Pair of Asian Trumpet Vases with Confusing Marks

[palmscliffhouse]

Aloha All, I have a pair of what I thought were Japanese trumpet vases. When I picked these out of a pile of silver plate at a recent estate sale for a Japanese family I thought they would in fact be plate. They were badly tarnished and I thought I was seeing tarnished silver next to rubbed off coppery colored areas. But I did notice that both pieces had a number of hallmark stamps. Our area of Hawaii has a nice continuity of residents, meaning we do not get a lot of new people to the area. Much of what can be found at estate sales is usually Japanese and up to 6 generations old. Counterfeit items would be very unusual as well. OK, so now you know as much as me about the area these came from. When I cleaned the vases I was astonished that they cleaned up so beautifully. They do not appear to be plate at all. As for the Hallmarks, I am aware that the 84 usually denotes the silver quality as was widely used in Russia, the Middle East and Persian Empire. I can find nothing for the LWK mark, but I am surprised to see it next to the other marks which appear to be Asian. I'm in a Kimono group also and the consensus was: Cantonese(?) 華記 or Wa's as in Wa's Shop. It certainly does not look like a jungin mark. I am really thrown by the combination of Western and Far Eastern marks. Anyone have any ideas to point me in the right direction, or better yet, know what I am looking at? Oh, the vases at 9" tall including the 1" base that is wood. The design is a plumb tree branch wrapping around the vase with blossoms and small birds. there is also a sun. The metal behind the design has a hammered background.
Marks:

Best Image I can get of the Asian Hallmark, I think it is 華記, but stacked:

Before Cleaning:


After Cleaning:

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Sorry that we have yet to find a conclusive answer for you, sometimes these things take awhile until the right person drops by.

However, this topic may reveal a clue to the possible geographical location of the origin of of your vases:

http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... 13&t=35086

Trev.

[palmscliffhouse]

Thank you Trev for the reference post. I am really enjoying all the information I am learning on this site. The discussions on -psyudo marks is fascinating and new to me.