At a Chinese Tea Exhibition

To some antique porcelain collectors, there may not be so much of fun but for me it was during the second week of December of 2014 that a tea exhibition organizer has invited a few collectors from overseas to authenticate porcelain items. I was there to hear the talk and to add their knowledge to my experiences. The talk is in Cantonese and the first day was the talk on Ming dynasty Cheng hua period. The second day was the Ming dynasty Yong Lo and Hsuan Te period (old spelling of emperors’ names found in books).

On the first day of the talk there was nothing very interesting because not many exhibits was shown but on the second day exhibits shown was a blue and white stem bowl drawn with dragon which I forgot whether is one dragon or two and another is a blue and white bowl with lotus pond in the bowl and gold flowers on the wall of the bowl and at the base there is a gold flower pattern like.

 I asked the experts on the iron rust spots because the blue and white bowl has iron rust spot and I was told that now a days these iron spots can be made and the difference between the new and old which is what I needed to know. Later I was taken to see the stem bowl and I was told to use a magnifier on it to see the difference for myself which make me to understand more in authentication before I retire from this field and provide the knowledge and what I had understood to my children. This is the fun I had.

There are four visitors 1) Visitor from Australia searching for ”Peranakan blackwood price”. For this you have to ask timber merchant for the price per ton. 2) Visitor from Shah Alam searching for “antique dealers Malaysia”. This search has been answered and no use addressing this issue over and over again which is a waste of time. 3) Visitor from Petaling Jaya Selangor searching for “Chinese furniture seller in Kuala Lumpur”. The Chinese furniture seller can be found in some shopping complex. 4) Visitor from Brunei searching for “peranakan porcelain ware” has been answered.  

Merry Christmas 2014 and Happy New Year

I am very happy for this visitor who knows that there is a “freelance carpenter old klang road’ which I have not heard of and I wish this visitor all the best. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Collectors Need Knowledge

There are eight visitors to this blog 1) Visitor from Raub, Pahang searching for “fake Chinese Porcelain in K.L.”  This visitor’s search is not only found in K.L. It is also found in Melaka when I visited some years ago. 2) Visitor from Woodside New York searching for “fake yuan porcelain “ which is easy to find because I have seen many in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. Maybe New York is unlike Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, there are local and foreign traders here. There are genuine Yuan items which came to Nanyang because at the time of the Yuan Dynasty A.D. 1279 to A.D. 1368 which is the short time rule over China that not many places of the Yuan dynasty items had deposited and the place known with Yuan dynasty items is Istanbul. I came to know the deposit of Yuan items because active trade has taken place during the Yuan dynasty. This active trade has made the Mongol government of the Yuan Dynasty richer and this high demand of porcelain will not leave potters bankrupt. Anybody can study the difference between the old and the new. 3) Visitor from Destelbergen , Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium searching for “Joseon dynasty korea christie’s”. Being a collector, one must understand what to buy or good to keep.  The collectors in Chinese porcelain had already known what are “bandung copies”, Jing de zhen copies” and genuine ones without having to ask around. 4) Visitor from Singapore and 5) visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “shopping for peranakan porcelain in Malacca”. This search has been answered in this blog earlier and no use repeating. 6) Visitor from Cheras Selangor searching for “klang valley sells porcelain jar”. The answer is above. 7) Visitor from Penang, Pulau Pinang searching for “nyonya ware”. Star Newspaper has featured a shop with address that sells nyonya ware and not any other ware. I took this newspaper article to a flea market and a vendor from Penang asked me to make a photo copy for him and this copy will be delivered to him this Sunday. Another vendor uses his handphone camera to take a photo of this article. 8) Visitor from Indonesia searching for “Chinese antique furniture Kuala Lumpur”. Most of the antique furniture needs repair and the difficult to get restorers makes it not profitable for dealers. I remember my father’s friend bought a set of mahogany furniture from a rich and famous family in Ipoh and the set of furniture was left with a European lady married to a local Chinese in Kuala Lumpur. This set of furniture has a round frame chair back set with beautiful round Ching Dynasty polychrome porcelain piece. The common ones are set with round marble.

Some of the collectors cum experts do not authenticate artefacts according to characteristics which ended up being guessing. One Chinese collector showed photographs of his Yi-Hsing teapots which he believed to be good and when I asked whether water will seep through the wall of the teapots, he accuses me of being a trouble maker which I am still laughing at this accusation and not being accused of being an old redundant. Most of the collectors want to popularize themselves without knowledge but pointing fingers at others as being bad. They think that by being a collector is to buy and keep whatever they believe to be genuine and not knowing that they have to let others know how and what important or valuable the artefact. The knowledge makes the items important thus making them a good collector.

