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This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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Credit: Reuters/Bainbridges

Neglected Family Vase Sets 66 million Record for Chinese Art at Auction

Apparently the  18th-century  Qianlong-era porcelain vase was discovered while cleaning out a modest London suburb home. Other then knowing it was acquired in the 193o’s, the anonymous family who owned it knows little else as to its origins. According to the auctioneer Bainbridges, the vase itself dates from the  Qianlong period (1740′s) and would have  most definitely been fired in the imperial kilns before finally residing in the Chinese Royal Palace. According to the Antiques Trade Gazette, Bainbridges is a small suburban auction house which normally deals with cheaper antiques, equipment and lawnmowers.  Not bad, considering they stand to reap a 13.8 million dollar buyers premium from the sale. Purchased by a Chinese bidder on behalf of an undisclosed buyer, the sale price was not only more than 40 times the pre-sale estimate, but it set a new record for a Chinese work of art. But wait – it gets better.  “About 30 years ago it was shown on a television show called Going For A Song where an expert appraised it at $1300 as a “very good copy.” Poor guy – I definitely would not want to be him right about now.

Regardless of whatever price was paid, the real or fake, the vase really is absolutely stunning. Beautiful!

The downside? A tax bill totalling a few million.

• £43million Chinese vase initially valued at £800
• Sensational £43m record for Chinese work of art in Ruislip
• Old vase fetches record $69M at auction
• Chinese vase fetches record $69 million in UK auction
• Original post on the Bainbrides blog announcing the sale

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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For suppliers, factories and workshop

Labor Shortages:There has been much coverage in the media attesting to fact that, despite its 1.3 billion strong population, China is experiencing labor shortages in many industries/areas (particularly in the pearl river delta). In the furniture industry, the effect is evident in the average age of a carpenter with a glance inside any workshop revealing most are well into their 40ies. As many young people today have no desire to pursue a career perceived as dirty, backwards, low paid and labor intensive, expect this imbalance to continue.  Its no secret within these circles that each year it becomes increasingly difficult to find/employ skilled Chinese carpenters and within five to ten years this will become a major problem for the industry.

Higher labor costs: In 2007, the starting salary of a college graduate ( w/computer and language skills) working in a foreign company was equal to or exceeded that of a Chinese carpenter. Its important to realize that office staff are generally  individuals who live/work in the city, have college degrees, computer skills and likely foreign language skills as well. Yet by 2010, the monthly salary of  carpenter from the countryside, with a middle school or high school education living and working in the factory will exceed (in many cases be double or more) that of entry level office worker.  Therefore its no surprise the average monthly salary of a carpenter is a hot topic among workshops this year. Once treated as unskilled labor, carpenters and antique restorers are now essentially taking their rightful place as skilled craftsmen with compensation to match.

Diminished bargaining power: Chinese treat business as war and negotiating for a raise is no exception. Stories of the Nouveau riche coal miners snapping up high priced antiques,  car buyers paying for their buicks with cash, the international spectacles of the Beijing Olympics, twenty years of strong growth and even the local media’s heavy propaganda coverage of the “communist economic miracle” have given rise to a “sky’s the limit” mentality. This combined with massive social pressure to get rich have turned many workers into mercenaries. Despite the global economic crisis and subsequent slow recovery, workers continue to demand increases and stories of workers defecting to the factory down the road for a mere extra 50 RMB are very common. In China loyalty in not earned but rather purchased.

Improve/Innovate or go under :   In other words, all the things which should occur in a maturing market. Of course, this will also present both opportunities and challenges. Some general trends:

• Both Chinese and foreign customers have a multitude of choices and are gradually demanding better quality-better value for their money.
• Foreign customers particularly import buyers, reluctant to pay higher costs will need extra incentives or greater value added. In cases where customers are unwilling to pay more, producers may need to operate under thinner margins, provide better value for the money or seek out new customers.
• Price was once the dominant (only) factor. Good design has now become an additional buying factor.
• Its no secret (or shame in) that China wants to climb up the value chain. In practical terms, this means industries perceived as unskilled, labor intensive or resource heavy can expect no assistance from the government in the form of tax breaks, incentives or loose regulations.
• The Lacy Act: More paperwork for exporters who are sending product to the US. See here for more info.

Don’t ignore the domestic market:

Searches for “Chinese antique furniture” have decreased on Google since 2004, yet on Baidu (Google’s chinese language competitor) an equivalent Chinese language term has held steady and now after the economic crisis appears to be once again rising.

For mid-level and low level antiques and reproductions, market demand has steadily declined from its peak in 2004 (For high end, museum quality antiques 2010/2011 may be the peak). Yet while export demand has fallen, domestic demand has increased significantly and many suppliers have now turned inward to make up for the shortfall. While a new and/or adjusted business model may be required the growth of the domestic market should not be ignored.  Which is why many suppliers who were export only in 2004 now have robust domestic sales channels and customer base.

Opportunity!A gradual but steady recent wave of closures and consolidations has visibly changed the landscape with a noticeably diminished number of players in the industry. Smaller suppliers with inadequate capital and/or those lacking the skills needed to climb  the value chain have closed down. Others have merged or moved into other more profitable businesses. Which in turn, presents additional opportunities to access previously unavailable talent, customers and business networks.

A gradual recovery!After the tsunami of the global economic crisis, this is music to our ears and most suppliers are seeing a slow but steady uptick. While the US market still remains below its normal buying capacity, growth in other markets as well as European buyers are picking up the slack.

For Customers/Buyers

Its all about money! Beijing Olympics related delays , a global economic crisis, rising material/labor costs, few government incentives along with a decrease in the popularity of Asian style furniture have taken a toll on workshops and manufacturers over the past few years.  The cumulative effect, is that many suppliers (particularly smaller ones) are stretched extremely thin. As margins, cash-flow and business volume continue to decrease, expect less good will, minimal/no credit terms and a strong resistance to addressing bad product/poor product (or anything else that requires an additional cash outlay on the suppliers part). Vendors are now less concerned with past relationships or future business prospects and more interested in how much cash you can put into their pocket today. Expect some aspects of china’s rough and tumble business environment to get even rougher.

