¡Identifique su artículo hoy! →

Guía de identificación de marcas de plata de exportación china


This glossary lists some of the most common marks of artisan and retail silversmiths found on antique Chinese export silver. Identification of Chinese silver marks can often prove to be a tedious task so we’ve created this simple, condensed list of names, marks, dates and locations to make your initial research slightly easier. This simple guide is based on data from a variety of sources and auction listings. We’ve tried our best to correctly transcribe Chinese character marks based on photographs found in literature and online, but if you spot any mistakes, please let us know! Most dates are approximate and based on known examples rather than official records so use them as a rough guide only. For simplicity we’ve included one primary reference (with dating) for each mark, but in many cases we’ve used several sources with different variations of the mark while compiling this list.

Last updated: December 2024


Comprender los diferentes tipos de marcas que se encuentran en la plata de exportación china

1. marcas de orfebrería artesanal – estas marcas en caracteres chinos pertenecen a la persona que creó y decoró el objeto

2. marcas de platería al por menor – marca del minorista que vendió el objeto en su tienda. El platero minorista y el platero artesanal pueden ser, en algunos casos, la misma persona. Estas marcas suelen ser iniciales o un nombre completo escrito en inglés.

3. marcas de ubicación – ya sea en caracteres ingleses o chinos – puede encontrar ejemplos de estos a continuación.

4. marcas de pureza – Chinese silver is most commonly marked with ‘Zu Wen’ (high-grade silver) mark in Chinese characters. Sometimes it is also stamped STERLING or SOLID SILVER. There are also numerical marks such as 90, 85, 80 or 935, 900 etc.


Generic silver marks

足紋 o 足銀 – high-grade silver
純銀 – pure silver (Japanese silver mark)
点銅 (Diăntóng) – Chinese pewter mark
北京 - Beijing
廣東 – Guangdong
o 上海 – Shanghái
南京路 – Nanjing Road
天津 – Tientsin (Tianjín)

Typical Chinese ‘zú wén’ 足紋 silver mark

A

Fine Antique Japanese Silver Bowl With Prunus Blossom by Arthur and Bond, Yokohama. Meiji Period
Fine Antique Japanese Silver Bowl With Prunus Blossom by Arthur and Bond, Yokohama. Meiji Period (from our archive)

B


C

Antique Chinese Export Silver Peach Shaped Dish With Cum Wo Mark (from our archive)

D



F


GRAMO


H

Fine Chinese export silver bowl made by artisan silversmith Qi Chang 其昌 and sold by Hung Chong & Co. (from our archive)

yo


j


k

Impressed mark of KUT SHOWN 吉順 PEWTER No.1 SWATOW (from our archive)

L

Incised mark of Lao Tian Li 老天利製 on a cloisonné enamelled vase (from our archive)

METRO


norte

Mark of NGAN KI HEUNG 顏奇香 PEWTER WARE SWATOW (from our archive)

O


PAG


q


S

Mark of Sincere & Co with letter S and Chinese form of their name ‘Xian Shi’ 先施 (short for 先施公司). Between them is the purity mark 90. Mark on the left appears to be character 壎 ‘Xūn’. (from our archive)

Typical stylized ‘Shisou’ mark 石叟 from a Qing dynasty silver inlaid bronze vase (from our archive)


T

Mark of Tai Shan 泰山 with the mark for Beijing (Peking) 北京 at the top, written right to left (from our archive). Sometimes incorrectly transcribed as ‘Jiu Tai Shan’ 就泰山.


tu


W

Antique Chinese Export Silver Lobed Bowl By Woshing. Shanghai, late 19th century
Antique Chinese Export Silver Lobed Bowl By Woshing. Shanghai, late 19th century (from our archive)

X


Y


Z


Necesitas más ayuda?

If you need further assistance with identification of unknown Chinese silver marks, please Contáctenos.


Plata china antigua – Las subastas terminan pronto

Right Now on eBay 
Al hacer clic en un enlace a eBay, es posible que se pague una comisión por referencia si se realiza una compra.

Cuando hace clic en enlaces a varios comerciantes en este sitio y realiza una compra, esto puede resultar en que este sitio gane una comisión. Los programas de afiliados y las afiliaciones incluyen, entre otros, la red de socios de eBay.

Identification of Asian Antiques. Translation of Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Marks