ASK THE EXPERTS - A chance to have your special piece, or mystery item, identified by our expert panel.

The more information you can provide, the more chance we have of helping you. Photographs of items are also useful for us to gather information from, but if you wish them to be returned then you will need to send an appropriately-sized stamped, addressed envelope. Send your questions and pictures to Judy Welsh, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, NR1 1RE.

Q: QI recently bought an unusual glass and brass jug that was advertised as being a Christopher Dresser design. It has the look, but no one seems to recognise the CDE mark. Can you help?

A: Wishful thinking! The CDE mark with crossed axes was not used by Christopher Dresser (1834-1904), the British design genius who’s considered the world’s first industrial designer. Your jug was instead the work of Carl Deffner of Esslingen, Germany. He made decorative tableware, much of it in the art nouveau style, around the turn of the 20th century.

Q: Could you tell me anything about my old thermometer? It’s two feet high by 6in wide. It says on it that it should not be hung in the sun as the fluid will fade followed by inaccurate results. And it is marked Taylor Brothers Company, Rochester.

A: You have an “advertising thermometer,” the kind that hung in the corner store or coffee shop to advertise a brand of soft drink or coffee – or they were often found advertising a local optician. Advertising thermometers, which are still made, are large enough to read across a room. Old ones were mounted on wood, enamelled metal or tin. They were very popular in the early 1900s. Taylor Brothers Co. of Rochester manufactured scientific instruments, including thermometers and barometers. Wooden-backed thermometers the age of yours sell for about £51.

Q: Could you give us information about my satsuma vase which my wife’s uncle found at a rubbish dump close to 50 years ago. There’s no mark on it. It is made of cream-coloured clay with an over-all decoration with geomatric patterns with an elaborate design of animals and flowers.

A: Your uncle was brave to see what he could find. The vase he rescued is likely to be a late piece of Satsuma pottery probably dating from the 1920s. Satsuma pottery was first made by Korean potters in the Satsuma province of Japan in the early 1600s. Pieces were made of dark clay and were covered with crackle glaze and simple floral decorations surrounded by undecorated areas. But much of the crackle-glazed Satsuma pottery collected today was made in many Japanese factories from about 1865 into the early decades of the 1900s. This is in the cream-colored clay you mention. The patterns also included landscapes and human figures as well as the flowers and animals featured on yours. If your vase is more than 10 inches tall, it could sell for about £38 to £51.

Ask The Experts - Issue 6