Things cost more (its normal): The days of cheap, inexpensive Ming style knock-offs are a thing of the past. In China where development occurs at breakneck speed,  a factory/restoration facility’s operating expenses may increase anywhere from ten to twenty percent each year according to the rising costs of utilities, labor and materials. In practical terms, this means an item which in 2007 cost 100 RMB to produce, may in 2010 now cost 120 to 140 RMB for the exact same item.  Yet a surprising number of customers continue to demand the same pricing for items year after year.

“How much do you think a carpenter earns monthly?” I often pose this question to customers. Many times the answers are quite  surprising from 2500 RMB (high end) to 1200 RMB (low end). Some are downright silly, like 800 RMB.  Media reports about the strikes at foxconn and Honda are misleading and confuse buyers, leading many to believe everyone in China makes 900 RMB a month. Trust me, when I say Chinese carpenters and artisans make significantly more monthly,  with freelance master carvers now able to make upwards of 8000 to 10,000 RMB a month. So be realistic in your expectations and appreciate the costs/time/effort involved and compensate accordingly. The easiest question to ask is “would you spend days restoring an entire antique cabinet for 200 RMB?”

Things may cost a lot more: In cases where supply cannot keep up with demand, prices may seem to almost double overnight. Raw materials like brass and reclaimed wood have risen dramatically in price over the past few years. Certain  antique styles have now become rare and expensive after years of being exported abroad in large numbers. Rising labor costs,  improved local standards of living, greater domestic buying power and even a slow but steady increase in demand for quality are all contributing factors.

Design/Quality is improving: After years of suffering with “chao Ba Duo” product, cracks and who knows what else, I find myself surprised to say that quality has indeed improved. Years of overseas customers training local suppliers in quality expectations have had an effect. While I would not go as far as to say “this is the rule,” I must admit even many of the smaller workshops have improved various aspects of their furniture production techniques. And design wise, local designers have begun to creatively design/develop rather then simply “copy” resulting in interesting and unusual fusions of Asian-western-funky-cool.

Someone else may pay more:Western buyers were once sought after for their willingness to pay a premium for higher quality/better service.  Chinese buyers on the other hand, were seen as “price sensitive bargainers.” Yet today, increasingly wealthy domestic Chinese antiques buyers have become the dominant force in classical hardwood furniture and genuine antiques. Reawakening to their own culture and possessing an “ingrained understanding” of hardwoods, periods and historical references, Chinese buyers are  increasingly willing to pay a premium for such attributes. In the case of quality items,  don’t be surprised if suppliers seem less eager in selling to you.

My question would be, what are the rest of you out there seeing in the industry at large?

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This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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Chinese Art Dealer in Unpaid YSL Bronzes Furor Weeps as he realizes that his credibility is shot.

March 10 (Bloomberg) — Cai Mingchao (蔡铭超) the Chinese art dealer who is refusing to pay for the $40 million Qing bronzes he successfully bid for in the Yves Saint Laurent auction, wept when he realized that his credibility was shot and he may now have to close his business.

Cai, 44, spoke in an interview after turning away hundreds of calls from reporters about the Feb. 25 sale. He was praised in China for walking away from the bronzes, which were plundered by foreign troops, and has been condemned by other dealers. In the world of high-end art sales, where millions of dollars worth of items may sell on the basis of a phone call or handshake, defaulting is seen as unprofessional.

“This has damaged me: I have lost the business I love,” said Cai, in his office in the southeastern city of Xiamen. Cai said he had bid with the intention of paying, then had second thoughts and decided it’s wrong to do so. He again denied acting in concert with China’s government.

The Christie’s International sale is renewing debate in art circles on the moral and legal right of auction houses to sell controversial items, including those that some nations regard as looted. Cai’s default may also heighten calls for more checks on bidders. Art transactions were worth 43.3 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in 2006, according to a 2008 report by the European Fine Art Foundation.

International Law

Christie’s has always held that the sale of all of the Saint Laurent items, including the sculptures, was legitimate because the items had legal titles. Not so, said an ad hoc group of lawyers in China that in January threatened to sue Christie’s for offering the animal-head bronzes, saying it contravened international law.

The mid-18th-century sculptures of a rabbit and a rat were taken from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing by invading French and British soldiers in 1860.

The 1995 United Nations Unidroit Convention limits claims on stolen cultural artifacts to within 50 years of their theft.

On Feb. 23 in Paris (Xiamen is seven hours ahead of France), a court ruled that the sale could go ahead. Hours later, Cai called Christie’s Shanghai-based business development director Wang Jie from his favorite leather couch on his dark-wood, second-floor office and registered to bid.

“I thought to myself, ‘It’s impossible to find these items again,’” Cai said.

No Documents

On the afternoon of Feb. 25, Cai said, Wang called to say Christie’s agreed, after an internal meeting, that he would have three to four months to settle the bill if he won. None of the agreements was documented, Cai said. That contravenes Christie’s own terms-of-sale rules, stated at the back of its brochure, that “a prospective buyer must complete and sign a registration form and provide identification before bidding.”

Christie’s Hong Kong-based spokeswoman Kate Malin would not verify Cai’s identity and said the company would not comment on the bronzes sale because of client confidentiality.

It’s not uncommon for auction houses to let their best customers and those they consider wealthy bid on big-ticket items without asking guarantees or proof of ability to pay, said George Sutton, a Minneapolis-based analyst with Craig-Hallum Capital Group, who covers Christie’s rival Sotheby’s. French billionaire Francois Pinault owns London-based Christie’s.

“Something like this isn’t good for the reputation of the auction house,” said Sutton, “And will cause the need for change. This suggests possibly that change should happen.”

“These days,” said Cai, “you can’t even get a loan of 10,000 yuan ($1,289) without pledging your house or car as collateral, and I could just bid on an item worth hundreds of millions of yuan with one phone call.”

Buzz Cut

Cai’s black, unbuttoned choker-collar suit hung loosely on his tanned 5-foot-2-inch frame. He wore a buzz cut, rubber-soled black canvas shoes and a three-day-old moustache. Cai moved as quickly as he spoke, with a Fujian accent that flattened loud vowels. He smoked three Kent cigarettes in 30 minutes, sometimes struggling to hold back more tears.

