Mysteries of Old China

So many bloggers here have collections of lovely old china, tea cups and saucers and lovely little pots in different shapes and romantic colors. I've been keeping an eye out for something I might get to start a little collection. I've seen a few items, but haven't yet found anything to bring home. Then it occured to me, we have some china pieces. They were given to us from one of my husband's aunts when she passed away. They had been shoved in the far back of some cabinet, wrapped in newspaper and still in the tupperware container they came to us in. I knew they were old, from the 50s, maybe late 40s, altho I can't date them very accurately, and doubt if anyone still living knows the actual story of the collection.

There are obviously more saucers than tea cups, and only one actual set. Admittedly the ones which fascinate me the most are these two saucers, which are marked with 'Made in Occupied Japan' on the back. They're not high quality, but it's definitely a piece of history here.

This pretty one is marked that it was made in Germany, US Zone, tho I believe there is a Belgium mark above it. (Sorry, the eyes weren't doing so well making out the markings.) That would have been a brief period after WW2 as well, right?

These others are just made in Japan.

Here is my actual only set, the tea cup and saucer is marked Yamaka, Japan, but I don't think it's highend, there is a bump in the cup. The odd thing is, I have the one teacup with two saucers which look like they would be its mate. The smaller saucer is what I would think to pair it with, proportion-wise, but it is unmarked, whereas the larger saucer has the same marking as the cup, and a more hexagon mark on its base, same as the cup.

The other two cups in the collection are a bit of oddities. This small one has a scene of a large brick building, which as much as I can translate, is the Minnesota Court Building, somewhere Minnesota. A tourist piece, I suppose.

But this last vessel really puzzles me. It looks to me, among all the Japanese cups, like it is an official Japanese sake cup, or something to that nature. But the mark on the bottom declares it to be made in England, of a pattern called Highland Heather.  Ladies, do I have here a finger bowl?

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures. I tried several versions of flash versus no flash to get the best quality, but don't think I did a great job of it. Trickier than it looks to take a photo of china.

I am linking up to Lady Katherine and Martha's Favorites teacup parties, hoping to share in some fun, and maybe get a bit of insight about this humble collection. I do have an actual full set I will share next time.