A Ming Dynasty Vase Treated as Modern Copy

There are seven visitors 1) from Hoogland, Groningen searching for “antic porcelain China THE story of eight horses of mu wang bowl. The answer is easily found in the library of the Chinese museum in China. 2) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “Chinese antique furniture for sale Malaysia”. The problem is that the sellers do not know where the buyers are and the buyers do not know where the sellers are and the only way is to advertise in the newspaper classified advertisement. 3) Visitor from Saudi Arabia searching for “old timer antique shop in Kuala Lumpur”.  The old timer antique shop is Asia Antique at Loke House, Medan Tuanku, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the owner is Mr. Peter Clague, a licence antique dealer with licence no. 0281 issued by Muzium Negara (National Museum of Malaysia) under Act 168 of Antiquities Act 1976 and another is a freelance dealer is Mr. Mohammad and these are the old timers that I can recall. The experts that authenticate Chinese Porcelain items are Professor Peacock, William Young Willetts and Mr. Mohammad.  4)  Visitor from New York searching for “Chinese antiquities and porcelain and university”. When searching for Chinese porcelain you have to look for places which active trading has been taking place and the places for study are the museums which I studied during my lunch hour rest while driving taxi and now I have retired from driving taxi my notes reminds me of the facts that I gathered while at the museum. My visit to museums and shops always with the aim to know what I am looking for in my studies and not just to tour. My age is catching up and I would advise visitors to my blog to look for the people that I had named to assist in bringing better collection. 5) Visitor from Hanoi, Vietnam searching for “antique swords of yuan China”. I have not come across any of the items, you mentioned. 6) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “nyonya ware for sale”. This visitor did not read my statement or statements in this blog otherwise he would not have asked the same question. The answer A) you can order nyonya ware from Jing de zhen in China. B) I do not know whether Bandung which is famous for making copies are still making. C) In Kuala Lumpur, a shop that advertised nyonya ware for sale and not any other ware is still open with order and repeat order can be made at this shop or advertise in newspaper for your search. 7) Visitor from Singapore searching for “yuan vase authentication in Singapore” which I have not known of any. To quote two paragraphs for a book “To this must be added the deductions which can be made from the study of well-authenticated specimens, and, of course, the valuable work enshrined in the books which are mentioned in the bibliography.” And another quote is “There are dealers and dealers. Those who take the trouble to study the things they handle-and most of them do that –are the best friends to the researcher after truth in this particular field”. A Chinese proverb is “books are old teachers”.

Many years ago my late father sold an Early Ming vase to a Swedish man who works for a company well known in this world. He showed this vase to a number of places and was confirmed to be copy and when I check with the people whom he mentioned in his letter, all of them denied and at the same time he was using a strong force by saying that he need not prove that the vase a copy. After my father passed on, the local office Chinese man has also retired approach me and I was told that this Swedish man force him to buy up this vase and I swallowed my pride to buy the vase because he is an innocent man that got trapped. This vase has all the characteristics of the Ming dynasty and it is not for sale kept in a safe place and I could put a price for Rm 25million. From then onward I have no respect for customers from Sweden and other gas bags. Experts always say that copies are easily made by using chemical to aged and if there is no difference between then, this subject in education is all rubbish which I had on stage challenged and they were at the embarrassment because I do not want to be treated a fool by them. I had plans to start exhibitions to show my antiques and not half baked ones.

Unknowledgeable Collectors

A friend of mine brought a wealthy man who is a collector to my place to see my things and he said that my Yuan dynasty items are fakes and when I ask him to prove, he claim that he came to the wrong door step and I was told that he passed away.

A visitor from Woodside, New York searching for “Yuan dynasty porcelain plate” Yuan dynasty items are specially ordered for trade and most of the items are from good makers during the Mongul rule. Today there are a lot of imitations coated with mud. All the items whether genuine or fakes must be cleaned in order to make studies feasible.  Yuan dynasty plates are Mohamadan Blue which is violet blue and some are in underglazed red.

 Most of the searches are answered like 1) what is the value or prices. 2) Where to get antiques or looking for antique shops (answer are found in earlier blog). There two visitors 1) from San Jose, California searching for “original nyonya ware”. How to know which is original and not original because the same skill was used to make nyonya ware all along unlike the skill for making porcelain is different for different dynasties. 2) from kota bahru, Perak searching for “antique shops in bandung”. I must state that there are “bandung copies” which is well known. This visitor is an expert who is turning copies into antiques otherwise he won’t be searching for “antique shops in bandung”. 3) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “antique collector malaysia” which is difficult to find because the ones that I met are conmen and not truly antique collector. 4) Visitor from Menifee, California searching for “oriental chow table 6stool black laquar mother of pearl how much will it cost me”. It is difficult for me to say unless I have such stock then only I can tell you the price. 5) Visitor from Toa Payoh, Singapore searching for “gold kerosang nyonya”. There was a Kelantanese Malay man, I know sells Nyonya jewelry and I was told that he passed away and now his family members run a flea market stall on Sunday. 6) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “antique furniture malaysia”.  I have not come across any yet that is why I kept silent over it.     

