The Fake Antique Trade in Asia

Basic porcelain knowledge protects you...from the fake antique trade

Your own basic porcelain knowledge may help you identifying crude fakes if you inadvertently get involved with a fake antique trader.
How important some basic knowledge of antique china porcelain is will become clear if you are going to visit antique shops and antique (flea) markets in Asia.

If you acquire porcelain directly in or from certain Asian countries, where fakes are rampant, then you are open to deception. You need to be aware of the "sharp" business practices you may expose yourself to if you do not know your wares.
Be careful...sellers involved in the fake antique trade sometimes use surprising tactics to convince an eager but unknowing buyer that they have got the real thing. Often they will tell you a story to justify possession (provenance) of a rare piece of ancient porcelain or pottery.

Fakes - and why people buy them

Porcelain Shards:
It may be somewhat surprising, but fragments of antique porcelain are also sought after. Shards would usually be considered only to be archaeological artifacts, but in China there is demand for shards of antique porcelain, and there is a legitimate and an illegal reason for this. Actually, the antique fakes trade has to lead to a new value of shards, especially the bottoms.
The legitimate reason is that collectors desire shards as standard samples for comparison purposes. With shards they can be sure that they have got something genuine and reliable to compare with ... or do they?
Unfortunately, that is not so anymore.

Apart from collectors desiring shards for the above purpose, forgers want them too, mainly the bottoms, and that is probably why the bottoms have a higher price.
The old bottom can be fit to a new porcelain body to fake age. The forgers know that the bottom is one of the key points when checking antique porcelain - thus the old bottoms get another use (life).

But, all this has has now developed even further. Rumors say that there are now even fake shards sold to unsuspecting buyers. It makes you wonder where we are getting to...

From Fake Antique Trade to Buying Antique Porcelain

Fake antique porcelain

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