Cai, a native of Xiamen, wouldn’t say how much he’s worth. The third of a cloth merchant’s four children, he said he inherited some money and made the rest in stocks and real estate. Cai said he left Xiamen’s art school at 18 and started in business by renting a store trading cloth. In 2005, he opened Xiamen Xinhe Art International Auction Co. after leaving the state-backed Xiamen Auction Co. where he said he started the art-sale department.

Ming Buddha

In October 2006, Cai made headlines when he paid a record HK$117 million ($15 million) for a Ming Dynasty Shakyamuni bronze Buddha at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong. Cai said he settled the bill in three months and it shouldn’t matter how he did so. He said he still owns the Buddha, which is kept in a safe.

“He has a very good reputation with art dealers,” said Roger Keverne, 62, head of his namesake gallery and chairman of Asian Art in London, an annual exhibition by the city’s galleries. Keverne said he’d met Cai in Beijing and Hong Kong in the past few years. “I found him charming, his manners immaculate. I have only heard good things about him.”

At about 2 a.m. Xiamen time on Feb. 26, the last day of the Saint Laurent sale was under way in Paris. With seven lots to go before the bronzes came up, Cai got a call from Christie’s Asia Deputy Chairman Ken Yeh to prepare to bid. Cai watched the auction live from a Phoenix Television broadcast. First came the rat head. Cai looked on as the bidding on Lot 677 climbed from 9 million euros to 10 million euros to 11 million euros.

“Just as they were about to close the deal, I went in,” said Cai. “I felt if I didn’t bid, I will lose it forever.”

Bid Applause

He offered 12 million euros. A rival countered with 13 million euros, so Cai went up to 14 million euros — the final bid. Applause broke out. Next up was the rabbit head. Cai’s 14 million-euro bid beat a rival’s 13.5 million euros and he secured the second bronze.

“At that time, maybe I didn’t consider if I could pay for them,” said Cai. “At the most, I would sell some of my ceramics to pay for them.”

Hours after the auction ended, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage responded to the sale with a circular requiring Christie’s to detail the ownership and provenance of artifacts it brings into or out of China. When Cai heard of this, he started to question his purchase.

“I felt an internal struggle,” he said. “I felt, ‘If I paid this money and I can’t get the goods, what do I do?’”

Unpaid Adviser

That afternoon, Cai called and asked for a meeting with Niu Xianfeng, a Beijing-based deputy director of Ministry of Culture affiliate National Treasures Fund, which helps retrieve lost relics abroad. Cai has been an unpaid adviser with the fund since December 2007.

Cai said he kept calling Christie’s Wang between Feb. 26 and March 1 seeking the bill and the condition report of the bronzes. Cai said Wang told him Christie’s was chaotic and that people were away and that he should try later. Cai said he didn’t get any documents from Christie’s about the sale. Christie’s Malin declined to comment about this.

Cai came to think that accepting the bronzes was like buying “two time bombs and placing them at home, not knowing when they will explode.” Asked if he considered that before bidding, Cai said he couldn’t tell what prompted him to, just that he felt “mixed emotions” when the sculptures were on the block.

On Feb. 28, Niu and colleague Wang Weiming arrived at the Xinhe office and Cai told them he won the auction.

Officials ‘Shocked’

“They were shocked,” Cai said. “Then they said, ‘Good, good, we thought foreigners had bought them.’”

Niu didn’t answer his cell phone seeking comment.

Cai said he asked Niu and Wang to organize a news conference in Beijing under the National Treasures Fund’s banner to end speculation on who bought the bronzes.

After his March 2 news conference, Cai had the art world speculating on his motives and whether he had state backing. That night, he flew back to his office in Xiamen, a city of 2.5 million people just across the sea from Taiwan, sat on his couch and wept.

A March 4 Xinhua commentary compared Cai’s default with not paying ransom to kidnappers. “Paying would encourage more such stealing, and make the robbers happy,” the commentary said.

Berge’s Choice

Pierre Berge, partner of the late Yves Saint Laurent and the man who put the art collection up for sale, will keep the bronzes at home if they don’t sell, Agence France-Presse reported on March 3, citing him in an interview with French radio. Berge couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

“If he wants to keep them at home, let him do it,” said Cai.

Hong Kong antiques dealer Yumi Kunizuka, whose family consigned a collection in London in 1989, said this case is not so much a lesson in law and art-auction protocol than manners.

“The whole matter could have been handled with more grace and wisdom by Christie’s, Berge and Cai,” said Kunizuka. Berge could have done more for Saint Laurent’s memory by not flaunting the bronzes, Christie’s shouldn’t have agreed to auction the items and Cai was unprofessional in what he did, Kunizuka said.

Hong Kong, where the auction house and main rival Sotheby’s hold biannual art sales, is Christie’s hub for the sale of Chinese antiquities, with revenue of more than HK$1 billion last year. Including other art categories, Christie’s Hong Kong sales last year tallied $452.3 million, about 11 percent of its total.

Export License

On March 6, Xinhua said, citing Cultural Heritage Administration Director Shan Jixiang, that its circular on Christie’s “does not limit the return” of the bronzes. According to the terms of sale stated in Christie’s brochure, it’s “the buyer’s sole responsibility to obtain any relevant export or import license. The denial of license or the delay in obtaining licenses” don’t justify the rescission of sale.

China isn’t the only nation trying to repatriate lost treasures, said He Shuzhong, founder of Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, a nongovernmental organization.

Last week, the Indian government said it facilitated the return of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi’s personal effects from a New York auction after the Indian public decried the sale. Indian liquor magnate Vijay Mallya paid $2.1 million for the items, which included Gandhi’s glasses, sandals and pocket watch.

Bounds of Law

Retrieving the items should be done in a calm way that is within the bounds of law and respectable conduct, said He. Rash actions in the name of patriotism would backfire, he said.

Art-auction defaults aren’t new. In 1987, Australian businessman Alan Bond bid a record $53.9 million at Sotheby’s New York for Vincent van Gogh’s “Irises,” then a record price for any work of art, and couldn’t pay for it. The painting had to be resold.

In September last year, Sotheby’s sued Cnet Inc. founder Halsey Minor to recover $16.8 million that the auction house said it’s owed for three pieces he bought at sales. Later that month, Minor sued Sotheby’s for not disclosing that the consignor of a painting he bought owes the auction house money.

