Help to read these characters

[Linca21]

Can anyone help to read these characters and their meanings? I can only figure out 2-3 of them. Are they ancient or modern ways of writting? Because the bronze   plates are quite old.
Appreciate your help.

 

[889]

It's the standard auspicious quartet:

 

福禄壽禧

[Linca21]

Thank you very much for your help. Do you think the writing style is mordern?

[889]

They're in traditional forms. Even today, traditional forms are often used for decorative purposes.

[Demonic_Duck]

It looks sort of half-way between small seal script (小篆) and clerical script (隶书) to me. Kind of a modernized small seal script? Or modern traditional characters stylized to look like seal script? Or an evolutionary stage somewhere between small seal script and clerical script?

 

Image result for 小篆 福禄寿禧

 

Image result for 隶书 福禄寿禧

 

 

 

 

[Linca21]

Thank you so much. The charcters are written on bronze plates which I am not sure are old or antique. That’s why I am asking.

[Demonic_Duck]

The style of the characters won't date the items, as it's very common to find imitations. Not necessarily made with any intent to deceive, sometimes it's just done for artistic reasons. Although you do also commonly get deliberate fakes, saying stuff like "made in Qianlong Emperor's reign" when actually they're only a decade or two old.

 

If you want to reliably date the items, you'll need to find an expert to look at them, probably in person.

[889]

It only works in reverse: if you find something clearly marked in simplified characters, then you know it dates from the 1950s onward.

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11 hours ago, 889 said:

It only works in reverse: if you find something clearly marked in simplified characters, then you know it dates from the 1950s onward.

Not necessarily true. Simplified characters are actually mostly commonly used hundreds of years ago, not something recently created.

[889]

Some simplified characters are indeed based on "shorthand" characters used by some prior to the 1950s. However, these shorthand characters would be used only in informal contexts -- a personal note, for example -- not a formal context like an inscription on an object, except maybe a signature.

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, 889 said:

Some simplified characters are indeed based on "shorthand" characters used by some prior to the 1950s. However, these shorthand characters would be used only in informal contexts -- a personal note, for example -- not a formal context like an inscription on an object, except maybe a signature.

http://www.360doc.com/content/16/0303/21/11527286_539191966.shtml

https://www.sohu.com/a/303976042_99911870