Mystery writing on teapot

August 27, 2012 6:01 PM

Can anyone figure out the language/writing on the bottom of this teapot? If it helps, it was probably purchased in the NYC area between 1940 - 1970.
posted by mikepop to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

It's Arabic. I could transliterate the letters, but my vocabulary isn't good enough to tell you what it says.
posted by mrfuga0 at 6:10 PM on August 27, 2012

Part of it is French, marque deposee is like copyright, theiere is teapot, fabrique is the maker, or fabricated by, and the other stuff looks like Arabic to me too.
posted by mareli at 6:25 PM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's actually a coffee pot and was probably made in Turkey.
posted by fignewton at 6:26 PM on August 27, 2012

here's a couple of links to similar ones, the second suggests it's algerian.
posted by mareli at 6:31 PM on August 27, 2012

Well, if this is accurate then Fignewton is correct - http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-signed-turkish-coffee-pot
posted by blaneyphoto at 6:31 PM on August 27, 2012

The mix of Arabic and French suggests that it was made in French North Africa -- Morocco, Algeria, or Tunisia. The area was really popular with tourists in the 60's and 70's, so importing something like this (or bringing it back from a trip) to the States would be profitable.
posted by jrochest at 7:53 PM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The key is "Koutbia" (the name of the teapot company), which is an alternate (somewhat Frenchified) spelling of the name (كتبية) of the famous Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco. I would bet that this is from Morocco.
posted by languagehat at 6:28 AM on August 28, 2012

(I should point out that "Koutoubia" is also Frenchified; the "scientific" transliteration would be Kutubiyya.)
posted by languagehat at 6:31 AM on August 28, 2012