| Original Message: Why I think this Boshan bead is possibly from the 1910s-1920s |
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Showing the country of origin stamp that makes me think this piece is before 1920, after which date "Made In China" was required. A paper label could have been applied to fulfill this requirement, but the misspelling "CMINA" is what makes me think the piece is from an earlier decade, when workshops were just getting used to the idea of having to apply country of origin stamps to export items. These canisters with large glass bead finials were apparently pretty popular export items, as they show up occasionally on eBay, more often with a mass-produced stamped pattern rather than the landscape scenes on this one. As to Japanese presence in the Boshan workshops, Peter Francis in his book Asia's Maritime Bead Trade has this to say: The most substantial intrusion of the Chinese Glass industry was by the Japanese, apparently long before they invaded the Middle Kingdom. Forsyth (1912,386) said: "Recently a large manufactory for the making of glass has been erected in Poshan. It is of foreign construction and under foreign management." The only foreign glass works in Boshan (Jinanfu) a decade later was the "Shantong Glass Factory" owned by Japanese (Woodhead 1922, 773). Woodhead (1922, 773-74) listed twenty glass factories of different sorts, five of them owned by Japanese, another one scheduled to open, and two that could be for either glass or porcelain. Five years later he (Woodhead, 1927, 187-89) listed thirty-two glass factories, one of the "Sino-British," five Japanese, and three Japanese-owned glass or porcelain factories. Two in Boshan (Jinanfu) were Japanese, though neither was then named "Shantong Glass Factory." Peter's book can be searched online via Google Books. Thoughts, anyone? All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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