Yixing teaware: got scammed

[kyarazen]

Do not buy Yixing pots that are supposedly old over ebay, or from unknown sellers. Chances to get a deal are extremely slim. Simple logic - why would a seller from anywhere in Asia need to go through the trouble of ebay when he gets much better prices and can sell it any day by simply offering it locally. 99% of the market for Yixing pots is in Asia's tea centers, there simply is no need for anyone into authentic old yixing pots to offer it on ebay to a world wide market.

For the western market there are two shops on the web who do sell reasonably priced oldish pots - essence of tea and chawangshop - who source their pots locally. These pots sold there give good and solid brews - which is what a tea drinker wants.
Anything beyond that price range and age should only be done under advice by experts, and if one wants to enter the game of collecting old pots one should get proper tutelage (which means living for an extended period in one of Asia's tea centers), and be ready and able to invest serious money. The days of cheap old pots are over, and will not come back.

indeed. the markets are scoured regularly.. leaving super slim chances. many used to head to bangkok's river city to scour too but slim.. slim.. slim...

if one wants to start collecting old pots.. the only thing needed is just someone to willingly guide you into the hobby. it will probably take only a couple of days to learn 3/4 of the foundation/basics. and the rest is up to one's discernment.

[jayinhk]

if one wants to start collecting old pots.. the only thing needed is just someone to willingly guide you into the hobby. it will probably take only a couple of days to learn 3/4 of the foundation/basics. and the rest is up to one's discernment.

Is that an offer?

I was lucky that early on, MarshalN helped me scratch my itch for Yixing by pointing me to a local source. I bought four good early 80s Factory 1 pin zini pots there that I have been using for four years. I also lucked out on an 80s qingshuini shuiping from a vendor in Japan--a little 40ml pot that is still one of my favorites, if not my favorite pot.

In all of that time, I bought one fake Yixing on eBay, and got chewed out on here for it--a very touristy 'dragon' pot.

Then in Taiwan in January, I bought a red clay pot that looked well made. I didn't know it at the time, but it had F1 markings and the spout was too long, so it wasn't truly level when laid down upside down. I sent pics of it to kyarazen and steanze--kyarazen said it was a 90s remake. Not a bad pot and it was cheap, but that spurred on an interest in teapots.

I've bought quite a few good pots this year; modern ones from lukevecent on eBay, three neiziwaihongs locally, two more F1 pin zini shuipings, a half dozen F1 hongni shuipings and a F1 heini/dark zini pot via EoT, some F2/F5 pots from Chawangshop, and two big 80s F1 pots (450-500ml--both 500ml with some cosmetic damage, but good prices), as well as an F1 lidded tea cup more recently from a local source in Hong Kong. I thought I could tell F1 pots apart from fakes, but I wasn't ready for the modern pots that deliberately sought to copy F1 construction that closely (signatures, seal and all)!

Up until these pots, I'd bought a few duds this year, too, but nothing too expensive. This guy really sought to fool me and hinted that he'd had the pots in his collection and that he had even cleaned one up!

[Zared]

This post has sparked my interest in modern fake pots. It's pretty easy to tell the shoe polish or painted ones are fake but some of these simple stamps\numbered lid ones look pretty legit in pictures.

It would be pretty cool if we had a thread devoted to these better made fake\replica 80-90s pots that people have purchased. Good quality photos and any relevant info about where they bought them. I'd also love to see some side by side comparison shots of same style pots purchased from legit venders.

[jayinhk]

This post has sparked my interest in modern fake pots. It's pretty easy to tell the shoe polish or painted ones are fake but some of these simple stamps\numbered lid ones look pretty legit in pictures.

It would be pretty cool if we had a thread devoted to these better made fake\replica 80-90s pots that people have purchased. Good quality photos and any relevant info about where they bought them. I'd also love to see some side by side comparison shots of same style pots purchased from legit venders.

All fun and games until the pot fakers find this thread and step their fake game up!

[Zared]

This post has sparked my interest in modern fake pots. It's pretty easy to tell the shoe polish or painted ones are fake but some of these simple stamps\numbered lid ones look pretty legit in pictures.

It would be pretty cool if we had a thread devoted to these better made fake\replica 80-90s pots that people have purchased. Good quality photos and any relevant info about where they bought them. I'd also love to see some side by side comparison shots of same style pots purchased from legit venders.

All fun and games until the pot fakers find this thread and step their fake game up!

Lol! Im pretty sure that the people making these knock offs are not even aware of teachat existence nor do they need it to improve their skills. If you really think we matter that much than its probably time we all stop sharing pictures of real pots just in case they use them as reference.

[kyarazen]

All fun and games until the pot fakers find this thread and step their fake game up!

nah, the pot fakers are more advanced than that.
by the time info has come to the internet, these products might have been on the market for a few years already..

[kyarazen]

Lol! Im pretty sure that the people making these knock offs are not even aware of teachat existence nor do they need it to improve their skills. If you really think we matter that much than its probably time we all stop sharing pictures of real pots just in case they use them as reference.

no fear about that. the real pot fakers have the exact real pots in their hands.. photos are not very useful.

with the exact real pot they can work on the remoulding, like using the real zisha pot to remake the mould for making replica red clay pot, so that when red clay shrinks, it roughly is about the right size..

[jayinhk]

Yes they definitely have access to the real pots! It's a good thing the fakes aren't 100% or nobody would ever know!

We definitely don't matter--the largest market for the fake pots is definitely right on the Mainland.