Did it have the remnants of a label on it???
Once I lucked out, as an item had had a label on it (but long gone) yet when I dusted the label area (sticky residue area left) the dusting of the ashes still helped to where the label had made contact with the item, and the gluey flat areas helped show where the raised words had no contact with the base.
All I am saying is that IF there is residue left from a label, sometimes a dusting of some ashes over that area will still help to see which areas of the raised label did not make contact with the item - thus I was still able to decipher WHAT the MISSING LABEL had said....all Thanks to the left over residue from the label.
So even if a label is missing - it might still be worth a light dusting of some black ash to see if this will highlight the residue......as any label with raised lettering on it with have areas of contact, and no contact (of the glue) when label had been there.
Always worth a try.....??
