Who here enjoys a mystery?? (Various porcelain/pottery marks)

I've spent several days trying to identify the marks on these items, but I finally have to admit defeat. (My will is strong, but my experience is greatly lacking.) All of these were thrift store finds, save for one that was inherited, so please be honest with me if they're worthless or fake. My wallet and my ego can withstand an $8 loss.

First up, porcelain candlestick holder with gold "MM" or "WW" on the back. It looks as though part of the mark could have rubbed off, however.


The candlestick holder itself, which I obviously haven't attempted to clean:


Next item is a tiny, apparently hand-painted vase. I'm familiar with the practice of marking Asian pottery with 2-3 columns of characters, but these look so stylized I can't tell what language they are (if they're any language at all, LOL) or if they're even right side up. This particular seal didn't rub off when I removed the price tag residue, though.





I found a plate, maybe earthenware, with a crude stamp that's either not well known or a poor imitation of a better company (maybe Pfaltzgraff?). I thought it looked like a tower with an onion dome, or maybe a lighthouse inside an oval with waves below it. My husband just said it looks like an ear of corn. Either way, one of my kids thinks the plate is cute and wants to keep it, so no great loss.



And a signed bowl that appears to be terra cotta. The signature looks like "Sin", but a signed Virginia Sin bowl appearing on a thrift store shelf in the Deep South seems like a bit of a stretch. (I don't even know if she signs her pieces anyway, or what it looks like if she does.)

 

(Removed to post in a separate thread)

 

On the first item I only see the mark but no picture of the candlestick itself. Regardless, the mark does not look a maker's mark but rather a decorator's mark. Most likely for quality control or as a counter for how many pieces a particular person decorated. These were important because many decorators were paid by the piece. The second item looks like a sake bottle or bud vase. It's probably not worth your time to try and figure out the mark as this item will have minimum value. For the item with the domed piece I would look to Russia. Those onion domes are distinctive for that country. The terra cotta piece looks like the work of a studio potter. Those marks are very, very difficult to ID unless the potter is well known. It looks like it maybe should have had a lid. I think the mark on the Japanese pieces is meant to resemble Mt. Fuji. There is a sight called Gotheborg.com that can help you ID Japanese marks. Not sure any of these pieces have much value except maybe for the unseen candlestick and perhaps the Russian piece. For future posts it might be better to include the measurements for each piece and to put the pieces in separate posts. The folks that know Japanese may not be the same folks who can help with the Russian piece and it's a bit tricky keeping track of this many items in a single post. Good luck!
Don

 

Ah, that does make sense. In trying not to "flood" the forum, I probably made things more confusing. I'll be sure to break up future questions by subject/region for clarity. I'll also try to edit my post to include the actual candlestick.

Thank you for taking the time to offer advice and answer each query! I know that no one person is likely to have all the answers, but I certainly appreciate your knowledge and experience. It's so helpful to have a more solid base to continue researching. Gotheberg.com, Lita Xu Ling Kelley's blog, and several other sites have allowed me to learn a fair amount on my own about Japanese items, at least, but I'm sure there are lots of marks that can't be or haven't been accounted for (and it's not like Mt. Fuji is underrepresented in Japanese marks, haha). For some reason this is the one I have the most curiosity about, even if there's no empirical value to the cream & sugar set. Maybe I'll repost that as a separate question for now, so as not to go overboard.

 

I can take a guess on the Japanese set. I believe you'll find it dates to the between the World Wars. It's too late for the Nippon era but too early for Post War. It's a cute little set - reminds me of a take on the classical English hunting scenes.
Don

 

It's always helpful to have a likely date range! And that fits perfectly with what I think I remember about who originally owned the set, since my great-grandmother died in the early 1930s. I had the same thought as you did as far as the almost playful nod to the English fox hunting motifs. The whole design is far from my usual "style", but I love it anyway.