Japanese Hand Painted Ginger Jar with Lid by Kutani c 1910

Japanese Blue & White Export Stone Ware circa 1850, JAPAN

Provenance: Purchased in 1985 at an Antiques Store, Braidwood, New South Wales
Circa: 1850
Age: Approx.+160 years old
Size: 16.5cm diameter 
Condition: Very good 

This was a remarkable find for me. In 1985 I took my (then) very young children for a drive through to Canberra via Nowra on the coast. We stopped at Braidwood for a picnic lunch and noticed an Antiques dealer open. He had a stack of old plates in the $1.00 basket and my eye spotted this beauty.

The Japanese were just getting into manufacturing export ware and I suspect that these items were destined for the gold fields.

One can always tell Japanese from Chinese by the claws on the dragon. Three claws = Japanese.

The marks you see on the plate are from props in the firing process that separated each plate as its being fired.

I had it appraised about 2 years after I purchased it and it was $500 in 1988. I had it appraised again in 2010 and its now worth $1,800.