The default on the bronzes purchase raises the question of how well auction houses perform their due diligence and whose interest they represent. Christie’s brochure states it “acts as agent for the seller.”

Auction houses make most of their commission from buyers, who pay up to 25 percent of the hammer price on their purchases, as they lower or waive commission for sellers to secure the right to represent the most valuable collections.

European Auction

The dispute marred the most successful auction in Europe, with 373.9 million euros raised and 96 percent of lots sold including the bronzes. Cai’s winning bid totaled 31.5 million euros, including Christie’s 3.5 million-euro commission.

In Cai’s 2,000-square-foot office, hydraulic-powered mahogany doors opened to reveal a sanctum lined with ceramics and Buddhas dating back as far back as the 14th century.

He swiped his wallet across a section of wall embedded with an electronic lock and a secret stairway appeared, leading to an underground showroom with hundreds of antiques.

Cai said that, fearing for his reputation, he’s canceling Xinhe’s spring sale, which tallied 47.4 million yuan last year, one of the Fujian province’s biggest. The fall sale may also be called off.

If he could do it again, Cai isn’t sure he would bid for the bronzes.

“No one (in the government) knew what I was doing,” said Cai. “Even if they knew, they wouldn’t look for me. Why should I help? I am not on their payroll.”

He said he’s now trying to pick up the pieces of his life. If he ends his art-auction activity, Cai said he may focus on his real-estate and securities trading businesses.

“When I turn on my cell phone and walk out of this place, I really don’t know what kind of life I will have,” he said.

To contact the writer on the story: Le-Min Lim in Hong Kong at lmlim@bloomberg.net

China conveniently forgets the provenance of ‘looted’ bronze heads

Hero or hooligan — opinions are divided on Cai Mingchao, the Chinese man who bid US$50-million for two bronze heads from the collection of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, but then announced he had no intention of paying for them. The Qing dynasty sculptures of a rat and a dog were looted by British and French troops from the old imperial Summer Palace near Beijing more than 150 years ago.

China says its feelings were “hurt” by the sale, but it’s arguable British and French feelings were also hurt by the incident that preceded the looting.

First, though, Cai and his “patriotic” stand. In a story carried on the front page of The China Daily, he put the loftiest spin on his actions: “The auction negated the history that the cultural relics were looted, defied the ethics of international society, and breached the rules of commercial auctions,” he said. An online survey conducted by sina.com.cn, a Chinese government-run Web site, also showed more than 70% of the netizens support Cai’s action for he had safeguarded China’s interests.

As the BBC noted, another commentator, writing in the Beijing News, also lavished praise on the bogus bidder. “Cai Mingchao’s bid was a patriotic political act to strike back at an illegal auction,” said Wang Zhanyang, a professor at the Central Socialist Academy. In a typical example of Chinese double-think, he added the art expert had not caused any trouble because the Chinese government did not recognize the legality of the sale.

Elsewhere, responses were less enthusiastic. According to Agence France-Presse, Liang Fafu, a blogger, said Cai had made the Chinese “look even worse on the international scene.”

“We come across as untrustworthy people, a bunch of con men. Who wants to deal with that kind of people in the future?”

Zhao Yu, a senior culture ministry official, told the Beijing Times Cai’s behaviour had done his compatriots no favour. “In overseas auctions… bidders usually need no deposit and simply rely on their reputation,” he said. “The fact that Cai Mingchao has gone back on his word in reality means he has undermined the credibility enjoyed by Chinese people at large international auctions.”

His muted response also has something to do with the provenance of the heads themselves. As Richard Spencer, The Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in Beijing, explains in his blog, “State media, while particularly sensitive to the European insult, are often rather careful to avoid hyping these items up as examples of high Chinese culture: for good reason, as they are not really Chinese, and the whole story of the fountain of which they are part is shrouded in ambiguity.”

It’s also worth recalling how the heads came to be in western hands in the first place. It’s not as if the British and French woke up one day and decided to launch an expedition to loot the Yuanming Yuan. Rather they were responding to an atrocity perpetrated by the emperor Xianfeng —  the torture of two western envoys sent under a flag of truce to negotiate, and the murder of most of their small escort of British, French and Indian troopers.

As Geremie Barmé writes in his history of the palace, The Garden of Perfect Brightness, A Life in Ruins (link through Spencer blog), “In the autumn of 1860, a delegation of English and French negotiators were despatched to Peking to exchange treaties with the Chinese court following a peace settlement that had been forced on Peking …

“After numerous prevarications, bluffs and acts of deception on the part of the Qing Court, the emissaries of the emperor … detained 39 members of the delegation. They were imprisoned in the Yuan Ming Yuan, used as hostages in the negotiations with the foreign powers, and subsequently tortured. Of their number 18 died and, when their bodies were eventually returned to the Allied forces in October, 1860, even the liberal use of lime in their coffins could not conceal the fact that they had suffered horribly before expiring.”

In giving the order to loot the palace, Lord Elgin, the British high commissioner to China, wanted to punish the emperor and his officials, not his people.  Memory of this part of the proceedings has faded from Chinese consciousness, Barmé goes on.

“Although without doubt an act of wanton barbarism, it is revealing that in popular Mainland Chinese accounts of the sackings of the palaces available to readers since the 1980s, one is hard pressed to find any mention of the atrocities committed by the Qing negotiators that led to this final act of vandalism. Nor in these popular histories are there detailed descriptions of the sly manipulations of the Qing Court in the tense days leading up to the sacking.”

National Post

awordsworth@nationalpost.com

http://network.nationalpost.com/

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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No wonder customs is so difficult when it comes to exporting antique stone these days…..

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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If you are in an antiques, furniture, or any other import related business, then the packing and shipping of your goods will be a crucial logistical detail which should not easily be overlooked. Since many buyers are unable to maintain a permanent office in China, and surely not individual buyers purchasing for their homes, they logically often turn to third-party packing agents to fill this void. Yet, packing and crating can determine if your item arrives without a scratch or rather in several pieces. Ocean Shipping might be a short direct hop across seas or turn out to be a  long delayed drawn out journey through canals and via detours. And even short term warehousing might mean either brief storage or long term loss of your product in someone else’s warehouse.

