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This is an interesting sake set. It has dragons and Japanese characters etched throughout. I'm hoping someone can decipher the mark on the bottom of the tray. I'm not even sure of the type of metal or age either. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Joe

The set appears to be Chinese pewter and features shapes that look to me to be post-Qing (after 1911) to mid-20th century. The larger mark has four characters that would be read from the top right. The first two are Bao (treasure) and Mao (luxuriant). The third character at top left is malformed and unreadable, at least by me. The last character is Ji (registered).

Since Bao is not a surname, this may be the factory name where the piece was made. It would have been read as 'Registered Mark of Bao Mao (?)'. I tried searching the pinyin via Google to no avail.

The other impressions shown also are incomplete.

Good luck,

Bill H.

I can only praise Bill H for valiant try to read the poorly stamped marks.

Warning: do not use this set for drinking anything, probably has very high lead amount.

Good luck,
Cal

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