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”.