Lenox Marks: How to Identify and Date Them

• Founded in 1889: Walter Scott Lenox founded the Ceramic Art Company in Trenton, New Jersey, initially a small studio where a few artists hand-painted ivory china.
• Renamed in 1906: The company was renamed from Ceramic Art Company to Lenox Incorporated, after its founder.

The founding location (Trenton, New Jersey) and date (1889) are independently corroborated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's own collection record -- a sugar bowl (circa 1903-1906, donated in 1989) attributes the maker as 'Manufactured by Lenox, Incorporated' and states the company was 'established in Trenton, New Jersey in 1889' (source: the Met's Collection API, object 13364). The company's own website has an image labeled 'Our Lenox backstamp', but the accompanying text does not describe what the mark looks like in words, and this cannot be guessed from the image alone, so this field and the dating method are both left blank.

Turn the piece over and light the mark from a low angle with a lamp or phone torch, which throws the impressed or engraved lines into relief; a printed or painted mark wants soft, even light instead. Fill the frame with the mark, then take a second shot of the whole piece. Do not clean tarnish off silver before photographing; the mark reads better dark. The app matches the mark and shape to the notes above.