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How to Identify a Napco Head Vase

The beautifully detailed ceramic head vase sitting on your grandmother's dresser could be a valuable collectible. Popular from the 1940s through the 1960s, many women sought out vases with elaborately decorated statuettes in fashion during the time. Napco, short for National Potteries Corporation, is a Japanese gift-ware importer that started in Ohio in 1938 and began importing and distributing Japanese head vases in the 1940s. The company marked them with an assortment of identifying marks such as black stamps, or foil or paper labels. See if your head vase is a Napco by looking for any of these identifying marks.

Instructions

- 1
  Turn over the head vase.
- 2
  Inspect the bottom for a stamp, black mark, foil label or paper label.
- 3
  Find a black stamp or mark that has a beginning capital letter and numbers, such as "C1234." The mark might also include company identifying information such as "National Potteries, Bedford, Ohio," or "NAPCO." Some marks also say "Hand Painted" and provide a date.
- 4
  Locate an original foil seal that states "National Potteries Co." and "Made in Japan."
- 5
  Find a paper label with wording identifying "Napco" or "National Potteries Co" as a part of the wording. Examples of wording on Napco paper labels include: "Napcoware, Import Japan," "A Napco Collection," and "National Potteries Co., Cleveland, OH, Made in Japan."

Collecting Memorabilia