Met Another Con Man

At Sunday flea market, I met this local Chinese man who claimed to be an expert cum dealer in Chinese Porcelain trained in People’s Republic of China. He started showing me the items recorded in his hand phone which he claimed to be good and genuine and at the same time making statements to frighten me by saying that in China there are many high class copies and his is genuine that I should buy from him and sell. I told him that there is nothing special when I can order high class copies and treat them as genuine and I also asked him to prove those shown in his handphone are genuine so that treasure does not turn rubbish and wealth will pass more than one generation. He said carbon dating and my reply was that in scientific testing there were confusion which lead to a cheating case in Seattle I wrote web site on a piece of paper for him and he said that no use going into the computer and after keeping the piece of paper, I then told him that the site written on the paper talks about Seattle antique cheating case, I didn’t tell him that carbon dating does not work on porcelain otherwise I will make myself a fool.

 I then told him about TL test and the machine written by Dr. Anna Bennett and the most reliable machine to be sourced. He then ask me whether I am still driving taxi which I replied that my age is catching up and with my knowledge, just throw shit around for collectors and experts to clean up. He then said that my mindset to destruction in Chinese antique porcelain collection trade has not stopped. My answer to him is that all experts or collectors must have details on the antique items that they owned and they should not blame on others. There are collectors who believe that they buy it at a high price would be genuine and this makes poor people who cannot afford will keep bad pieces. The Star newspaper page 34 dated 8^th September 2014 titled “Child stumbles upon ancient sword” tells us that a 11 year old boy who is not rich and could not afford to buy the ancient sword for a high price and knows the value that he stumbles was a 3,000 years old sword and not a rotten scrap metal.

 There is another man who knows my late father met my eldest son and he has been telling me to ask my son to start antique business. I told him that experts’ opinions are “Antiques are manufactureable, makeable, fakeable and duplicateable” making me lost interest and I do not want customers coming to my place to bang the table calling old crooks as they did to my father, there are a number of such happening and now the problems are theirs (collectors) makes me happier.

After many years that I had given antique furniture business which can be found in my blog and this visitor request me to get for him old furniture and not of Vietnam type. I have no time to look into whether Vietnam or local and also having to pick up the pieces to assemble.  This confusion has put dealers and collectors into a lot of trouble. I experienced showing a pen to an old man who is a pen dealer, this pen is by the name “Warranted” which I bought from an old timer pen dealer in Batu Road Kuala Lumpur. The old man told me that he has seen this pen forty years ago. It was in my lifetime that I know that everything has good value and I did not keep all the eggs in one basket. There are no good antiques without good knowledge.

 One visitor from San Jose,California, America searching for “original nyonya ware”, nyonya ware was started in the late Ching dynasty and continued to produce until the 70’s where Bandung made copies and production did not cease when Jingde Zhen started to produce nyonya ware. An old shop in Kuala Lumpur imports nyonya ware and has confirmed to be nyonya ware and not any other ware because this shop has reported nyonya ware for sale in the Star Metro in colour. (I am having the copy of this article).  I need to know what is original and what is not so that I will not be taken for a ride by collectors or experts.

A visitor from Newport, England searching for “mother of pearl teaset from Kuala Lumpur how much would it worth?’. The old setting of Mother of pearl in recessed deeper than the newer ones and the newer ones will come off easily. The teaset you mentioned from Kuala Lumpur is not known to me but there are no fixed market prices or fixed value to old things. My late father bought old furniture from Penang, lorry and lorry loads of them and at that time we had a good workshop and a good carpenter to repair and getting the pieces to modify and I spent my time in carpentry work and learn to know why are old mahogany furniture are shaky?.

Untrustworthy Comments

There is a Chinese national who claim that “Kit Chow” Temmuko which is a black glazed items should have black base which is in lay man’s term the whole item should be black and any white would be wrong. I have good color photos of the items that he mentioned and I am not sure he will carry out the action according to what he had said by throwing away the museums’ pieces for giving wrong information because the black part on the unglazed foot is dirt and not cleaned. There are visitors searching for antique shops, I can only state that you have to wait until one day the shops will be opened for them to buy antiques and this is a reply to visitor 1)Denpasar Bali searching for “malaysia antique plate shop”. 2)Kuala Lumpur – “Penang antique shop”. One visitor from Petaling Jaya searching for “antique dealers Petaling Jaya” which is difficult for me to say what dealers are selling because the search is in the air and nothing concrete. Unless this visitor has a search for example like blue and white double gourd or a piece of antique hall mark silver.

There are visitors from kuala lumpur searching for 1)”nyonya ware and kitchen ching”. 2)”nyonya porcelain mark made in china”. Nyonya ware and kitchen ching are items not to my interest and even I run an antique shop, I will just throw them away. Next is a visitor from K.L. searching for “antique buyers in Malaysia”, if there are antique buyers then there will be many antique shops in Malaysia. Visitors looking for peranakan porcelain ware should go to Jingdezhen to look for the factories as this word “peranakan” was newly heard of and this make nyonya ware older which I know because my grandmother and my mother are daughters of Baba and Nyonya family. One visitor from Shah Alam searching for “peranakan bowl magazine” is something I have not heard of and who the publisher is?

One visitor from Kuala Lumpur W.P. searching for “antique collector malaysia” which is hard to find because antique collectors do not know what are antiques and what are not? I am yet to meet up with an antique collector or collectors in Chinese porcelain from which ever country.

