Tead Off wrote:
Cheeky,
In my F1 book, which is pretty extensive, I don't see anything like these cups illustrated there. This doesn't necessarily mean that it is not F1 as I can't vouch for the completeness of any of the F1 books or catalogs.
The clay looks good. I wonder how comfortable drinking tea would be from these due to the thickness of the cups. But as examples of
Yixing clay, they are interesting. I also think that it's perfectly acceptable to clean a patina off, but a good patina takes a lot of time to develop on the exterior. Cleaning or sterilizing the interior space is much more preferable unless there is an unaesthetic aspect to the existing patina like dirt of deep staining is select areas.
In any case, enjoy the cups........
Thanks for the info Tead!
I especially thank you for looking through your catalogues on my behalf. It would have been nice to have the origin confirmed but I have learned to take all claims made by pretty much all vendors with a healthy grain of salt when it comes to
Yixing (I mean no offense to yourself being a vendor member on this forum, in fact your candour on the matter is highly refreshing and very appreciated).
As for the size, they are indeed quite heavy in the hand, I imagined them being smaller than they ended up being but I imagine once hot they would stay so for a decent amount of time. Perhaps they present themselves as being especially suited for use in colder months?!
As for the patina, I confess that I did hesitate removing the exterior patina as I really enjoyed it's effect on the highly textured exterior of the cups. However I consider growing the patina as part of the fun so I will just be patient and perhaps treat the lack of a patina as an excuse to use them more often!
Cheers,
CC