“A main issue, is with customers understanding of these providers scope of business (and their capabilities) – with the most common misconception being that these companies will take responsibility for getting your products picked up, packed and shipped out in good condition”

A read on ACF’s China’s furniture industry blog of the post entitled, “Using a consolidator for international shipping, freight, packing and inspection of antique furniture” talks at length about what to expect, what to look out for.

Read More….

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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http://www.antiquefurniturefair.com/

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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The Brutal Truth about Buying Chinese Antiques on eBay

This is a great little guide from an ebay seller who goes by the screen name of  loveshackbaybee. Its fairly comprehensive and worth a reprint here. Well written, very candid and overall good advice for the masses looking to pick up that “authentic Qing Dynasty vase at a great price!” I  added some screen shots as well of some so called “authentic Asian antiques” which are currently on offer on ebay.

As long time collectors of Asian art, we have purchased many authentic and truly remarkable Chinese antiques on eBay. You can too. But fair warning – you need to really understand how this fraud riddled business works – or you will most certainly be ripped off.

Here is a summary of years of hard learned experience.FACT # 1 – EXPORTATION OF GENUINE ANTIQUES FROM CHINA IS TIGHTLY CONTROLLED.

It is highly illegal for sellers based in the Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan Republic of China, to export very old Chinese antiques out of their respective countries. These countries have enacted strict Cultural Preservation laws designed to keep their national heritage at home.

In the Peoples Republic of China, exporting anything earlier than 1796 (the end of the reign of Emperor Qianlong)  is strictly forbidden. Items dating from 1797 to 1949 must be inspected  for approval, and most often Imperial or other culturally important pieces are prohibited from exportation. In Taiwan, anything 100 years or older cannot be exported. In the Peoples Republic of China, the penalties for smuggling “Cultural Relics” are severe. Lengthy imprisonment, and even in serious cases execution. The Government of the Peoples Republic of China doesn’t fool around -they execute grave robbers. This is well documented – look it up on the internet.

Some common, lower quality antique items are legally exported from China, and bear a red wax inspection seal, a so called “jianding”. You see these seals occasionally on items from western sellers. These seals are found on genuine antique items sold at official government “Friendship Stores”. Tourists can also request inspection of items that they find locally, and if compliant, Chinese Customs will affix a seal to them. There are several versions and forms of these seals. All the seal means is that the piece was inspected by some Chinese government official and was found to be in accordance with the antiquities exportation laws. It is possible to obtain a seal for a brand new fake. Remember – seals alone are no guarantee that the advertised age of  item is accurate as the seals do not authenticate the piece.

Hong Kong was the gateway to the west and served as an important trade center for Asian antiques for many years. When rule reverted to China in 1997, many of the free and open trading practices were curtailed and selective enforcement of Cultural Relics regulations began. Although some HK dealers claim they are still allowed free trade, it may be safest to assume that Hong Kong dealers now fall under the same Cultural Relics laws as those in Beijing. Do business with HK dealers at your own risk.

Tibet is part of China, and the same rules apply there too.

Can you imagine any official Chinese Museum or other legitimate Chinese business issuing “Certificates of Authenticity” for the export of very old and very valuable antiques? There are plenty of them on eBay! Complete with snazzy photos, lots of bogus Chinese text,  and official looking stamped seals! Some people are actually paying thousands of dollars for fake pieces from these scammers, and leaving glowing feedback. Don’t fall for this pathetic scam.

FACT #2 – THERE IS A HUGE DEMAND FOR GENUINE CHINESE ANTIQUES INSIDE CHINA.

The market for genuine Chinese antiques in China is much hotter there than anywhere else in the world. China has many new auction houses that do a booming business selling genuine Chinese antiques to the nouveaux riche Chinese businessmen. It is a well known fact that world record prices for Chinese antiques are being set in auctions taking place in China. American and European auction prices for equivalent articles are substantially lower than typical prices achieved in China. That’s why Sotheby’s and Christies are so hot to get a piece of the action, and have established a HK presence. If a China based antique dealer acquires a valuable piece, he or she would sell it inside China, legally, for a lot of money. Why on earth would they want to sell it cheap on eBay, to a foreign buyer, and take the chance of imprisonment?

We collect certain types of Chinese antiques – specifically carved lacquer, or Cinnabar. We have an extensive library of carved lacquer reference books, and a large collection of genuine pieces – many of them found on eBay. We look at every single listing for carved lacquer, and have looked at every listing for many years now. We have NEVER seen a genuine antique carved lacquer piece offered by any China based dealer. Not once. And we have looked at countless thousands of listings.

FACT #3 – MOST CHINESE ANTIQUES LISTED ON EBAY ARE MODERN FAKES.

The overwhelming majority, maybe 90% or more, of all Chinese “antique” items listed on eBay (regardless of the source) are not antique – they are modern reproductions. Or tacky fantasy creations – like these horrid examples currently appearing to the right of this guide! ————–>

Some reproductions are beautiful, and undoubtedly require skilled artistic abilities. But heads up – you are buying a worthless modern decorative piece. If you like the piece, that’s great. If you keep it long enough it will be an antique some day!
FACT #4 – BEWARE OF IMPORTED FAKES FROM WESTERN DEALERS.

There are several large “Chinese Antique Dealers” out there who live in the USA, or Canada, or UK. They seem to have the same stuff as advertised by their mainland brothers, but they proudly display “USA DEALER”, or “UK DEALER”, or similar. This does not mean that these items are genuine. This means that these con artists import their modern junk, and sell it from a western country to an unsuspecting dupe who lives in a western country. Apparently, there is no shortage of dupes!

Some of these western scammers claim to have current antique sources inside remote villages in China, or they have personally collected large quantities of pieces and moved them offshore prior to the enactment of the export laws. (The laws have been in effect since 1982, and have further tightened up over the last few years.)  This is pure nonsense.

Some western sellers appear from nowhere offering batches of 20-50 high end Chinese antique items from an “estate” they are liquidating. Great pictures. All fakes. We call these “hit and run” dealers.

FACT #5 – MOST SCAMMERS HAVE GREAT FEEDBACK!