Unwanted and Cheap Nyonya Ware

There are number of visitors 1) From Singapore searching for “nyonya ware”. 2) Kuala Lumpur searching for “Peranakan tea set K.L.” 3) Singapore, “where to buy peranakan porcelain in Singapore”. 4) Kajang “peranakan antiques for sale”. 5) Melaka “fake nyonya ware”. 6) Singapore “nyonya antique shop penang”. 7) London “nyonya porcelain auction prices”.  8) Puchong, Selangor-“antique nyonya ware”. 9)Puchong, Selangor- “nyonya antique bowl for sale” 10) Kuala Lumpur – peranakan antique nyonya ware”. 11) London “nyonya porcelain prices”. Please refer to Star Special titled “Homes”, in this article it tells the shop, address that sells nyonya ware and the prices for the items which order can be made and also repeat order. This shop is still in business. I have to admit that I do not know peranakan ware.

Other visitors from Warboys, Cambridgeshire searching for “nyonya ware uk”, I do not have contacts with UK and I do not know where the Settlement for nyonya families are found in UK. Two visitors from 1) Kuala Lumpur- “antique malaysia”. 2) Malaysia searching for “antique Malaysia” which I do not know what is wanted by these two visitors and I do not want to state anything. 3) A visitor from New York searching for “Malaysia antique store“. 4) Petaling Jaya – “antique shops K.L.” which I had stated earlier that there was no record of any shop or store and explanation was in this earlier blog. 4)Two visitors one from Shah Alam Selangor searching for “antique shop furniture and another second from Petaling Jaya searching for “Chinese antique furniture Malaysia”. 5) Melaka- “nyonya ware prices “. Old and unwanted things are treated as rubbish and if there are takers will make the sellers happy. For nonya set nothing cost more than 300dollars, for a soup spoon is on 10cents, tea cups 15cents, teapots 3dollars and the prices of the items has passed my hands and at that time there are also prices for dealers. The nyonya kancheng which was called pua nguar was 35 dollars. Most of the unwanted things are being sought after by young family members who have gone to overseas for education.

Antique business has been bad for a long time because dealer or dealers do not know what is suitable for sale to customers. For example, when I talk about nyonya ware kamcheng. I was objected by a highly reputable man that in the 60’s there was no nonya ware and was called pua nguar and there was no way for me to win over him because collectors trusted him more than me. I have not heard of peranakan ware and pua nguar. The problem is when I talk about nyonya ware pua nguar came up and to another person when I talk about nyonya ware, peranakan ware or straits Chinese porcelain ware came up. The two problems are nyonya ware fakes are made in Bandung and later Jingde Zhen and the confusing names given to these wares and if you ask any collector to tell how to know theirs are genuine they are sure to have problems not only to nyonya ware but most of the porcelain ware and this has also 1) make buying and selling difficult. 2) Young generations will share the same problem with the earlier generation. Collectors have to search all over to see who wants to sell in order to get what is wanted and no longer from shops. Collectors has been making enemies toward themselves because if they do not know how to tell what they have with them are genuine and not at the faults of others. It is of no use asking where to buy this because good items will not wait for you to come and buy. Earlier the shop which I had mention that was featured in the Star special that sells a variety of nyonya ware.

Nyonya Ware Browser

Most of the collectors in Chinese Antiques have this in their mind that what they have are genuine and valuable. The items or artefacts sold at the shop are fakes and not valuable. To prove this fact wrong 1) I have with me some old beautiful furniture which is thrown away as garbage in Penang and now it is consider recycle furniture. 2) I bought two fountain pens from two different people and when I show them to the dealers they were willing to pay me a good price for them because such items are not easily found. 3) At a car park, I found a piece of raw turquoise stone (unpolished) and this has zero cost on me. My aim is to look for things that are hard to get whether at shops or roadside is not important but not many people having the same thing as I have. The items that are old and can be seen in many places are not my interest.

A visitor from New Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, is searching for “antique shops in Malaysia”. There are no good record of shops selling antiques in Malaysia because the experts named led the collectors to know what to collect and most of the shops in Malaysia closed because the items sold are no good for collection and further that the experts did not make things clear what are good to collect and what are not to dealers. Antique business is different from other business because dealers have to keep stock whenever they come across any good items and not a kind of business that you place an order and wait for delivery whereas antique collectors only browse around to see if anything suits them.

There are three visitors, one from Ampang searching for “nyonya ware sales”, second from Kuala Lumpur searching for “+nyonya porcelain wall paintings”,  the third from Singapore searching for “BUY AUTHENTIC NYONYA WARES” and the fourth visitor from Kuala Lumpur  W.P. searching for “antique  famille rose nyonya ware for sale”. I am sorry that I am unable to furnish you all with the “lousy ware” information. I am not interested in nyonya ware. Ng Ting Kau used to have dinner sets and even a piece from a French lady Madame Lopez was said to be fake or copy from Bandung that make me to give up talking about nyonya ware items. The brochure for the mail order for nyonya ware will be posted in this blog. Situation like this will make your blood pressure high because artefacts kept for a long time and a good hobby for making money turned out to be fakes and can be ordered from factories. My late father was good at cutting losses by throwing them away.

