I have owned this pot for about 20 years. It is very "crisp" in it's lines, almost sharp. I believe it was made by an artist, not mass produced, and I seem to remember the site I bought it from listed about 100 Yixing teapot makers along with their ranks.
Over the past 20 years I have cared for it superbly. It has only had the highest grade dragon well tea used in it- usually ONLY first flush of spring. after use, spent leaves were squeezed over the entire pot and polished , then put under a bulb in the curio until dry.
Is there any way to value this?
Re: Yixing pot value
It would be helpful to take some photos. If you bought it 20 years ago, and now the artist has title or rank in China, and if you have certificate or something to prove the source of the pot, it may worth something depended on artist.Well Dragon wrote: I have owned this pot for about 20 years. It is very "crisp" in it's lines, almost sharp. I believe it was made by an artist, not mass produced, and I seem to remember the site I bought it from listed about 100 Yixing teapot makers along with their ranks.
Over the past 20 years I have cared for it superbly. It has only had the highest grade dragon well tea used in it- usually ONLY first flush of spring. after use, spent leaves were squeezed over the entire pot and polished , then put under a bulb in the curio until dry.
Is there any way to value this?
For a generic teapot made in 2000, no matter how well you care for it, it won’t worth much because the buyer will reset the pot and most patina will be gone.
I am not sure the reason you are interested to know the price. If you spent so much time and effort to care for it, it would have a lot more sentimental value to pass it down to your kids
Re: Yixing pot value
20 years or so ? it depends on the clay that was used. "宜兴" yixing is not 1 clay, there were many sites for mining, and they all closed between the late 1970's and 2004. For each site, many différent colours and composition of clay were taken out. Paper of authentification and seal would be of much help, picture of the inside as well if you can.Well Dragon wrote: I have owned this pot for about 20 years. It is very "crisp" in it's lines, almost sharp. I believe it was made by an artist, not mass produced, and I seem to remember the site I bought it from listed about 100 Yixing teapot makers along with their ranks.
Over the past 20 years I have cared for it superbly. It has only had the highest grade dragon well tea used in it- usually ONLY first flush of spring. after use, spent leaves were squeezed over the entire pot and polished , then put under a bulb in the curio until dry.
Is there any way to value this?
There's normally no enamel or glaze of any sorts for the true Yixing pottery, the specialty of that clay is that it can breathe, so no glaze must be applied to it.
At the end of the mining era, between 1997 and 2004, many corporations made up recipes of clay that used to seem identical to the average composition of 紫砂 Zisha (purple sand) clay composed of minerals from across China or abroad; selling the tea pots hence made cheaper. To give you an idea, the production of Yixing Zisha tea pots for a year must(past tense) not exceed 50 tons ! however, more than 250 tons were registered to be sold and leave the country between 1980 and 2000. Nowadays, it is said that the ratio of a real Yixing is 1 in a 1000.
However, since many companies bought hundreds of tons of raw material at the closure of the mines in 2004, and the process of making good quality clay teaware requires between 2 and 5 years, there is still a good chance to find authentic Yixing teapots today. But the price has gone wild, up to 10 000 元 ($1,445) for 30kg of raw clay in 2010.
Send pictures, I'm sure the experts of the chat will help you identify the beast.
