Buh. I mean, BUH.

[camwyn]

Hi! Please forgive me, but I don't know your name, but read some of
your web page.

I have a Chinese vessel that appears to have been the property of the
Duke of Chi. It was fashioned for a consecration ceremony during the
anniversary celebration of the founding of an Eastern state, according
to an explanation of the piece. Do you know if such vessels are
valuable?

Regards,

... dude. You are so barking up the wrong tree.

I sent him to either a professional appraiser (if he wanted the details on his piece) or to a large museum's web site (if he just wanted an idea about that class of vessel).

Comments

[the-reda.livejournal.com]

Are you sure the nitwit wasn't trying to sell you the fake?
Cause that is what it sounds like to me.

And if he is in China than that what he is doing is highly illegal.

[camwyn]

I dunno if he was trying to sell me anything or not. I assumed that he wasn't, but that's stretching things a bit... ah, well.

He was using a gmail account, so he could've been anywhere, really.

[the-reda.livejournal.com]

People are trying to sell us fakes all the time.
And some of them are even rather good fakes.

But then, there is no use in speculating.

[camwyn]

I own one fake, myself. The seller claimed it was a Ming Dynasty carved jade piece, but if this thing is from the Ming, then I'm bloody Mickey Mouse. It looks to me like a 1930s jade copy of a number of bronze pieces that date back to the Shang era, though the pieces are from the Sanxingdui hoard and so aren't really the same as other Shang pieces. Could be a late 1990s copy, but I can't tell. I know they first encountered the Sanxingdui hoard in the 20s or 30s...

Anyway, I bought it for $20 because I liked the look of it and not because I gave any kind of rat's patoot about it being an actual antique. That's as close as I get to the art trade.

[the-reda.livejournal.com]

Grin, they are good at faking stuff, aren't they.
i do own some pretty lacquerware (spelling?) that is supposed to be antic...
and yes i will be mickey mouse, too.
But the main thing is, they are pretty.
I only laugh at tourists who either pay shitloads for a fake or if they are 'lucky' and actually buy something real, get busted at customs.
No antiques are allowed to leave the country.
*cackles*

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds like he is not so much barking up the wrong tree as mooing up a telephone pole.