Apr 17th, '13, 20:52
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Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 17th, '13, 20:52

Long time tea lover, only recently interested in, purchasing and researching teaware. I bought my first yixing two months ago, dedicated it to roasted gao shan oolong. I'm exploring all of the options my local teahouse has within this type.

To the point, I am an avid thrift shop peruser and recently bought a clay teapot at a Goodwill. It's purplish clay, kyusu in style, rough work around where the spout and handle meet the body.

Pictures here:
http://s1.postimg.org/m3faq8xnz/teapot_5.jpg
http://s1.postimg.org/gtabyydf3/teapot_6.jpg
http://s1.postimg.org/l3ozujii7/teapot_4.jpg
http://s1.postimg.org/t47vwrotr/teapot_3.jpg

Just yesterday I was again at the same Goodwill and they had another pot in the same fashion. Same color, shape, size, calligraphy (albeit all a little different as it was clearly done by hand) et cetera. In addition to this teapot I found another in the color of the reddish clay that my teahouse-purchased yixing pot, with bamboo-styled spout and handle.

Pictures here:
http://s1.postimg.org/5eduuc12n/teapot_7.jpg
http://s1.postimg.org/xjlpoabu7/teapot_8.jpg
http://s1.postimg.org/6n1qfyt0v/teapot_9.jpg

The two purplish teapots were $5.99, and the bigger reddish bamboo-styled teapot was $1.99. Deals, whether or not they are of high quality. I am just wondering if I should be concerned about the material they are made from, if there is probable cause, that anyone can tell from the pictures/descriptions, for concern about the construction and material.

I posted this on Steepster to no real solid reply. Thanks if anyone has any helpful information!

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Apr 17th, '13, 21:21
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by Chip » Apr 17th, '13, 21:21

You will (likely) get better response to your questions if you post the images on TeaChat versus links. If you are having problems, here is a help topic.
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=12549

And welcome to TeaChat.

Apr 17th, '13, 21:54
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 17th, '13, 21:54

Thanks for your advice. I'll leave those links, as the resolution is a bit higher.

Here are the images for reference:

The purplish set:

Image
Image
Image
Image

The reddish bamboo one:

Image
Image
Image

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Apr 17th, '13, 22:09
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by Chip » Apr 17th, '13, 22:09

The side handled pot looks like "Banko" ... a Japanese form of teaware. It would be called a Kyusu. The 2 holes in the lid are common for Banko as is the Sakura (Japanese Cherry) blossom cutout on the handle.

The carvings are another common feature in Banko.

Can you share an image of the interior screen?

Apr 17th, '13, 22:39
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 17th, '13, 22:39

Here it is:

Image

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Apr 17th, '13, 22:47
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by Chip » Apr 17th, '13, 22:47

We refer to this as a ball filter ... not the best one I have ever seen. But for what you paid for it, you did very well.

Seems Banko are usually smaller sized. What volume does this hold to the rim?

Apr 17th, '13, 22:50
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by edkrueger » Apr 17th, '13, 22:50

Nice finds! I've never had quite that much luck. :P

Apr 17th, '13, 23:03
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 17th, '13, 23:03

Chip wrote:We refer to this as a ball filter ... not the best one I have ever seen. But for what you paid for it, you did very well.

Seems Banko are usually smaller sized. What volume does this hold to the rim?
Around 500 ml. From a quick search, that seems massive?

Apr 17th, '13, 23:09
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 17th, '13, 23:09

And the bamboo styled one holds even more.

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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by Chip » Apr 17th, '13, 23:20

tylerdylan wrote:Around 500 ml. From a quick search, that seems massive?
Wellll, if it is indeed Banko as it appears ... that is one of the bigger banko I have ever seen.

It is likely too big for personal use unless you are a camel. :mrgreen:

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Apr 17th, '13, 23:27
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by Evan Draper » Apr 17th, '13, 23:27

Would be nice as a kettle on top of a charcoal stove, maybe.

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Apr 18th, '13, 01:02
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by Poohblah » Apr 18th, '13, 01:02

In case you are curious, the stamp for the first pot reads 清樂 Qing Le and the stamp on the second pot reads 錢云仙 Qian Yun Xian. These are Chinese pronunciations; I don't know the Japanese pronunciations.

The first pot is very pretty and even if it is large I would consider it to be an excellent thrift store find. It looks to be of decent quality and hopefully it is useable to brew tea.

Apr 18th, '13, 08:45
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 18th, '13, 08:45

Poohblah wrote:In case you are curious, the stamp for the first pot reads 清樂 Qing Le and the stamp on the second pot reads 錢云仙 Qian Yun Xian. These are Chinese pronunciations; I don't know the Japanese pronunciations.

The first pot is very pretty and even if it is large I would consider it to be an excellent thrift store find. It looks to be of decent quality and hopefully it is useable to brew tea.
That is exactly what I wanted to know, so thank you very much. That nugget of information led me to:

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 8926288%2F

http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... 29&act=url

And while perhaps not accurate, suggests they are selling them for 580-800 yuan, which is $93-129; which means, I got a deal for two dollars.

The qing le I could not find any relevant information.

Apr 18th, '13, 08:46
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 18th, '13, 08:46

What I do not understand is why there were two of the same pot, a week apart, at the same shop.

Apr 18th, '13, 08:53
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Re: Thrifted Clay Teapots, Knowledge Desired

by tylerdylan » Apr 18th, '13, 08:53

Poohblah wrote:The first pot is very pretty and even if it is large I would consider it to be an excellent thrift store find. It looks to be of decent quality and hopefully it is useable to brew tea.
And like I said before, that first pot, I have two of now.

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