Can anyone tell me anything about provenance date and value of this figurine? It has foreign stamped on the bottom so Im guessing its not English and it used to belong to my grandmother. Other than than I dont know anything about it.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
There were so many of this type of figurine available in the '5 & 10 cent stores' and so many are now posted for sale online that most likely this one will be very low value and may be difficult to sell.
The 'Foreign' mark is on a lot of this type figurine and the more you research the origin the more confusing it gets.
This is the conclusion that most historians come to:
I found one statue that resembles yours but has 'Occupied Japan' but yours could have been from the East also.
www.etsy.com/
This one on eBay appears to be your figurine and the price looks reasonable (not very much profit with free shipping) but hopefully it will sell and that is sometimes what matters.
www.ebay.com/
Mark "Foreign" means that this figurine was imported from abroad. Beginning in 1893, every item that was imported into the United States had to be marked "Foreign". Due to a revision in 1914, all items after 1923 had to be marked with a complete mark. If any item was not marked according to the law, it would be turned back at customs.
In the US, the act was called the 1890 The McKinley Tariff Bill, and in the UK it was the 1897 British Merchandise Marks Act.
I assume it is not worth much because it has no makers mark on it.
Is this your auction: www.ebay.com/
If not, you will want to watch it and see what it sells for if you are asking for more info to sell.
As for dating the piece, what I have read is some countries marked their exports "foreign" between 1893 and 1923 meaning it was their product, going outside their own country--however, I am not sure what countries these were (no source I found would give specifics). I know later, similar pieces were marked "occupied Japan" or "Made in Japan" so I am assuming it was from the far East.
Wow thats actually not my auction but its almost identical. I didnt think it was high value but I thought it best to check before selling it. Thanks
So - this is not your auction but almost the identical piece - unusual.
After looking more closely I can see the mark - Foreign - is a much neater/clear mark on the one listed on eBay (and in a different place) than the marking on your piece. This probably means there were many made and maybe made in different factories or different dates.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
