Boy and Girl Figurine Mark Query - "Crown over D? over B? over door?"

by Sharon Rosalyn Paich
(Hartselle, AL, U.S.A.)

Boy and Girl Figurine Mark Query - "Crown over D? over B? over door?":- Hi, Peter, I'm so impressed with all the work you do! Thanks so much as it's a great help to so many. I bought this figurine from an Ebay seller who described it as follows: "This is an early figurine of a young couple in 18th century clothing? 6½ wide and 7 inches tall. extremely good quality. heavy weighing 2 lbs 5 ounces. Marked with a crown and a doorway under it. We have not been able to identify the maker. We believe it is German and comparable in quality to Meissen. We date it to the 19th Century? excellent condition with no chips, cracks or repairs."

Have no idea how old this is. I've studied the mark carefully and there appears to be a crown over letters 'D' or 'L' over a 'B', but are somewhat obscured by either a door or an 'N' marked over them. perhaps a type of Capodimonte mark. I searched your site using 'Crown over D and B', 'Crown over DBN', 'Crown over Door', etc., but to no avail. Do you know this mark?

Also, contrary to the seller's description, the girl's right thumb (hand holding the birdcage) is cut off and it appears it came from the factory this way as the skin-colored glaze covers that area! It does not look like the thumb broke off and the break was painted over. Would an early maker have sold a flawed piece, or does this indicate it is a recent piece?

I know you don't give valuations, but does this flaw greatly devalue this piece if it is old? I need to know as much as I can about this piece ASAP as I have a few days to return it.

Any help is much appreciated!

Sharon

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Peter (admin) says:-

Hi Sharon

Thanks for you kind words about the site. Hopefully, the longer it is around, the more people it helps.

This looks like a crowned 'N' pottery mark to me. This is not Meissen, I don't think, but I can't help but agree with you about the quality of your beautiful figural group. I have been in and around high class porcelain making most of my working life and can instantly recognise the signs of quality. The modeling is superb (maybe the moulds are older than the actual time of making). The details of the glaze and decoration is good (if I were the modeller, I would have taken the decorator to task about where they painted the hairline of the boy near his neck - this is a pet hate of mine where decorators so often get it wrong and alter the modelling lines. I once halted the entire production line of Royal Worcester and got the Production Manager to brief the artists again). The missing thumb being glazed over is a question mark also. From any factory this would be a rejected item and therefore sold as a second or a sample piece. It would effect value - perhaps half it maybe?

Anyway, a high quality piece, but who made it and when?

I believe this is made between c.1900 and c.1936 by a company from Volkstedt/Unterweißbach, Thuringia, Germany at that period in time called Aelteste Volkstedter Porzellanfabrik AG (the original factory was founded in 1882 and there were lots of takeovers and name changes almost too numerous and confusing to document). You can get the full history on the German specialist site porcelainmarksandmore.com. This author does not show your N mark, but at least two other of my sources do show it.

Your mark looks hand done, which may explain why it differs slightly from the standard mark shown in the references.

Here is a comparison....



Hope this helps in your research.

Best regards

Peter (admin)

For general free advice on how to research your collection, I wrote these pages:

My vintage and antique china values page

value of antiques.