Lot # : 181 - 8 > NORITAKE PERSPECTIVE BLUE CHAMPAGNE, TEA, WINE

SHIPPING AVAILABLE > A group of -8- examples, Noritake Perspective pattern glassware ~ Perspective is a discontinued pattern, in production from 1970 until 1985, featuring a pressed thumbprint and panel design. ~ Included are the following examples ~ 4 > Wine Glasses, standing 4-7/8 tall, designed to hold 4-1/2 ounces 1 > Iced Tea Glass, standing 6-3/8" tall 3 > Champagne Stem or Tall Sherbet, standing 4-1/8" tall, measuring 4-1/8" diameter to the bowl CONDITION REPORT > Most retain the original Noritake labels ~ Overall superb, vintage condition, best noted by examining the images offered. HISTORY of NORITAKE CHINA & CRYSTAL WARE Noritake Co., Limited is a porcelain maker headquartered in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Noritake Co., Limited, commonly known as "Noritake," grew out of a trading company established in Tokyo and in New York City by the Morimura Brothers in 1876. In 1904, key members of this trading company created the Nippon Toki Kaisha, Ltd. ~ known as the Company that makes Japan's Finest China, in Japan. This forerunner of the modern Noritake Company was founded in the village of Noritake, a small suburb near Nagoya, Japan. After various mergers the company now comes under the umbrella of the Nippon Toki Kaisha, Ltd. Most of the company’s early wares carried one of the various “Nippon” back stamps to indicate its country of origin when exported to Western markets. Today, most collectors agree that the best examples of “Nippon-era” (1891-1921) hand painted porcelain carry a back stamp used by "Noritake" during the Nippon era. Although consumers and collectors alike have called these wares, "Noritake" since the late 1920s, the Japanese parent company did not officially change its name to the Noritake Co., Limited until 1981. Evidently, since Noritake is the name of a place, the company was initially prohibited from registering the name as a trade name. Since 1904, Noritake has been bringing beauty and quality to dinner tables around the world. Superior artistry and craftsmanship, attention to detail and uncompromising commitment to quality have made Noritake an international trademark during this past century. The Noritake of today grew out of a trading company that was originally established by the Morimura Brothers in New York in 1876. This trading company imported chinaware, curios, paper lanterns and other gift items. In 1904, the forerunner of the Noritake Company was established in the village of Noritake, a small suburb near Nagoya, Japan. The goal of this first factory was to create western style dinnerware for export. It took until 1914, however, to create the first porcelain dinnerware plate that was suitable for export. The earliest dinnerware plates were mostly hand-painted, often with liberal applications of gold. By the early 1920's, Noritake introduced assembly line techniques which allowed for mass production of high quality, yet affordable dinnerware. In the ensuing decades, Noritake continued to perfect its production capabilities and expand to markets world-wide. Today, Noritake is an acknowledged leader in tableware manufacturing and marketing with subsidiaries, factories and affiliates around the world. Their products are sold to customers in over 100 countries and are used in hotels, restaurants and airlines throughout the world. Most early pieces marked Nippon in western or in Japanese Kanji characters seems to have been manufactured by or sold through the company that later would become Noritake Company. In 1876 Baron Ichizaemon Morimura IV formed a trading company called Morimura Kumi (Morimura Brothers) with offices in Tokyo, and a retail and wholesale office in New York for the export of traditional Japanese products such as chinaware, curios, paper lanterns and other gift items. Ichizaemon Morimura VI was a visionary and a supporter of a modernization of Japan. One thing he clearly saw was the business potential if the quality of Japanese art and skilled craft could be adapted to the needs and taste of the American consumer. Morimura brothers was still a many faceted importing company of which the porcelain were just one part. Beside running a china decorating facility of their own during 1878 to 1884, the Morimura brothers also bought and distributed porcelain blanks to be decorated by independent porcelain decorators in nearby regions. From 1884 Morimura Kumi subcontracted decorating firms in Tokyo, Nagoya and Kyoto. The quality of the Early Noritake wares varied with the skill of the individual decorators. The early marks from this period seems to have been the country of origin i.e Ni hon or "Nippon" written by brush in traditional Japanese Kanji characters. The word "Nippon " also meaning Japan but in western characters A visit by Ichizaemon Morimura IV to the World Fair in Paris in this period helped shape the idea of trying to manufacture a high quality, modern, western style dinnerware for export, in Japan. In January 1, 1904 the Nippon Toki Kaisha Ltd - the forerunner to the present Noritake Company - was formed. The factory was located near a source of good and plentiful raw materials and in a community rich with skilled potters. The site was the small village of Noritake near Nagoya, the center of Japan's ceramic production, on the main island of Honshu. The first Japanese registry for a Noritake back stamp is reported as 1908 for use in Japan. In 1910 the first china products from the new company could leave Japan for the U.S. The first reported U.S. registry for a Noritake back stamp for importing is 1911. Not not until 1914 after a long series of trials and errors the first fine porcelain dinnerware suitable for export was produced. On of the first patterns to be produces was the "Sedan" (11292). A piece of the dinnerware in the Noritake factory in Nagoya shows this to be a bleak white plate with a cream border of small flower sprays and the typical Noritake back stamp, the letter "M" in a wreath and the words "Hand painted." As a general rule the