Good feedback ratings on these western con artists do not mean that they are selling real antiques The types of customers who buy junk from these scam artists are mostly low feedback novices. They are all too happy to leave excellent feedback for their “genuine Ming Dynasty jade dragon pendant”, or whatever piece of junk they just blew $100 on. They wouldn’t know a real antique piece from a fake – so how reliable is their feedback? There are dealers out there who have thousands of sales and better than 99% positive feedback who have never sold a genuine piece their entire life.

What’s one common tactic used by almost all these scammers? “USER ID KEPT PRIVATE”. When you see this, hit the back arrow key. This is most often used not to protect a buyer’s privacy, but to protect the scammer’s sales. This is used so you can’t look at the seller’s negative feedback, look at an actual item and say “Hey, that buyer WAS right. This WAS a fake.” There are several dozen dealers out there that if eBay rules allowed us, we’d simply post their IDs and tell you to avoid them like the plague. Unfortunately, we can’t do that – you’ll just have to figure out who these crooks are yourself.

FACT #6 – LOOK IN THE USA, CANADA, JAPAN & EUROPE FOR THE REAL PIECES.

There are not that many good, undiscovered antiques left floating around in China. Surprise. This is difficult to believe, but true. An ancient and  large country like China should be teeming with antiques, right? Wrong. The good ones have mostly been looted and taken out of China over the years (by a succession of foreign interventions and wars), voluntarily sold to westerners or Japanese collectors years ago, destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in the 1970′s, put into public museums, or bought by wealthy dealers and/or private collectors living in China. If you want to find good Chinese antiques on eBay, do what the China based collectors do – look in the USA, Canada, Japan and Europe! If you find yourself bidding against a person living in China or Taiwan, bingo – you’ve probably found a real piece! But be forewarned, most of the China based collectors are actually dealers, and they have a lot of money. You might be in for a bit of a bidding war. Some of these dealers ALWAYS seem to win their auctions, so we suspect the market is so hot in China they know they can buy expensive and still sell pieces at a premium price.

Sort your listings by country, and pay attention to those NOT in China. Then, look at the Chinese listings – this will show you what kind of fakes are currently hitting the market. Keep an eye out for these bogus items appearing from western sellers – they will show up sooner or later.

FACT #7 – YOU MUST KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT.

If you do not know what you are looking at, you stand an overwhelming chance of buying a fake. Want to collect snuff bottles? Great. Buy a couple of books and study the subject. Then you will start to develop an eye for what is real and what isn’t. Buying something because it looks cool will not guarantee that it is genuine. Read. Study. Learn. Browse the Asianart and Gotheborg boards. You will still make mistakes occasionally (we do), but less and less. When you do buy a fake, try to get your money back as quickly as you can. If you get stung, that’s called your “tuition fees”. You will pay some.

FACT #8 – MOST LEGITIMATE SELLERS DO NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT GENUINE CHINESE ANTIQUES.

When it comes to Chinese antiques, many sellers know next to nothing about what they have. They are not experts in Asian arts. Don’t take their age estimates, descriptions, stories about where the piece came from, etc. seriously. They’re guessing. Educate yourself and trust your own opinion. Listings with lengthy history lessons are virtually guaranteed to be bogus! Beware fuzzy photographs – ask the seller to email better ones. Occasionally you will find some sellers who know EXACTLY what they have. You will probably not get any “great deals” from these people, because they also know exactly what it is worth. But “great deal” is relative. It may seem expensive to you, but if it is truly valuable, it is probably selling for a price way less than Sotheby’s or a major art dealer. Of course, ignorant or greedy sellers often price items way beyond what they are worth, so look out for these too. Interestingly, pieces which are grossly overpriced are usually described generically – like “old oriental vase”. Sellers have no idea what they have, but darn it, it sure looks valuable to them – so they want a lot of money for it! We find the combination of ignorance and greed very entertaining.

FACT #9 – ITEM DESCRIPTIONS ARE PROBABLY INCORRECT.

If the item description says Qing, Ming, Song, Yuan, Tang etc. – it probably isn’t! (But then again, we have seen some rare few pieces from all these periods selling on eBay, so you never know…) Same thing for TIBET, JADE, IVORY, SILVER, CINNABAR. Fake city – you better know your stuff. An eBay search on the two keywords TIBET and JADE brings up over 3,500 listings – every single one is a fake.  Try it yourself!

FACT #10 – BEWARE THE INTERNET-ONLY SCAMMERS.

Avoid buying “antiques” from any dealer that has a name that sounds like a Chinese restaurant! Basically, endless combinations of dragon, golden, lotus, Tibet, jade, lucky, etc. Also, any dealer with the word “museum” in its name is suspect. With very few exceptions, most of these dealers are internet only scam artists. Think about one thing – where can ANY dealer get real pieces to offer for sale? All legitimate dealers need a source for genunie antiques! Legitimate dealers find them in estate sales or they are a brick and mortar shop. If they find them in estate sales, the supply is naturally limited. They won’t have access to hundreds of pieces – just a couple here and there. Legitimate brick and mortar dealers can usually be identified by doing some internet sleuthing as they must have a life beyond eBay. Everyone else is just an internet only scammer.

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT SMUGGLING

Are some real antique pieces being smuggled out of China? Yes, undoubtedly. We’ve heard from some Jade collectors that sometimes villagers will rob graves, and, because their activities are illegal, they will secretly sell pieces to smugglers who get them out of the country clandestinely. We suspect that the majority of these looted pieces will end up in South East Asia in the hands of big money collectors and dealers – not the type of individuals who will post them cheaply on eBay. Even if smuggled pieces were being dumped on eBay, is this the kind of shady business you want to support?

Sad to say, there appear to be many western Jade collectors who are absolutely convinced that large quantities of authentic Hongshan Period (3,500-2,000BC) jades are making their way from China to eBay. They gobble up archaic looking jades from China based dealers in the vain hope that somehow, among all the fakes, they will find an authentic artifact. They purchase high precision electronic scales, hardness testing tools, and all sorts of equipment to assist in their authentication process. Then they post their results on internet forums and endlessly debate each other about tool marks, burial calcification patterns, etc. ad nauseum. Our opinion is that these well intentioned folks are simply wishful thinkers looking for a lottery win - but the game has already been fixed. They may be very knowledgeable about their subject matter (much more than we are – we know very little about Jade), but they seem to be totally oblivious to the legal and economic realities of the fake antiquities trade in China.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA – TREASURE TROVE OR SNAKE PIT?

