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Made in China
by: peter

Hi Dolly, many items were not marked at all. But if they were, always in Chinese. In the 1880s US congress apparently made it mandatory for imports to be marked with the country of origin, but this marking started only in the 1990s. The mark was "CHINA". Sometime around 1920 it was then required that "Made in China" was used instead.

As you see, this was mainly directed at the American market, so not all items needed to be marked (and it is likely that some never were). Depending on the original export destination, many items would not have been marked in English. So, it is not strange if you have only one marked item.
Thanks so much=more information
by: Dolly

Hi, thanks so much for your comments. The square edged ones you referred to, the enamel feels thick- best thing I can compare it to is pulling your finger over a globe with topographical marks- valleys & mountains, it feels like that. But the only one marked "Made in China" on the back is 8 sided rose plate which has the thick enamel, so that seems strange, to me at least. The white on all of the backs is an off white- a milk color I would say. I wish I knew more about the family history of them, but by the time I was old enough to wonder (36) there is sadly no one to ask any more. My Grandparents and an Uncle lived and traveled extensively in the Orient, but I found them in a box wrapped in 1950's newspapers, so it is anyone's guess! Thanks again so much.
plates - II
by: peter

Please note the following:
The presence of a pure white glaze (see bottom, etc.) usually means an item is late Qing dynasty or later. In the pictures it is difficult to be sure what white hue they are. With pure white is what we also call "snow white". Antiques were mostly aslightly off white color (the color of milk, or similar).

The first round plate is a rose medallion, the next a famille rose with a different rim decoration. These and the cabbage plate with famille rose rim decoration, and the butterfly decorations are 19th century, but I am not sure from when exactly. Could be from the second half, but this is my personal guess. They are less frequent than famille rose/rose medaillon decorations. All have thick enamels.
The rest with dragons are problably early 19th century. This is based mainly on the way the dragons are painted.

All of these plates are export porcelain.
You may be able to find similar plates and more information about them by doing image searches on the Internet.

PS: We cannot help with values as these are relative to the selling/buying venue. Please see "Value of Antiques" in the left menu.
The famille rose items can easily be found on Ebay, examples of the others can be found on seller's sites, on Trocadero, etc.

Correction:
The one with dragons, inside yellow plate might be early 20th century.
plates - I
by: peter

I will comment on your items, but perhaps not all at once in the same comment. Some may require additional information or pictures.

Pictures of first three items (square and hexagonal plates), famille rose:
Is the surface of the decoration smooth, or does it feel like uneven and thick enamel? Basically, old or antique items should be the latter type. Smooth ones were made later in the 20th century, some were even printed. The mark "Made in China" was not used before the early 1920s, so depending on the enamel there from about that time or later. Pictures don't allow seeing enamel properties.

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