet on unglazed area |
Bead of water that sits on surface versus rapid absorption |
Dense, vitrified porcelain suitable for long-term use versus more porous body best for decorative use |
Marks and backstamps |
Under-glaze factory marks plus decorator and retailer symbols, or vague branding without codes |
Multi-layered marks consistent with documented practices versus generic or misleading marks that need deeper checking |
The table is meant as a conversation starter with your own collection. When several cells in the “red flag” direction line up on the same piece, you have very likely identified an imitation or at least a piece that is not what it claims to be.
Scientific and Expert Help for High-Stakes Pieces
There is a point where home connoisseurship should gracefully give way to science. This is particularly true in the Chinese ceramic field where values can vary by orders of magnitude.
Matthew Bunney’s ceramic trace model method, developed at a Chinese museum, is one example of such scientific support. Using a handheld magnifying device connected to specialized software, his team studies glaze microstructure at around five hundred times magnification, looking for traces such as floccus mottling that correlate with long-term burial and age. In one documented case, a dish presented by an established dealer as a Wanli-period piece lacked floccus mottling and showed a glassy glaze with a reflective scratch, all of which suggested a relatively recent manufacture.
The Chalre Collection’s work on tradeware ceramics highlights another level of expertise: systematic documentation of rust spots, glaze deterioration, embedded materials, glaze contractions, hairline cracks, overglaze degradation, shape distortion and shell encrustations. Their “Museum of Fake Ceramics” underscores just how creative forgery can be, and how subtle the differences sometimes are.
For most household collections, it is neither necessary nor practical to send every plate to a lab. However, if a single dish or bowl appears to be an outlier—ostensibly early Ming, unusually valuable, or the focus of an inheritance dispute—it is prudent to invest in a proper appraisal. Bear & Raven and other guides recommend seeking certified appraisers or deeply experienced specialist dealers, and treating scientific analytics as a powerful ally in a market where forgers often move faster than casual buyers.
Modern Quality vs Fake Luxury: When Imitation Is Perfectly Fine
It is important to say this clearly: not every imitation is a problem. In many dining rooms, the real danger is not that a plate is not as old as it claims, but that it is cheaply made, unsafe, or overpriced for its quality.
Contemporary porcelain manufacturers such as those profiled by 28 Ceramics and Yongjian offer a useful counterpoint to fakes. They emphasize firing temperatures around 2,370–2,550°F, very low water-absorption rates, and strict quality control as benchmarks for Grade A porcelain. Grade A pieces show bright, smooth, slightly translucent bodies with high resistance to chipping and cracking, making them ideal for fine hotels and formal dining. Grade B offers slightly lower whiteness and translucency at more accessible prices, often as a hardworking everyday option. Grade C, with low firing temperatures, rougher surfaces and a tendency to chip and stain, is generally discouraged for both home and hospitality use.
Consumer-oriented guides, such as Pito’s advice on buying ceramic dinnerware and Joyye’s instructions on spotting quality tableware, add practical details: look for lead- and cadmium-free glazes verified by standards such as FDA or EU regulations; inspect for even glazing, consistent color, and non-sharp rims; prioritize pieces that are genuinely microwave and dishwasher safe for your lifestyle. Yongjian suggests using a droplet test on unglazed bases to judge density, and encourages buyers of large quantities to request test reports and third-party inspections.
On the retail side, VanCasso’s overview of dinnerware-buying pitfalls reminds buyers that counterfeit versions of premium brands are common, especially when prices seem improbably low or packaging and trademarks look irregular. They advise checking complete cost including shipping and taxes, reading return and warranty policies carefully, and prioritizing well-established or consistently well-reviewed brands.
For businesses and serious collectors purchasing in bulk, LovingHome’s framework for evaluating dinnerware suppliers adds an extra layer: scrutinize years in operation, production certifications, ethical and environmental credentials, R&D capacity, and quality-control systems from raw materials to finished goods. This is not about whether a plate is an antique; it is about whether your “imitation” of fine hotel dining at home is built on the same standards of safety and consistency.
Reinterpretation, meanwhile, can be a joy. Bone china style guides point out that bone china pairs beautifully with simpler stoneware, allowing you to mix refined, translucent pieces into more casual table settings without visual clash. Italian ceramic specialists encourage collectors to build modern collections of handmade pieces from contemporary artisans, using traditional techniques with fresh patterns. Middle Kingdom’s modern Jingdezhen porcelain similarly demonstrates how classical Chinese forms can be reimagined without any attempt at deception.
In other words, it is entirely acceptable—and often desirable—to choose contemporary pieces that echo the past. The key is that they are honestly described, safe for their intended use, and priced for what they truly are.
Curating Your Own Authentic Table
Once you have these techniques in hand, the way you look at your shelves will start to change.