Increasingly, sellers from Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, etc. are showing up on eBay and listing large quantities of “valuable” Chinese artifacts – mostly porcelain. Real? Well, all these countries DO have large ethnic Chinese populations, and Chinese trade was conducted with them for many centuries. Well publicized ancient Chinese shipwrecks were discovered and harvested through out South East Asia, and many countries do not have restrictive antique export laws… So, theoretically, they can be legitimate sources for Chinese antiques.

Now for the bad news. Scammers in these countries are firing up their local kilns and manufacturing  fake Chinese ceramics by the boatloads. Usually copies of valuable Song era pieces. Some popular internet Asian art forums are being used as test grounds for their forgeries. The scammers post their fakes, and solicit feedback from knowledgeable westerners – looking for ways to improve their wares.

As recovered shipwreck cargo has verified, most genuine items from South East Asia are likely to be common export tableware – so called “kitchen Ming” or “kitchen Qing”. These were produced in huge quantities in south China’s Fujian province, and exported extensively.

Whether you should consider a South East Asian dealer as a reliable source is entirely up to your comfort in authenticating the piece. In our opinion, the vast majority of these dealers are scammers, and we would not consider purchasing anything from these countries unless it was part of a well publicized and VERIFIABLE shipwreck recovery.

SO WHAT SORTS OF REAL CHINESE ANTIQUES CAN YOU FIND ON EBAY?

You will mostly find late 19th century to early 20th century export quality items. These can be recognized because they are generally marked with a CHINA country of origin marking. They are not very high quality or particularly valuable, but they are authentic and a great place to begin your collecting.

Then you will find some rare, but damaged pieces. These are often overpriced, so be careful. A little natural shelf wear is expected and in fact is a good indicator of authenticity, but significant damage or restoration really hammers the true value of the piece - so be careful you don’t overvalue it in your mind. This damage devaluation depends a lot on the type of antique. Porcelain can loose up to 90% of it’s value with simple chips or hairline cracks. Rare Chinese cloisonne can tolerate a few minor chips without affecting value – same thing for lacquer and Canton Enamel. Each area of collection has it’s own standards.

Occasionally some of the larger legitimate dealers will have significant numbers of good quality pieces from major estate sales or private collections. These used to be commonly auctioned on eBay Live Auctions. But as of Jan 1 2009, this venue was no longer active. In our opinion, the quantity of higher end antique Chinese pieces on eBay has dropped dramatically as sellers shifted to alternative venues such as Artfact.com live auctions, and the percentage of fakes has increased.

HOW DO YOU AUTHENTICATE PIECES?

Once you have found something that looks interesting, the next step is to try to authenticate it.

Step #1 – Check out the dealer first! Start by checking all negative feedback for the seller, specifically looking for complaints of fakes and forgeries.
There are external websites that allow you to look at any seller’s old and removed eBay feedback – find them through Google. Even a couple of suspicious negatives in a sea of positive reviews are big red flags. Not proof, but warnings to look carefully. Even positive feedback can contain hidden warnings – like “not as old as advertised”, “different from photograph”, “shipped from China”  “honorable seller, quick refund” etc  – these scream FAKE. If you are more familiar with certain types of antiques, say for instance cloisonne, then carefully look at any cloisonne pieces sold by this dealer. Do they look legitimate to you? If they don’t, forget this dealer and move on. In our opinion, the dealers that sell fakes generally sell nothing but fakes – so it’s a one rotten apple spoils the barrel type of argument.

Step #2 – Compare to known good examples. The internet has many sources for helping you authenticate pieces. Start by looking at other eBay listings for similar items. Then look at eBay completed auctions and try to identify if the piece is a mass-produced copy. Do a Google image search describing the piece, and look at any museum examples that might pop up. Do a Google product search and find out what similar pieces are being sold by antique dealers, or importers of modern curios. Sign up for free accounts on Artfact.com and Sothebys.com, and search their completed auctions to find similar pieces. If you are going to do this often, sign up for an account on Gotheborg.com. Scan the Asianart.com forum for postings about similar objects. Try to acquire a library of good reference books and auction catalogs with lots of photos and descriptions. Some auction houses, like I.M. Chait, allow you to search their completed auction listings. Same thing for Liveauctioneers.

Step#3 – Beware of the red flags! Look out for unusually heavy pieces, as this may mean molded resin. Look out for air bubbles (signs that a piece was molded) in pieces that are supposed to be carved. Look for tiny knife nicks on carved items – there should be some. Ask the seller for better photos of areas that are damaged, or should show signs of shelf wear – like foot rims and bases. Mint condition often means made yesterday! Be suspicious of heavy corrosion on metalware pieces like bronzes and cloisonne – these are usually signs of chemical distressing, not real age. Large reign marks are often suspicious – many genuine pieces were unmarked. Look out for suspiciously dirty pieces – dirt does not necessarily mean age – especially for pieces that are easy to keep clean, like porcelain. Speaking about porcelain, good luck! It takes YEARS to become modestly proficient in authenticating Chinese porcelain. You will have to learn all about Chinese history, shapes, enamel colors, painting styles and techniques, glazes, kiln techniques, foot rims, marks and calligraphy, etc. Old wood darkens with age – learn how to recognize true aging from artificial coatings.Understand that real silver pieces are almost always hallmarked, and these marks are extensively cataloged to aid in authentication. Knowing just a little bit about each of these areas will help a lot.

A SPECIAL WARNING ABOUT IVORY

As of Jan 1, 2009 trading of IVORY was no longer allowed on eBay, but we leave this in just for reference.

Interested in ivory? Wow. What a cesspool of potential problems. In addition to there being many fake ivories to contend with, ivory is a highly regulated commodity that can land you in huge trouble with local law enforcement if you do not understand and comply with the international CITES regulations, and local laws. If you are unfamiliar with the CITES regulations, you have no business even THINKING about buying any antique ivory artifact. There is a very good eBay UK guide to ivory by member argento_glitter that discusses the legal pitfalls of trading in this controlled commodity – start there. The bottom line is that all ivory transactions need to conform to the world-wide endangered species laws, and all items need to be genuinely old (pre 1949) and accompanied with proper CITES conformity paperwork which includes valid provenance proving the article is pre-ban.

