Royal copenhagen Figurine Marks and Dating

How old are my Royal Copenhagen porcelain?

The Trademark or Factory Stamp

The trademark on porcelain by Royal Copenhagen/The Royal Danish Porcelain Factory plays a large role when determining the age of Royal Copenhagen porcelain.

From the founding of Royal Copenhagen 1^st May 1775 it was decided that the trademark/brand/factory stamp should consist of three wavy lines (waves), symbolizing the three waterways through Denmark; the Sound and the two belts (the Sound (Oresund)), the Great Belt and the Little Belt).

About the Royal Copenhagen Trademark

The trademark has been used with little variations ever since the founding and every single piece of porcelain produced by Royal Copenhagen has been stamped with the three waves.

The trademark with the three waves has had changes through the years. This makes it possible to tell the age of each piece of porcelain by Royal Copenhagen.

The Royal Copenhagen trademarks shown below were used on porcelain and fine china with blue under glazed decorations. E.g. Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates, figurines and some porcelain sets.

Marks of Royal copenhagen Figurine, vases, plates and other pieces of Royal Danish Porcelain.

The trademarks development from 1775 to 1923

From 1775 the wavy lines were painted by hand, but in the 1870's Royal Copenhagen began to stamp and glaze the trademark.

	Approximately 1870-1890 Blue stamp, under glazing.
	1887-1892 Stamp in purple or red on top of glazing.
	1892 Stamp in red or green on top of glazing. Used for export items by request from the US.
	1894-1900 Stamp in green under the glazing. Crown and DANMARK together with blue waves.
	From 1905 Handpainted trademark in blue under the glazing. Used for Juliane Marie porcelain (original on re-productions of 1800's-models).
	1921 Handpainted trademark used for the production in China.
	1923 Blue waves trademark. Crown and DENMARK stamped in green under the glazing.
	1929-1950 Stamp used to mark unbreakable porcelain and non-glossy porcelain.
	From 1889 to approx. 1922 Crown and ROYAL COPENHAGEN stamp in green under the glazing together with a blue waves trademark.
	1923 Crown and ROYAL COPENHAGEN stamp in green under the glazing together with a blue waves trademark. Used since 1923 (small trademark).

The development from 1935

Since 1935 Royal Copenhagen have added a small line in the trademark on almost every single piece of porcelain. This small line indicates which year the item has been produced.

By looking at the small green lines/spots above or under a letter in the trademark you are able to determine the year of production and thereby the age of the porcelain item.

I.e. on items produced in 1935, the green spot/line is placed above the first letter in the company name (R). The three waves are still part of the design just not shown on the picture for this purpose.

Use the sketch below to see the following years and how the line above a letter in ROYAL COPENHAGEN tells you which year the item is produced.

The additions from 1950                          

In 1949 the small line had moved all the way from R to N in ROYAL COPENHAGEN, thus the small line was placed below the letters from 1950 (as seen to the left below the letter R).

Using the sketch below you can tell the year of production by which letter the small line is placed below in the words ROYAL DENMARK COPENHAGEN:

Below you see some examples of markings on years before 1985:

With line above the O in ROYAL it becomes 1935	Line below the A in ROYAL makes it 1953
Line below the N in DENMARK show 1957	When the line is below the G in COPENHAGEN we have the period 1969-1974

The trademark from 1985 until now

From 1985 two small lines were employed to indicate the year of production.

See the sketch below to learn what the year of production is on Royal Copenhagen porcelain items:

Below you see the pictures that show the markings from 1985-2019:

Various materials and production techniques

Most collectibles are made using clay. Through the years the clay have been modified by using various materials, ingredients and developments in production technique. These various productions techniques were used to make items with very different abilities, expressions and details.

Read more about the various materials and production techniques here:

See also:

Delivery terms

There are 2 types of delivery terms:

1. Delivery of items in stock
2. Delivery of customised/special ordered items and items not in stock

Delivery of items in stock

All items currently in stock are items that we currently have stored at our warehouse.

Items in stock are normally shipped immediately (within 1-4 business days). When your payment has been confirmed by us, you will receive an order confirmation.

Should the time of delivery be delayed beyond normal (i.e. orders of large quantity) we will let you know.

Attention! By delivery time we mean the time from the order is confirmed to the order is shipped from DPH Trading. Not the time between the order is made to the time you receive the order.

Delivery of customised/special ordered items and items not in stock

Customised/special ordered items and items not in stock are all items we do not currently store at our warehouse.

We are therefore depending of the various suppliers, dealers and collectors and the time of delivery is only an estimate.

In some situations it can be impossible for DPH Trading to predict the exact time of delivery if the items are specially ordered or customised.

Sometimes the items have to be produced from scratch. If the particular item is of significant age we may have to rely on private collectors who are willing to sell.

All the customised/special ordered items are delivered as close to the agreed delivery date as possible.

DPH Trading could take precautions for the delivery of entire or parts of an order. Part deliveries can occur. We always strive to inform you as quickly and efficiently as possible, should any deliveries change or be divided into separate deliveries.

In extraordinary situations negotiations can be made where the buyer are not responsible for the extra delivery cost in case of part deliveries.

Collect your items at our shop

If you prefer to collect your order at our boutique in Odense, Denmark you very welcome to do so. 

You can see our opening hours and contact information at the page top and bottom.

When you collect you order in person at our shop the freight cost is free. A visit to our store also gives you the opportunity to experience our amazing selection of items on display.