earliest dinnerware plates were mostly decorated with a liberal applications of gold. To identify the early Noritake porcelain, it is important to remember their intended adaption to the western taste. The "M in a wreath" mark was used between c 1914 until 1940. With the first World War came the understanding of the need for industrialization. The company soon undertook the production of necessary machinery for the use in its potteries and could by the early 1920's introduce assembly line techniques allowing for mass production of high quality, yet affordable, dinnerware. From around the 1890's until 1921 the Nippon Toki Kaisha Ltd had according to the the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 marked their export porcelain with their country of origin as in "Nippon" but in western characters, which is kind of fun in an upstanding Edo period Samurai way. For "Nippon" collectors the bad news is that this mark only signifies the country of origin and implies no other information. So, even if early Morimura imports were likely to have been marked this way, so would other imports from Japan too. After the WWI most back stamps was changed to state "Japan" or "Made in Japan". Still the word Nippon was infrequently used even after 1921. The period from 1921 until 1941 is a time easily set apart in Noritake production. It is clearly defined on both ends by two events: a change in U.S. law in 1921 and the entry into World War II in 1941. Until 1921 Noritake predominately marked export wares "Nippon," one word used to describe the country of Japan. In 1921 American import law changed to require the place of origin be marked on a product in English. Since Nippon was an adaptation of a description of the island country in the native language, Nippon was no longer acceptable under the new law. Backstamps after 1921 state "Japan" or "Made in Japan." From the event of the back stamps giving up the "Nippon" mark and beginning with being marked "Japan" or "Made in Japan. i.e. in the early 1920's we can assume that all Noritake porcelain were actually designed in New York, for the US market. From the up market art deco designs of the late 1920s the designs of the 1930s took a markedly more pragmatic shape after the world-wide depression. Still, marketed in department stores and Five & Dimes, Noritake took "art deco" into Americas homes and onto their tables. Much of the "lustreware" where a thin metallic film was applied over a bright single-color glaze, often with art deco theme decals in combination with hand painting, dates to this period. From its early understanding of western taste and mass production, Noritake also early understood the western methods of mass marketing. It is thus not surprising to from the late 1920's throughout the 1930's, until the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 put a most unwanted stop to normal business, "Hand Painted Imported Noritake China" was offered as a premium by the Larkin company of Buffalo, New York, to its millions of customers purchasing soap, beauty and home products by mail. Some patterns appears to have been specially designed for the Larking company such as the "Azalea". Azalea was then sold as premiums to the Larkin club members and their home agents. Typical marks from the period c. 1925 to 1940 is the green Noritake mark #190. In 1941 the export offices were closed and direct export to the US was not resumed before 1948. Noritake wares from circa 1948 to 1952 may bear a number of marks including "Made in Occupied Japan" and "Occupied Japan." In 1963 the company started to use its English name Noritake Company Ltd to which the Japanese company also officially changed its name in 1981. Early Noritake china dinnerware featured the "Hand Painted Nippon" design around the familiar wreath-circled "M" for "Morimura" on the back stamp of most pieces. "Noritake" appears on back stamps of other pieces, with either "Japan" or "Made in Japan" present on most of these. For a period following World War II from 1945 to 1948 Noritake China was sold under the label "Rose China". In 1953 the letter "N" for "Noritake" in a wreath replaced the long used "M" in a wreath. From 1945 until early 1952, occupation of Japan by the Allied Occupation Forces had been in place and many backstamps for this period say "Made in Occupied Japan. According to collectors, the number of known different Noritake marks are today more then 400. Marks with the initials RC have a special place in the Noritake production. The first time we find them in the first marks registered in Japan in the 1908, where RC (Royal Crockery) is combined with a "Yajirobe" or a mechanical balance toy. According to Noritake symbolizing the universal problem of finding a balance in business, such as between quality and price. It is not clear how long this symbol was used but already in 1911 the first marks with the famous laurel wreath was registered. In 1911 also a series of circular marks with the RC drawn in an Art Noveu style were registered in Japan. In 1926 a back stamp with RC (Royal Crockery) with a right turned laurel twig registered in India for India and Southeast Asian market was used for the first time. Immediately after the second WW, in 1946, the Noritake was temporary dropped from the marks and RC was reappearing as "Rose China" together with a picture of a rose and the words Made in Japan. Since the quality immediately after the war was not up to the pre-war standard, Noritake preferred to save the valuable Noritake brand name until later, still already in the 1947 we find the Noritake name used together with the Komaru (overcoming difficulties) symbol, sometimes over the telltale line "Made in Occupied Japan". For today's collector, the ambiguities that surround Noritake and Morimura brothers can be overwhelming. The loss of extensive company records during World War II also makes some questions forever unanswerable. Beside the rare chance finds of new sources, stylistic comparison and a careful adding of one piece of information to another, is all that we will ever have on this.