Is Meissen Always Marked?

The mark was always applied by hand, in underglaze blue, and some variations exist. However pieces marked with the AR monogram were produced in the very early days of the meissen factory and are mostly decorated with oriental motifs, in the Bottger chinoiserie or the kakiemon style.

How can you tell a fake Meissen?

If the mark is hand-drawn, check its shape and what surrounds it. If it resembles old familiar marks of Meissen, Sevres and the like but is a bit too embellished, it's probably a fake. If also shown with an old date or a model number, it's probably recent.

How can you tell if Meissen is porcelain?

Authenticating pieces

The 'feel' of the porcelain itself is important — its weight and colour. If the piece purports to be an early one then the porcelain should be quite a smokey-coloured white. By the end of the 1720s this had changed to a brilliant white, because the factory had changed its porcelain formula.