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Hi All,

Again I need help with marks - this time it is on pewter - Rat and Bill, thanks in advance.

Regards,
JJ

I see no mention of reigns, but the nine-character mark is readable in Mandarin as 'Qian Men Wai, Da Mo Chang, Wan Chang Hao' (�O��O �Ŗ��� �ݏ��j - 'Sign of Wan Chang, at the polishing factory, outside the front gate').

The four-character mark is rougher on the eyes, possibly reading 'Hu Zhou(?) Xing Zao' (�ӏB���� - (Made originally at Huzhou [Munipality in Zhejiang Prov.]).

The other marking isn't very clear to me either but may be the character 'Bao' (�� - 'guaranteed').

Some of this is complicated because characters such as 'Wan' (��) and 'Hu' (which is a variant of ��), can both be surnames. However, the preceding is my best guesstimate. I also recall from my time in Hong Kong that Zhejiang has a well-established pewter industry.

Good luck,

Bill H.

This is a PS: I thought I'd encoded my characters as Big5 but it seems only to work with Japanese auto-select. Back to the books ('for dummies' editions that is).
Bill H.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the info - as alway very interesting to get sound input from somone with great knowledge.

Best
JJ

well done Bill H. JJ, Beijing has a famous old commercial district called "Qianmen", which Bill has translated as "outside the front gate" here, because it was the terminus outside the Beijing city walls of trade routes and thus a great place to set up business. Perhaps Huzhou has a similar commercial area?

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