First of all it's not crockery but Japanese porcelain. It's a type of ware and pattern called Geisha Girl...made at eht end of the 19th century and early 20th century cheaply for export. Often sold in dime stores. Thin and fragile and sometimes made with a lithophane bottom...what happens when you hold one of those cups up to the light?
Because your set is so complete and un worn and the colors are not the usual red edged stuff abd because it has gold trim, it will be worth more than the run of the mill Geisha Girl tea set.
Estimate? Just a guess...$600?
Linda C

It's a beautiful set! I'd hold onto it, if you want.

Dear Linda,

One of the photos shows a cup being held up to the light. Thank you for your prompt reply.

Nope....not a lithophane...
Check the link below and look at all the pictures.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: geisha lithophane cup

Does the bottom of the cup have an image of a geisha in it one can see if it's held to the light? I cannot tell by the photograph. If it does, it's lithophane.

I have a Dragonware lithophane tea set and the very delicate and thin porcelain is referred to as egg shell china. The value on lithophane produced in Japan before and after the second world war goes all over the board and should be assessed on an individual basis, depending on the manufacturer because its manufacture was certainly not limited to a few companies.

Most of it in the time frame you mention was not dime store junk, nor exported. It was manufactured to take advantage of the sales opportunities of the foreign occupation and those patterns like geisha or dragons were popular with servicemen and their families and other foreign nationals who had reason to spend time there. That's how we came upon our sets. I lived there in the fifties with my family. I cannot translate the mark, sorry but there are links on the web with the common chinaware manufacturers of that era. It's certainly not a rare item, but I think has potential down the road as a desired collectible. Yours is a nice set.

Calliope,
It does not have a lithophane geisha image on the cup bottom. What you can see in the last picture is the red and gold pottery mark's shadow.

Thank you for clarifying that. The thing with items manufactured post-war in that the country, was it was really struggling to get back into a productive economy and their wares on the world market were often quite inexpensive for the quality. It wasn't necessary inferior at all. They turned a lot of attention to producing ware attractive to whomever their market would be. Some of the older established companies went into modifying their lines to accommodate that specific market. So the quality of the ware ranges from very poor to excellent and although I've seen lots and lots of it I couldn't even venture a guess as to the value with any blanket statements even if I saw it up close and personal. I doubt many of the local appraisers in my area could either. (I'm not, I'm just a life long amateur). So without knowing the maker, be cautious about looking at "similar items" on the internet in coming to a market value.

I've seen pieces like that evaluated from a couple of dollars a piece to hundreds. It is a pretty set, and the detail work with the raised hand enameling suggests it's not a dime-store type set made explicitly for export. I don't think it's rare or old, either. But it's nice and although it doesn't seem like long-ago to me, I guess post WWII is getting pretty vintage and it shall continue to become more valuable as the years go by.