Royal Copenhagen Marks: How to Identify and Date Them
Quick answer
Royal Copenhagen (pottery and porcelain, Denmark): what the mark looks like, 2 period variations, how to date a piece and what fakes look like, quoted from museum, company and assay-office sources.
Updated 2026-09-10 · Sources: Royal Copenhagen
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Download on the App StoreWhat are the key facts?
- Category: Pottery and porcelain
- Country: Denmark
- Active years: 1775-present
- What the mark looks like: The mark is located on the base of the piece and combines three wavy lines, a royal stamp, and the painter's signature.
- Where to look: The base of the piece
What the Royal Copenhagen mark looks like
The mark is located on the base of the piece and combines three wavy lines, a royal stamp, and the painter's signature.
How the mark changed over time
- 1870-1923: A distinct backstamp period explicitly listed on the official website, useful for narrowing down a piece's likely manufacture date range; the specific graphic differences within this period are presented as images on the site, and no accompanying descriptive text could be retrieved.
- From 1923: The second backstamp period boundary listed on the official website; the upper bound shown on the page is an obviously implausible placeholder year (2029), likely a display issue rather than an actual historical end date, so only the start year of 1923 is adopted for this entry.
Notes on this entry
The official website confirms the factory was founded in 1775 by apothecary Frantz Henrich Muller under the patronage of Dowager Queen Juliane Marie (source: https://www.royalcopenhagen.com/en-us/our-legacy/history/history-timeline, original text: 'The Danish Porcelain Manufactury is founded by apothecary Frantz Henrich Muller under patronage of Dowager Queen Juliane Marie'). The exact introduction year of the three-wavy-lines mark, its symbolic geographic meaning (commonly said to represent the three straits Oresund, the Great Belt, and the Little Belt, though no verbatim official confirmation of this was found), and a detailed written description of the graphic differences between the two periods could not be verbatim-verified, since the relevant official pages present this mainly as images that the fetching tool cannot read text from, so these are listed as items still to be verified.
How to photograph the mark
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.
FAQ
What does the Royal Copenhagen mark look like?
The mark is located on the base of the piece and combines three wavy lines, a royal stamp, and the painter's signature.
How do I date a Royal Copenhagen piece?
1870-1923: A distinct backstamp period explicitly listed on the official website, useful for narrowing down a piece's likely manufacture date range; the specific graphic differences within this period are presented as images on the site, and no accompanying descriptive text could be retrieved.
Does a mark prove the piece is genuine?
No. A mark is one piece of evidence; shape, weight, decoration, wear and construction have to agree with it. Marks are copied, and marked pieces are sometimes married to unmarked ones.
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Sources
- Royal Copenhagenwww.royalcopenhagen.com/en-us/pages/backstamps
Compiled by the AntiqLens editorial team
Every fact on this page is taken from the sources listed above; numbers and prices are copied from the source, and prices name the guide or auction and its date. Research and drafting were assisted by AI, and each claim was then checked against the cited sources. Checked 2026-09-10. We do not buy, sell or grade items; the app identifies what you photograph and points you to these references.