Found a weird international one last weekend, any idea's?

I found this at a Chicago Flea Market, and the price was right to take a chance. I don't have any idea on where to start with an identification. I'm not 100% sure this piece is even cookware, but when I first picked it up the patina appeared to have been cooked in. After bringing it home, I heated it up on the stove and there were no obnoxious odors or anything. I believe this piece was cooked in before, but until I can identify it, I will not be cooking with it. (I have enough pieces I know are safe, and would rather not take a chance)

Does anyone have any idea's? Or can anyone at least recognize the language to possibly point me in a direction of discovering the orgin of this piece?

It has three small legs, that hold it up about 1/8th inch. Here are some pics.







---------- Post added at 10:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 PM ----------

Size is 10" round by 2" in height.

Those marking look like Viking Runes

Hard to see on my phone, but it looks like Japanese katakana letters. Their "katakana" alphabet is used when they are writing English words. (As opposed to their hiragana alphabet which is used for Japanese words.)

Here is chart of of the katakana alphabet: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana

I thought the same, with the exception of the "Mercedes logo". If it is cookware or some kind of table service ware, I wonder if there is another piece that sets in the center depression.

Sukiyaki Pot?
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/...ukiyaki-16/?s-id=borderless_recommend_item_en

Bonnie Scott said:

Sukiyaki Pot?
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/...ukiyaki-16/?s-id=borderless_recommend_item_en

Click to expand...

:icon_thumbsup:

KevinE said:

:icon_thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Kevin, I used Spurgeon's and Doug's hints to google search until I found one. :chuckle:

Thanks everyone for figuring this one out. I just spent sometime searching Japanese Sukiyaki pots, and found a picture of one that is very similar, with several matching characters on the bottom, and identical styled legs.

It looks like the mystery has been solved, and I'll even try cooking in it now that I know for sure its cookware.

---------- Post added at 09:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 PM ----------

You cant really see the raised ring around the top outside edge in my photos. But if you look at the link Bonnie posted, you can see how these pots come with a removable handle (which I do not have) that picks up the pot on the outer edge.

Luck have it, I found this Laurel piece about a year ago and it actually fits pretty well on this pan, its able to pick up the pan securely.