Yardsale Yixing? ID My Pot

[Elle]

Here in my town it's a spring fair weekend and popular yardsale day. I always go around these looking for interesting teaware, even just cute 10 cent mugs. But finding this was a surprise.

yardsale_yixing001 (Small).JPG (25.61 KiB) Viewed 1696 times

This was a place that had a few other interesting - and expensive - pottery pieces, but the sticker price on this was $3.

I've seen and lusted over Yixing ware before but don't...or didn't...own any. So is this Yixing? Did I score an awesome find or just another nice teapot?

Borrowing from the main Yixing thread questions, here's the ones I can answer:

- Size: Without measuring I'd put it at 6-8 oz. The pot fits neatly in my hand.
- Thickness: The walls are about as thick as three stacked pennies, don't know where that puts it on the thin/medium/thick scale.

I guess those are the only ones I know - I haven't gotten to making any tea in it yet.

[Elle]

One more picture I couldn't fit: the chop mark on the bottom.

Also, if anyone here is better at Chinese than my one year of it in college, I'd like to know what the calligraphy reads too.

[Elle]

Two week bump.

[Margules]

I'm pretty sure this is a mass produced knock off. The craftsmanship is crude at best (the lid is misshapen, the green paint goes outside the lines, the calligraphy is poor, etc). As a general rule, yixing shouldn't be painted to begin with.

An inexpensive piece of real yixing should still be well crafted, but simpler in form, and perhaps molded instead instead of hand built. Even then, it will still cost several times what you paid.

If I were you, I'd avoid this place in the future, I'd guess that even the more expensive pieces are just slightly better fakes.

[Chip]

A nice decoration piece from a yardsale for 3 bucks. Display it on a shelf.

[TIM]

If you paid less than $10 then it's ok. I will surely boil it for 30 mins before using. Do look at the boiled water and see if there is any oil on the surface or color in the hot water.

[Proinsias]

Boil it for a bit as Tim says and then make some tea with, it if all seems well.

It doesn't look like anything special but if it makes a decent cup of tea and you like it then it's three dollars well spent.

[Geekgirl]

I like how the lid hole is in the side instead of the top of the knob. Good swapmeet find!

[Elle]

Well by this point I've already made some pots of oolong in it. I've noticed stuff like tea leaking out the lid if I tilt too far while it's full, and the hole in the lid does squat. I rinsed out the inside with hot water and a green scrubber before using it the first time. I don't think it's oiled or waxed, and it does indeed produce a decent cup...or 5...of tea. I'll probably keep using it for oolongs until the day I can afford to splurge on the real deal, because even the cheap pot has sold me on the form factor - all my other pots are reserved for brewing multiple servings.

[Luthier]

My Materials lecturer told me 'Use some broken glass or glass powder, sprinkle to the lid opening, grind the lid down. Make yourself happy'. You will never know when those type of pots come in handy. Guests visiting with awful kids?