WHAT ABOUT THE HIGH QUALITY FORGERIES?
There is big money in fencing high end master forgeries. These pieces are exquisite, and even experts are often fooled. These forgeries have made their way into the best of dealers, museums, noteworthy collections and the high end auction circuit – so there is no reason to believe eBay is immune. These are the pieces that are most troublesome to serious collectors, because skilled forgers go to painstaking lengths to create their dark art. Buying one of these means loosing thousands of dollars to what is essentially criminal fraud – not something many of us can afford to do.

Thinking about buying an expensive, very rare high-end piece from one of those high profile “boutique” Asian Art dealers on eBay? Not for the timid, and certainly not for the novice. Try to find out as much as you can about the dealer. Find out if they have a street address that’s an actual storefront – or are they running this as an internet only business. Ask them where they get their pieces from, and if the piece has any valid provenance. Google the dealer name along with the keywords “fake” and “forgery” just to see what dirt comes up. Since some of the most active collectors with the biggest money live in China and Taiwan – look through the dealer’s feedback to see if they have ever sold pieces to these legitimate Chinese buyers. If not, why not? Verify the dealer’s no-questions-asked return policy and get the piece authenticated, from multiple sources, as soon as you get your hands on it. Then authenticate it again.

Guarantees of authenticity are great – but make sure you really understand what “authentication” hoops the dealer will force you to jump through before they will accept any returns. Unless you live in a major city, getting access and cooperation from Asian Art specialists from the Major Auction Houses, or major Museum curators is not going to be easy. Even then, it’s not going to be trivial to get them to write an official opinion. Remember, TL (Thermoluminescence) age testing from Oxford Laboratories costs at least $500 – if you need to do it, you need to eat the cost of the test.

We’re not pointing fingers at anyone, but sadly, there’s just too much fraud in this business to trust or rely on anyone. When the stakes get higher, you have to increase your due diligence.

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU BID?

If you are absolutely wild about a particular piece and must have it at any cost, bid 3 times more than you think you will ever need.

But we prefer to acquire pieces at a wise price – a price that will allow us to get our money back, or occasionally make a modest profit, when we decide to sell them again. The thing about collecting Chinese antiques is that what you find appealing when you first start collecting is not what you will want after a few years. As you learn more and more, and see higher quality examples in the market, your taste will probably improve and you will gravitate towards those higher quality pieces. You will likely want to flip parts of your collection to re-invest in better pieces – and the secret is always to buy right in the first place.

As a rule of thumb, most authentic antique Chinese pieces on eBay will end up being a bargain – even after heavy bidding. But bear in mind that if prices start to approach major auction house prices, it’s time to stop bidding. Remember – when you buy a piece off eBay, you are buying something essentially without provenance. Provenance means provable history of ownership. (Forget about Certificates of Authenticity – they are not worth the paper they are printed on). Even if the item is authentic and rare, you will probably never be able to re-sell it through a major auction house or dealer, because they won’t even look at pieces without provenance. The major auction houses have been stung and embarrassed by clever fakes, so they are loathe accept pieces without provenance. That means some day you will have to re-sell it on eBay or through a minor auction house, and you will never get its real value with these venues. We stop bidding when a piece approaches 1/3 of a Sotheby’s type level – but that’s your call.

The question of “to snipe or not to snipe” comes up. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. If we find a really rare piece that we want badly, we often bid big up front, and just wait to see if we get it or not. It kills you when you loose a bid by $10, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere or you will end up making poor bidding decisions. More than once, we’ve had items mysteriously “withdrawn” – probably because the seller made an off-eBay deal – so getting a bid registered at least provides the seller with notice that someone is watching them. Probably doesn’t change a thing, but makes us feel better!

If we are bidding on a less valuable piece, we often snipe. Live by the snipe, die by the snipe: sometimes we get a fantastic deal, many more times we lose – but there’s always another piece on eBay just around the corner. Oh, and by the way, no serious bidder is going to fall for the trick of putting multiple high bids on a piece just to intimidate and discourage potential bidders. When we see 3 or 4 consecutive high bids on a piece from the same high bidder, that tells us THE BIDDER IS BLUFFING, and that doesn’t stop us one second. The true serious bidders often bid only once – and they bid high – seriously high.

Finding the hidden jewels can be very exciting. Sometimes you run across a valuable piece that has been totally mis-identified and mis-classified by a seller who didn’t have a clue what they had. Hot damn! But guess what? With 800 Million eBay users, you are NOT going to be the only one to find it!  The serious collectors are always looking in unrelated categories, checking for mis-spellings, looking for generic descriptions, etc.
There may be fewer bidders, but valuable pieces still tend to draw the serious bidding action, no matter how messed up the listing is.
“ABANDON ALL HOPE – YE WHO ENTER HERE” ???

The odds are heavily stacked against you – and it’s going to get worse. The heydays of finding inexpensive rare Asian antiques on eBay are now behind us, never to return. But there are still some cool treasures out there – if you are smart enough to recognize them, wise enough to bid appropriately, and lucky enough to win. If you want to invest in quality decorative Asian art but are not prepared to battle this tsunami of fraud, consider collecting Japanese pieces as an alternative. Once you’ve recognized how to identify fake Chinese copies (it’s really not that hard to recognize fakes because the artistic quality is NEVER as good as the Japanese originals), your chances of finding authentic Japanese pieces are much, much better. Plus, dealing with the Japan based dealers is generally much safer. Generally, but not always… Good treasure hunting!
We hope that you learned something that will save you from wasting your money on junk. If you understand the basic rules we have just outlined, you are now more informed than thousands of naive eBay buyers who fall for this fraud weekly.

HERE’S A QUICK QUIZ TO SEE IF YOU GRADUATE!

1. How many Chinese Dehua blanc de chine porcelain statues are now being listed on eBay? The answer should be something over 100.
2. Now, how many are authentic antiques? None? Maybe one… maybe… Excellent!
3. Now, what about the Song Dynasty Geyao piece in our avatar? Bought it here on eBay. Real or Fake?

Real! We scored big. You can too! OK, you Graduate!

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east.

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