I spent around 80 USD on the pot. I personally feel I bought it from a legit seller, in an amazing teastore, he was very friendly and the place was very recommended. He also had really expensive (starting at around 250 ish USD) handmade by masters teapots, which he advised me against buying, saying something along the lines of “these expensive ones are not necessary, start with this one, it is cheaper than the others, just because it is not made by a master, but is great quality.”
I took the guys advise, and bought the cheaper teapot.
It looks nice, smells good and clay-ish, like a nice dusty smell. The texture is not sandy, dry or rough. I would maybe describe it as the finest sandpaper, but not so dry. Like if I would rub on the surface hard with my finger, I would not rough up my skin. The surface also has a handful of small black spots, couple of white spots, a couple of small indents and small bumps.
When used/hot/wet, it seems to become slightly smoother, and when I pour water over it, a water-film covers it, before disappearing nicely. The inside stays wet for longer.
On the bottom there is this engraving, which I had translated. It seems to be just like a praise to this old master who made this sort of teapot, and from what I understand says nothing about the authenticity/clay/etc.
What I expect/hope, is that this is a half-handmade real Yixing pot of decent quality clay, that will improve over time and affect my tea in a positive way.
Thanks for helping me out!
