The specialist guide to Asian antiques and exotic home decor from the far east.

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 [...]

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Nice little article here which explains what Cloisonné is, (Cloisonné is a form of enamelware) which a surprising number of people are unfamiliar with. Another article on the The Antique Marks Blog entitled “Antique Cloisonne Ware – Collectible? Popular? Profitable?” also gives a bit of the history associate with Chinese cloisonne and also Russian cloisonne.
I [...]

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“If I purchase a genuine antique while in China,
will I be able to export it back to my home country?”

The short answer is only if it is A) made after 1911 and more importantly B) not classified as Cultural property. According to the official Chinese law on the Protection of Cultural Relics, before an [...]

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“Tibetan” style furniture is a phrase used loosely and frequently items made just yesterday are placed side by side with items 50 or 80 years old. Of course, all are claimed to be real “Tibetan Furniture.” So when it comes to so called Tibetan” items, its important to know just what is is that [...]

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A few interesting examples and baselines which can be used when making an assessment of quality. You will need to click each photo to see the enlarged verion and associated comments.
Poor to low quality
This piece speaks for itself. Particularly evident is fitting which uses the lowest quality of materials.

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CUSTOM BUILT
Custom items are “one of a kind” items built to spec in limited, often one off quantities. Custom items sometimes may be used as a template to make more – thus known as a SAMPLE or PROTOTYPE.

KNOWLEDGE: Requires extensive understanding of design, testing, materials, quality, construction techniques and factories
OPTIONS: Options are extremely flexible which [...]

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MANUFACTURED ITEMS
This is an area where people often have a quite a lot of difficulty distinguishing between the “style” of the product (in other words the visual appearance of the item) vs the actual “type” of product. To the average eye, an item may look like as if it is a hand-made, traditional Chinese piece [...]

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REPRODUCTION
New items which employ natural materials and handcrafted construction techniques often in use for
many generations. Generally occurs in a workshop environment with mostly hand tools and limited use
of modern machinery. Designs are based on traditional deigns modified slightly according to the times.
Items can be very similar but no two are exactly alike as a result [...]

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FAKE/REPLICATION
New, handcrafted pieces using natural materials (May use older or aged materials). Produced in a
workshop or “cottage industry” environment and based on actual antiques with extra effort put into
each piece for it to be made to look unique. Like antiques items can be very similar though no two will
be exactly alike. Pieces will possess little [...]

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CONVERTED
Converted items are both antique & reproduction at the same time. Because of this the materials
and/or construction should possess a very slight degree of wear/tear due to age/use. The main overall
design of a converted piece may remain the same or similr but heavy modifications are made including
structural, finishes etc

KNOWLEDGE: Basic an understanding of periods, regions, [...]

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For anyone who really is looking to have more control over the complete look of a piece, here is an excellent article by Architectural Classics entitled How to Age Brass – Ultimate Guide. Definitely worth a look if you are interested in the specific process.
The link is: http://www.architecturalclassics.com/blog/how-to-age-brass/
There is also a few good books on [...]

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ANTIQUE

Antique pieces are aged and usually must meet a minimum age before being considered an antique – generally 50 years or more. Should possess some degree of wear/tear due to time/age and use. Each piece is unusual and unique.

KNOWLEDGE: Requires a comprehensive historical understanding of periods, regions, and styles as well local handcraft construction techniques, [...]

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