In practice, I suggest walking through your collection in stages. First, separate clearly contemporary, fully documented dinnerware that you bought new from vintage, inherited or secondhand pieces. For the modern sets, focus on quality and safety: check glaze integrity, look for any lead warning labels (as some twentieth-century decorators added after consumer reports on heavy-metal content), confirm microwave and dishwasher suitability, and note which pieces deserve gentle handling because of gilding or delicate decoration.
Second, for vintage and inherited pieces, start a simple record that notes any marks, codes, or retailer labels; family stories; and your initial observations about weight, translucency, glaze, and base. Use mark references, online image searches, and pattern databases to identify likely makers and patterns. When pieces appear misrepresented—perhaps a Wannopee pitcher you find in Collectable Ivy’s documentation being offered elsewhere as an “eighteenth-century rarity”—you can choose to enjoy it for its beauty while mentally adjusting expectations.
Third, identify the small subset of items whose authenticity or value really matters to you. These may be Chinese export plates that a relative believed were imperial, bone china services that could play a role in estate planning, or a single dazzling charger you bought at a suspiciously low price online. For these, consider reaching out to specialists, referencing mark directories such as The Ceramics Marks Guide, or, if justified by potential value, commissioning a professional appraisal or scientific analysis.
Along the way, remember that dinnerware lives best when it is used. Many high-quality bone china and porcelain manufacturers explicitly design their pieces to withstand everyday meals, as long as you avoid sudden temperature shocks and hard knocks. Contemporary bone china guides note that its strength actually exceeds regular porcelain when handled reasonably. Joyye’s data suggests that premium dinnerware can last a decade or more of regular use, compared with only a few years for cheaper sets, making higher upfront cost worthwhile.
The art is in putting the right piece in the right role. A delicate nineteenth-century biscuit porcelain figure may belong on a mantel, while a robust Grade A porcelain plate from a modern maker can happily carry Sunday roasts. A modern Deruta-style bowl purchased from a reputable Italian ceramics dealer deserves to be filled with olives and salads, even if its decoration echoes much older maiolica.
A Few Common Questions
Is a reproduction always a bad thing in a dinnerware collection?
Not at all. Many reproductions, especially those openly sold as such, are beautifully made and entirely safe and appropriate for use. Chinese Republic-period copies of earlier wares, Italian maiolica inspired by Renaissance motifs, and modern Jingdezhen porcelains that reinterpret imperial forms all fall into this category. The problem arises when reproductions are priced or described as original period pieces or when poor-quality reproductions compromise safety or durability.
Should I stop using older plates if I do not know their lead or cadmium content?
Safety guidance from contemporary manufacturers and ceramic-quality resources emphasizes using only food-safe glazes for items in contact with food. If you have older or unmarked pieces and cannot verify their safety, it is prudent to reserve them for decorative or serving-only roles where food does not sit in prolonged contact with the glaze. For large collections or restaurant use, many buyers ask suppliers for compliance test reports under standards such as FDA or European food-contact regulations.
If a piece turns out to be fake, is it worthless?
A fake is always problematic if it was bought at a price or with a story appropriate only to an authentic work, and if the deception was intentional. However, some older imitations and decorator pieces, especially certain nineteenth-century versions of famous European marks, have themselves become collectible, as Lakeside Pottery’s historical overview points out. More importantly, if you love how a plate looks on your table, it still holds real decorative value. The key is to understand what you have so you can style it, insure it, and talk about it honestly.
In the end, curating an authentic table is less about policing every plate and more about cultivating an informed, confident eye. When you know how genuine bone china feels in your hand, how natural crazing looks beneath a glaze, how a mark fits into a manufacturer’s timeline, and when a price or story feels out of step with reality, you become the quiet expert at your own table. That is where true tabletop style lives: in pieces that please the eye, perform beautifully in use, and tell stories you can trust.
References
- https://www.academia.edu/24535556/A_New_Technique_to_Help_Identify_Chinese_Ceramic_Fakes_Shirley_M_Mueller_Interviews_Matthew_Bunney
- https://www.28ceramics.com/blog-a-guide-to-understanding-grades-and-quality.html
- https://insights.made-in-china.com/Ceramic-Tableware-A-Comprehensive-Guide-to-Understanding-Sourcing-and-Meeting-Consumer-Needs_maTGDbdHOnlF.html
- https://theceramicsmarksguide.com/
- https://smart.dhgate.com/expert-tips-for-identifying-authentic-vintage-ceramic-mugs-like-a-collector/
- https://gotheborg.com/marks/20thcenturychina.shtml
- https://www.joyye.com/info-detail/how-to-spot-quality-tableware
- https://www.lovinghomecollection.com/evaluate-a-dinnerware-supplier/
- https://pitochina.com/buying-ceramic-dinnerware/
- https://www.shoplegacies.com/identifying-your-china-maker-pattern-and-value/