A visitor from 1)Puchong Selangor searching for “peranakan ware”. 2)  A visitor from Singapore is searching for “how do you know if peranakan bowls are real antiques?” and 3) A visitor from Singapore is searching for “how to check authentic peranakan bowls or not. This word “peranakan ware” is a new word and is new to me and I do not understand “peranakan ware”

Another visitor from Kajang Selangor is searching for “antique authentication Singapore”. There are a number of experts in Singapore and one is an advisor to “Ku Tong Wong” in Ipoh.

1)A visitor from Penang , Pulau Pinang searching for http://ngtingkauantiques.blogspot.com and 2) A visitor from Kajang Selangor searching for http://ngtingkauantiques.blogspot.com which I do not know what he or she wants and has made me to guess what is wanted.

In the world of antique trade, dealers and collectors who are not knowledgeable usually practice 1) rumour buy, rumour sell. 2) guessing buy, guessing sell and to get involved in this confusion will make life miserable and these misery is sought by collectors who is fond of chasing after rainbows. Experts claim themselves to be good at authenticating antiques and their best answer given will be “imitations can be made exactly the same as originals” which made me lost out to experts and collectors. This problem is forwarded to all experts and collectors not to keep something that is “no genuine, no fake”.

This recent weekend, I met a dealer in antique and collectible items from Penang and I told him of my good time searching for antiques that I had in Malacca and Penang. I even told him that Mr. Bah Chong Seang, a Thai national who rented a room at 58, Lorong Selamat, Penang searched antiques for my father to sell and anything that involve large sum of money, my father will go with me to Penang. My good chance in a lifetime was to see a twenty two katies (Malayan weight measurement used in the earlier days) silver vase in a special case with mahogany wood frame and also three bronze items a bull, a lady and a bear which Mr. Bah took us to see. He told us that he has customer interested in cast iron eagle which was removed from gate pillars of bungalow houses. We do not have customers for the items shown to us but have a chance to see and know that such items exist.

Mr. Bah knows what my father saleable items 1) from Penang Furniture, nyonya porcelain ware and from Thailand, bronze Buddha, wood musician figurine set for wall decoration, Angkor Wat sandstone items, old swankhalok and sukhothai items. Mr. Bah also deals in other things, while in Penang, he extracted a lot of intan (diamond chips) from nyonya gold kerosang (nyonya brooches) and take it to Thailand and to be refacet and sold there, the gold is sold as scrap and from Thailand he brings in silver brooches, brass forks and spoon with cow horn handle, Angkor Wat panels, bronze Buddha, gem stones. I remember this man very well because he and his son attended my wedding dinner in 1983 and he has given me a beautiful embroidery banner with Eight Fairies ushering good luck and my name written in gold paint on the side. Mr. Bah also taught us how to test silver and gold because we also deal in silverware like pillow ends, mosquito nets’ hooks and English hall mark silver with a lion. I am having three solid silver propelling pencils. There is a dictionary for the place and date of manufacture.

In web site shows an irregular reign mark of a Ming dynasty and this irregular reign mark was found on a piece in a world famous collector’s collection. I do not depend on reign mark to tell whether the piece or artefact is old or important.

These are my experiences which I can share 1) This Chinese customer of my father passed my shop many times and I invited him and he refused. The second time I invited him to have a cup of coffee and he refused. Now that I have this blog to deliver my message, he wants to invite me a cup of coffee. 2) Another is a friend who kept his distance many times trying to get a better relation after reading my blogs which I have no time for gathering. 3) I receive threats to the extent “no need to prove and you have to admit that you are selling fakes.”

Now that I leave this matter on genuine or fake to collectors and experts because after I caught collectors and experts celebrating my father’s death and I also celebrate “all artefacts are fakes until and unless proven genuine”. If you have any good result to share with me that the artefacts are genuine I can be found at Sun Kee coffee shop opposite Pearl Point International where I have my lunch and dinner at Taman Desa food court.

A Good Laugh

I have a good laugh when I meet with people who are conmen in antique field like collectors and claimed to be experts. The three Chinese men that I met, all have to go embarrassed because they wanted to be somebody who is said to be knowledgeable. The first was a person whom I don’t know him very well. It doesn’t matter because a person is judged by the facts he talked about antiques. During the exchange of knowledge, I showed him two Tang dynasty items and he told me his doubts on the items and I was able to reply. He then said that to authenticate the items, the items must be brought to the museum or museums to check. He then showed me a clip on his hand phone which is a Chien Lung Blue and white pilgrim flask and claimed to be genuine and whether he has brought it to the museum to authenticate is not known to me. He also tell me that there imitations made by very high class makers which is exactly the same as originals. I then replied that your Chien Lung  piece can be ordered to make which means “no genuine and no fakes”. I didn’t my time in sharing any further.

