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Subject:Re: Japanese bronze
Posted By: Bill H Thu, Mar 19, 2015
The kanji markings except one character seem to be as follows:
登錄, 商漂
平安, 龍(?)
The first line consists of the outside stacks, which can be translated as "Recorded Trademark". In the second line are two stacks from the middle of the mark, the first one being the name for the Heian Period (794-1159), while the second stack begins with the character for Dragon. The last character defied efforts to identify it with any certainty, though the two central stacks most likely represent the actual trademarked term. I checked a list of Heian rulers and couldn't find one with an initial dragon character. Perhaps one of our Japanese scholars can fill in the blank and do a proper translation and transcription of the spoken Japanese.
Regarding Japanese trademarks, the first Japanese Patent law was passed in 1871 but suspended the next year due to the confusion it generated. Another law finally enabled the opening of a patent office and further development of the system after 1880. This office issued numbered monopoly patents for awhile after that time, at least for Japanese "sharkskin" or Coralene type ceramics I've collected. It may be that your casting was produced around the 1880s when Japan was still getting its patent act together.
Best regards,
Bill H.
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