Fake Check? Friend has had this pot for 20 years

[Hannah]

Hey guys!!

A friend of mine sent me some photos of a pot he has had for 20 years and is now curious about. He originally snagged it from a garage sale. He does not have any other teaware.

I do not recognize the chop (that doesnt mean much though lol!) it has a lot of dust on it in the pictures. Unfortunately I can't get better photos as he now lives 5 hours from me so I'll have to do my best with these for now.

My first thought is that it's fake, but I'd be more than happy to be wrong!

Here is a link to the photo album: http://imgur.com/a/CCj43

Any insight would be appreciated!

P.S, I've missed all of you haven't been here for ages, hope everyone has been well!!

[Tead Off]

What do you mean by fake?

[steanze]

Hi Hannah!
Maybe it's better if your friend posts here directly - I think she/he should be the first to know if interesting information comes up about her/his pot. Professor Lu, for example, only talks about authenticity to the owner of a pot. This is because he does it as a favor, but he does not want to be used as an authentication service for purchase purposes, and he also wants to make sure if possible that the current owner is aware of the value of her/his pots.

[Hannah]

Hi Steanze! Thank you for your reply!

Unfortunately my friend has no interest in tea or teaware and acquired this pot from a garage sale 20 years ago, he asked me to find out information for him to see what it might be worth.

Do you have any contact details for the Professor that I could pass directly on to the owner as well as any others he could contact for more information?

Tead Off, I mean fake as in maybe has a Masters seal or similar which the pot didn't come from and was faked or perhaps the clay could be something else and not yixing - the only yixing I've felt and am used to the colour is clay like Lu ni, duan ni, generally lighter ones, I've never seen one this dark so I can't identify myself what kind of clay it could possibly be, so I'm hoping to get more info on that for the owner! Sorry I should be clarified that in my first post basically seeking what the seal is and the rough age, who (or what factory) may have produced it.

Thank you!!
Hannah

[Hannah]

Tead off, slightly off topic but do you know a lot about seal script? One of my friends who I asked about said because it is seal script he cannot read it, only modern chinese, but he said some others may know. I'm very interested in learning more about the script (in general, not just for the pot here), would you happen to know of any books or good sites to start? I would love to learn more!!

[ethan]

I'm showing the photographs to an expert as I type.

He says, "it is real,"

Wait. I want to ask him about its value.

Oh, sorry. Apologies. He said, "it is real, real ugly."

He's a touchy guy. Does not want to assess pots that he does not like. Sorry.

Cheers, Hannah

[Drax]

No clue on age, but it seems pretty clear that the craftsmanship is not very good...

[Tead Off]

Hannah,

I cannot read Chinese, so no help on that from me.

As far as the pot being Yixing, it does look like it is and so does the seal.

As far as aesthetics go, I think that aspect has been commented upon by others. Indeed, it is a strange looking affair.

[Bok]

Looks like someone pimped this pot up!
Aren’t there sometimes pots like this in Thailand?

[Bok]

As for the seals, to learn about them the first step is to learn Chinese, which in itself is no small feat – and then dig into older versions of the characters which is a whole science to itself…

Nothing that can be learned in a few years… even books won’t help much as there are simply too many possible variations of characters.

[steanze]

Hey Hannah,

you are welcome. Professor Lu is an expert of Factory 1 pots, and this isn't one, so I don't think his page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/teapot2/) would be ideal to ask about this pot.

If your friend contacts me I can tell him what I think about it.