The second knows one friend of mine. He was talking about “fei  chui” jade and the good one has to be tested in the reliable laboratory and my reply to him is that Burmese jade is cheap and expensive when green that is the reason for people to dye the colour. My friend then talked about porcelain. He said that potters in China uses old kaolin from shards to make porcelain and this prove successful in authentication, I then ask why do they want to heat up the old kaolin when it has cooled down. I then told him that good Yi-hsing teapot must leak in order to be good and the reason for leakage.

Third was a Sarawakian who was introduced to me by a friend who has retired from gold business. At first I was looked down by him who thought that I know nothing which I always pretend. From the hand phone clip was a “martaban jar” which was left down by his father who was an antique collector and making his family knowledgeable in antiques. He said to tell genuineness the genuine old jar should be light in weight and imitation ones are heavy. I then ask him for the correct weight which he was unable to answer and further say that in Sibu, Sarawak , he was told that imitation can be made and either buried and dipped in chemical to make it to be genuine and he was confident with what he had said. I then told him that I am looking for items which can pass the test this way. He then admitted that he doesn’t know antiques.

Fourth was an antique shop newly opened which has some display cupboard and some shelves. There was a polychrome vase at eye sight level on the shelf and I lightly ran my fingers over its glaze. The owner showed me the sign “Do not touch” which was in a hardly noticeable place and said that I should ask him. I then on the spot in front of his customers ask why is the glaze rough when it should be smooth plus the reason. He quickly replied saying “No comment”. I then left with laughter knowing that there are dealers with much knowledge.

There are about twenty plus visitors making searches and I must apologise to this visitor who e-mail to me looking for carpenter to restore antique furniture because I haven’t found one. The one that I know is about 70 over years of age and he can’t squad and having vision problem. He can be contacted but he cannot do anything. He made a red and gold stool to match the red and gold dressing table with parts taken from the red and gold bed’s mosquito net posts and this item appeared in an old magazine. At present I am having a new (made by this carpenter) red and gold two drawer cabinet set with old carvings.

A visitor from Las Crucas, New Mexico searching for “authentic xu beihung “.  This artist was known to be in Malaya before the Second World War and I was told by an elderly Chinese doctor in Kuala Lumpur that this artist held an exhibition at the Selangor Assembly hall to raise fund for Second World War which means that this artist’s painting is floating around Malaya (Now Malaysia). The same goes to Picasso and other famous paintings are not found in Asian countries. Next visitor from Kukke, West Vlaandaren, Germany searching for “Swatow porcelain marks”.  From my experience, Swatow ware has very few marks but with impurities on the base and the drawings are with outlines and are with sketches.

A visitor from Puchong Selangor searching for “antique malaysia” did not tell what antiques is of his interest and I will leave the search back. From Petaling Jaya, Selangor – “China antique shop in Malaysia”, which I do not know if they were to sell a mixture old and new items then I will be accused of giving the wrong direction. From Singapore “antique bowl sales Singapore”- I did not check Singapore market and I won’t be able to tell and another from Singapore – “manufacturers in China for replica of peranakan porcelain wares” showed that there is no market and no importer. One visitor from Malaysia searching for “angkor mall antique furniture shop K.L.” which I have not heard of this shopping mall.  A visitor from K.L. Wilayah” where to buy affordable antique furniture in Penang” and another visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “Kuala Lumpur where to buy antique chest and cupboard.  I had given up antique furniture business when I couldn’t find restorer. A visitor from Mambar Maharashtra India searching “penang antiques buyers” did not state what are the penang antiques available for sale. Another visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “antique nyonya” which is not clear what are the nyonya items?

 The rest of the visitors searching are all about nyonya ware and peranakan which I don’t know whether they are the same wares but however I will list it in differently. Visitors from Kuala Lumpur 1) “nyonya wares”. 2)”nyonya ware malaysia”.  Visitors from Singapore 1)”BUY NYONYA WARES IN PENANG” 2)”authentic nyonya ware” 3)”authentic nyonya wares Singapore”.

Next are the visitors from Singapore. 1)”antiques peranakan things for sale”. 2)” peranakan antiques for sale Singapore vase”. 3)”PERANAKAN WARE”. 4) “antique peranakan things for sale”.

My late father used to sell old crockery items from Penang and Malacca and at that time active dealings took place until Bandung copies came into the market that many were thrown away for road levelling because those items are no longer of importance.

A visitor from Petaling Jaya searching for “antique ceramics authentication Malaysia” I have heard about Professor Peacock, William Young Willetts, Mr. Mohammad and Peter Clague Malaysia and I do not know whether Peter Clague Singapore and Peter Clague Malaysia is the same person and to avoid confusion I will make it clear. These are the named experts who will authenticate antique ceramics in Malaysia.  

