Meissen porcelain has carried crossed swords, taken from the arms of the Saxon electors, since the 1720s. The mark was meant to identify the porcelain beyond doubt. The manufactory dates the idea to a proposal of November 8, 1722, and calls the swords the oldest trademark in Europe still in continuous use. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office is more careful. It says that other marks were still common until 1730, and it calls the swords eine der ältesten, wenn nicht gar die älteste deutsche Marke, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, German trademark.