How do you determine the age of Noritake china?

The easiest way to determine the age of your Noritake China is to use a Noritake tableware pattern guide, advises the Noritake Collector's Guild. The distinctive patterns of each era of Noritake china make age identification easy.

You can pinpoint the age of your Noritake china by using either the pattern name or pattern number. For example, Noritake adopted the Aberdeen pattern in 1966 and discontinued it in 1972, while the company debuted the Zanzibar pattern in 1976 and discontinued it in 1981. Noritake established pattern number P550 in 1985 and discontinued it in 1987. It used pattern number 5006003 from 1973 through 1980.