I have known many cunning collectors who want to return the items and get refund as when they like even you can prove genuineness and this made this business difficult because the money from the sales need to be kept aside waiting for return. Due to this I prefer sitting at the coffee shop busy stirring coffee with no time and no energy to waste. Collectors are the ones that brought down this trade due to lack of knowledge and want to comment on others’ item which I had seen my late father suffer. Time and tide waits for no one but I have a chance in my life time with a collection of watches, coins, old Penang furniture and fountain pens. The bad feelings that has happen to me was a browser claim that I do not have fountain pens, I told I have but not for sale. He asked me to show him and after I brought out, he took a few and wanted to buy, I told him that they are not for sale and he got angry. The next thing is that I hate to post photographs of my items in this blog because I notice someone has been using photos from my blog. With age catching up the only thing to do is to declare that “ALL ANTIQUE ITEMS ARE COPIES UNLESS AND UNTIL PROVEN GENUINE”.    

American Customer

Recently I discover that most of the collectors in antiques like to argue that their items or artefacts in their collection are genuine rather than proving that the items or artefacts in their collection are genuine. By proving there is a chance for learning.

I remember very well that a customer from New York bought some artefacts from my late father and receipt was issued with “goods sold are not returnable” which is a universal practice and this American customer who is an accountant showed it to a museum and confirmed to be modern copies and the museum’s further comment that my father’s customer has no right to complain. This customer came back and see my late father and said that, it look like the deal is not fair because the receipt states that the items are antique and when an expert confirm that it is not, he can’t complain because “goods sold are not returnable” doesn’t give him the right to complain. I then took over the receipt and add in these words “but returnable on the condition that the goods mentioned are modern copies and there must be written remarks from experts” and counter signed which makes it my personal guarantee for the items. This customer was informed that I want to know who the person in the museum he showed the items to and not the museum’s sweeper who faces the items daily.  He then went back to the museum and demanded for a written remark but was turned down. He then came back to tell us that your sale condition works and that he told the expert that he is willing to buy a report for confirming that the items are modern copies so that he can get a refund and further bought a few items. This shows that experts who do not write reports are failure because it confuses collector not only locally but also internationally.

I found a good book titled “ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF CHINESE GOVERNMENT EXHIBITS FOR  THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF CHINESE ART IN LONDON” in 1936 which came in four volumes and written in bilingual (Chinese and English). These set of books are informative because I have only one book that was written about bronze ware.

There are a number of good items floating in the market at present and it require experience to buy a correct item. A colour photocopy of the mail order catalogue or brochure of the lousy ware (call it what you like Nyonya ware, Straits Chinese Porcelain or Peranakan ware) will be shown at a coffee shop opposite Pearl Point Hotel at Old Klang Road and Taman Desa Food Court. 

Ng Ting Kau Antique Shop

This word “NgTing Kau “ is a Chinese name (read in Teochew dialect) and belong to an antique dealer at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya who was born on 27^th October 1933 and died on the 27^th July 1995 and his obituary can be found in the Star newspaper dated 28^th July 1995(see exhibit). Mr. Ng Ting Kau left Methodist Afternoon School in 6^th December 1951 (see school leaving certificate) and was an antique dealer widely known as a “crook” for selling imitation antique Chinese Porcelain items made in Bandung as genuine.

After his death, I took over the antique business with the name “Ng Ting Kau antique shop” at off Old Klang Road and later shifted to Amcorp Mall. At that time collectors were not interested in what Ng Ting Kau antique shop was selling because of his bad name and there was no way for me to get collectors and tell them about genuineness sold at “Ng Ting Kau Antique Shop”. The word “antiques” was not understood by collectors but in this blog “antiques” has to be genuine in order to be called “antiques”. This word is a quote from answers to visitors dated 24/7/2011 found in this blog and it requires antique dealers and collectors who want to sell to prove antiquity the items they are selling.

I have not learnt computer because spending time to run the taxi until three years ago. In year 2010, a schoolmate of my youngest son who taught him to set up this blog. “ngtingkauantiques. blogspot.com” is known. The business registration is used to keep as memory for this business that he has started (see exhibit of business registration). However any collector who wants to collect must ask the seller to lay the facts for the items so that confirmation that the piece is genuine and not fakes or copies and at the same time these facts can be shared with any other person or persons or transfer to the next generation.

At a relative’s house to celebrate Chinese New Year 2014, a couple (guest of my relative) was seated at the same table with my first and second son who happened to be my father’s customer recognizes me and was asking about antiques. In the short time, I asked 1) Why do you want to collect old porcelain and why are the Jingde zhen items claimed to be antiques at shopping mall no good? 2) I told them do not buy on “rumour buy, rumour sell” basis. 3)The reason why Yi-hsing teapot must leak when water is kept overnight. It was then they understood and this lesson was taught in the presence of my sons. It is honourable to show the truth and also for experts cum collectors in antiques to show and tell others what they have collected are genuine and worthwhile to collect.

It is good to do sharing only with knowledgeable group of people otherwise 1)What is genuine and what is fakes or copies is not known. 2) The important way is to identify Bandung copied Nyonya ware, Jing dezhen modern made Nyonya ware and genuine Nyonya ware and other wares as well. 3) All artefacts are fakes or copies unless and until proven genuine.

