A while back I know the SIMS game was amazingly popular. This is the game where you control the lives of virtual characters from making conversation to making love. People take virtual vacations, get married - you name it! Heard it was extraordinarily addictive, so I skipped over it (Actually was already addicted a few years back to SIM CITY which was time consuming enough as it is!). But I thought this was rather cute when I stumbled across this site about SIMS Interior Design.

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This post is from: The specialist guide to Antique Chinese Furniture Antiker Chinesischer Möbel muebles chinos antiguos mobilia cinese antica

Can’t afford real Chinese antiques? Then buy virtual ones instead.

Photos of these two cabinets have been floating around on our file server for quite a while and I have been meaning to put them up here as another excellent example of differences in quality between Chinese antique workshops and restoration facilities. These are both essentially the same piece but restored in a different manner by two different factories. They are both restored antiques, both a once fairly common Mongolian style antique cabinets and even the dimensions are approximately the same. Piece A (bright red one) comes from a smaller workshop owned/operated by George, a gentleman who has worked with Chinese antiques for more then 20 years. He services mostly foreign customers and says he offers “good quality.” The other piece (Deep burgundy red) was purchased from Raymond, a larger volume based, Beijing wholesaler who claims to offer “good quality product.” Lets examine the differences to see which factory really does offer “quality” and which one is simply inexpensive.

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This post is from: The specialist guide to Antique Chinese Furniture Antiker Chinesischer Möbel muebles chinos antiguos mobilia cinese antica

Comparing apples to oranges - more on determining quality in Chinese antique furniture

There was this man who possesses an antique bench from China, a masterpiece. He would like to know the value of it. Sounds like : “the antiques road show” on BBC television! (where people bring their ‘treasures’ to be estimated by an expert who then tell the good news that it’s worth a few thousand Pounds, or he hits it with a hammer, meaning it’s worthless)

So, this way is ‘safer’. In this blog I would like to open a discussion about the value of this piece. Give it a shot, what do you think the price in an antique boutique would be, or tell us what amount of money you’re prepared to pay for it.

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This post is from: The specialist guide to Antique Chinese Furniture Antiker Chinesischer Möbel muebles chinos antiguos mobilia cinese antica

Rosewood Antique Bench - value

 

 

Haute/Très haute qualité

Cette pièce est définitivement de très haute qualité, tout particulièrement au niveau des matériaux utilisés et de la qualité du travail.

This post is from: The specialist guide to Antique Chinese Furniture Antiker Chinesischer Möbel muebles chinos antiguos mobilia cinese antica

Déterminer la qualité d’une antiquité (que signifie qualité ?)

Arriver à déterminer qu’est-ce qu’une antiquité et qu’est-ce qu’une reproduction devient de plus en plus difficile. Parfois, c’est intentionel d’essayer de faire passer une reproduction pour une antiquité, ayant en tête que le client sera prêt à payer plus pour une antiquité. Mais dans d’autres circonstances, la différence entre une antiquité et une reproduction n’est simplement pas claire.Dans l’exemple représenté ici, cette reproduction de table à café taillée à la perfection et teinte d’une couleur spécifique est neuve de toute évidence. Mais les sculptures du haut sont en fait anciennes. Est-ce une antiquité ? Une reproduction ? Est si c’était les deux finalement ?

This post is from: The specialist guide to Antique Chinese Furniture Antiker Chinesischer Möbel muebles chinos antiguos mobilia cinese antica

Frontières brouillées – Est-ce une antiquité ou une reproduction ?