Ng Ting Kau’s School Leaving Certificate

Ng Ting Kau’s Obituary Photograph

Ng Ting Kau's New Business Registration

                           

A Chinese Proverb

A Chinese proverb says “give a man a fish, it will feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, it will last him a lifetime. Most of the Chinese antique collector has known what are genuine and what are copies or fakes by now. I am very sure that collectors wants their collections to last them a lifetime and also to the next generation.

My late father was known as “George” by some of the English people who were here in the earlier years and there was one case that he sold some ivory items before wild life law was enforced to a British Colonel in Green Lane, Seremban and he claim them to be plastic. Years later this British Colonel was at his friend’s house and he met my late father asking why he didn’t go to Green Lane because he knew he was wrong in the accusation. My late father said that all Green Lanes’ customers close the door at him in front of his friends and he felt so embarrassed. My late father told me this happening and said that with business like this won’t make you a millionaire and without won’t make you a beggar. A lesson well learnt.

Last year there was a talk by a Chinese lady expert and when I asked in mandarin on how to tell the difference between the old and new so that rubbish do not turn treasure, the audience started to laugh at me but the expert told to sit down and when my question was answered, the audience kept quiet. The answer is for you to find out and I will keep it my secret which tells me that I am on the correct way learning to keep Chinese antiques. The Sinan cargo found in South Korea was said to be imitation by some experts and later it was discovered to be genuine. (From reader’s digest Aug 1980).

A book written about antique Chinese porcelain by an English author, dedicated to H.R.H. The Crown Prince of Sweden has been very helpful but not many collectors took interest. Books are like road maps will lead the way. Singapore has a number of Chinese experts in Chinese porcelain and I have been told ku tong wong in Ipoh has known the Singaporean experts who are good at authenticating Chinese antique porcelain and yet there is a visitor looking for experts and cannot find which is something amusing. I came across blue and white shards of a few plates found in a book written in Japanese named “Ceramic Art of the World Volume 13” by Tsugio Mikami. The shards were from Archaeological Survey of India, E. Smart and I found that I have the few plates in my collection which is not found in other places. These items will be my family treasure because I have recorded them in my journal for children. 

A visitor from Leeburg, Virginia searching for “How much is a Wai Ming H.K. bowl worth?”. It depend on how many collectors know what “Wai Ming H.K. bowl” are and interested party are always ready to pay in order to own it. I don’t know what is “Wai Ming H.K. bowl” is and has not heard about it.

Another visitor from Central district Hong Kong searching for “Singapore antique shop” and the answer is in this blog already.

I am waiting for the photographs of the new batch of “nei siau for” from the experts who claim that they are more valuable than ‘wai siau for”.

Iron Rust Color Spots

          Recently there has been argument about iron rust colour spots (translated in mandarin as tieh siew pan) found in Blue and White porcelain are genuine antiques. I have a good laugh because the collectors and experts only know that blue and white items are only good when iron rust colour spots are found and  whether the iron rust colour spots are manmade or appeared due to aging and this is not known to collectors and experts. When such collectors and experts are put on stage to give talks, it will be helpful to find out how well they know their homework.

A visitor from Batu Caves, Selangor searching for “Malaysia Chinese antique furniture supplier” which I can state that there is no factory for any antique items. My late father’s carpenter is now helping his wife selling noodles at Old Town Petaling Jaya after his retirement and his special tools for shaping wood was given to me. There were buyers for his tools which I want to keep. This is the same carpenter who restore and extracting the old carving parts from incomplete furniture to make complete furniture. This has been going on at Klang Road. It is very difficult to get restorers today and it will go back to the earlier years where gas and kerosene stoves were not in the market, most of the broken furniture are used as firewood for cooking. 

Wai Siau For

A friend of mine who visited antique shops in Peoples’ Republic of China and put forward the same question that I would ask to one antique shop owner and he seem to be confused. At the same time my friend showed him the photograph of Yuan dynasty Blue and white item and his reply was that if that is genuine, you can buy up the whole street. He also mentioned about “Nei Siau For and Wai Siau For” Most of the experts in the Peoples’ Republic of China always think that “Nei Siau For” is only found in China.

Mr. O Kai Seng , a businessman who runs his business at Penang Road. He sent a friend, Mr. Bah Chong Seang to China to choose the “Nei Siau For” vases. These vases were taken from families and sold to raise funds to fight Korean War. Mr. O Kai Seng then priced the vases at a high price and he rented a store at a place called “Tai Gu Ow”  in Teochew direct translation is ”slaughter cow back” for about eight months. Later he personally came to my house to invite my father to Penang to buy his vases and has set his condition that if my father fail to buy any of his vases, he will pay for my father’s expenses because he has stock and no customer and my father has customer but no stock.

At present I have been looking for photographs of the new batch of “Nei Siau For” found in the Peoples’ Republic of China which was brought up by experts and dealers because I came across the “Nei Siau For” items sold by the Communist China government. Some of the “Nei Siau For and Wai Siau For” items were said to be copied in Bandung.

The meaning of “Nei Siau For and Wai Siau For” can be found in this blog dated February 2, 2012.