To collect antique porcelain item has lead to international laughter or joke because experts are misleading.
Most countries are markets with imported antique porcelain items without much historical links but the most important is whether it is genuine or fake.
Experts must be thrown away because thermoluminescence test is used for ceramics and residual traces of cover materials from the casting of bronze objects.
To add further laughter at are the experts in this field and collectors who trusted them.
History tells us that: -
1) In 1975, when a fisherman Ch'oe Hyong-gun snagged several heavily encrusted ceramics vessels in his net while trawling for croakers off Sinan- a district on the south-western coast of the Republic of Korean. His brother, a school teacher examined the finds and suspected their importance. He showed them to the local authorities, who dismissed them as imitation. Finally experts in Seoul confirmed them as genuine antiques, and the Korean Cultural Property Preservation Bureau in South Korea aided by the navy, began systematically excavating the site in October 1976. ( Extract from Reader's Digest August 1980.)
2) In Malaysia, an antique dealer won a case against a couple who bought a Ming bowl for RM600 paid by cash and three pieces of Angkor Wat sandstone panels which was paid by cheque for RM6000 and this cheque was stopped payment for reason that the items were modern copies. ( Article can be found on page 5 of Star dated May 30, 1981.)
This antique dealer has stated that : - "Take Notice Goods Sold are not returnable but returnable on the condition that the Goods Mentioned above are proved they are modern copies. The proofs must be sufficient and must haven written remarks from experts.
Two Englishmen:
I) Peter Clague, an antique dealer whose business place was Loke House, Medan Tuanku, Kuala Lumpur who gave a valuation report of fakes and was not called to testify.
II) William Young Willetts who sworn in an affidavit stating his degrees and diplomas: -
a) Bachelor of Science (Bristol University) 1940.
b) Academic Diploma in Chinese Art And Archeology (London University) 1945.
c) M.A. Chinese Archeology (London University) 1946.
d) Bachelor of Arts in Classical Chinese (Oxford University) 1950.
He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (1971) and a curator of the Art Museum (University Of Singapore) from 1964 to 1973 and curator of Muzium Seni Asia (University Malaya) from then to the present time (30th July 1980, the date of affidavit sworn).
He also had studied on the spot in the six week long visits made between 1964 and 1968 and had written a book named "Angkor Roundabout" which is only a tourist guide and not a book on the antiquity of Angkor Wat.
Later it was discovered that he is the founder of the South East Asian Ceramic Society in Singapore and Malaysia. (Sunday Mail Weekend Extra dated 26th June 1994.)
On 17/10/80 Mr. Willetts gave evidence and comparison was made on the same day at Muzium Seni Asia. He also retracted certain statements, he made earlier. The Learned Magistrate, Che Mokhtar Bin Che Ali who did not record the retraction of the statements by Mr. Willetts and on May 29,1981 when plaintiff's counsel was cross-examining Mr. Willetts who is defence witness number three concerning the retract statements, The Learned Magistrate Che Mokhtar Bin Che Ali disappear from the courtroom leaving everybody in the courtroom in suspense. (Extracted from Civil Action 5934 of 1978 in the Magistrate court Kuala Lumpur.)
During the trial Mr. Willetts had tendered two letters of correspondence between him and Sotheby's to let the court know that he had corrected an error for Sotheby's that piece of Chinese Ceramic items was actually put up for sale as Iranian.
3) New Straits Times World news section by Associated Press dated Friday 22/12/1995 titled "Malaysians convicted of RM1.6m vase scam" tells us that a couple sold 45 pieces of fake Ming and Yuan Dynasty porcelain vases to five San Francisco Victims for US$640,000 and it was discovered to be fakes by featured expert of art appraisers from Christie's Fine Art Auctioneers in New York and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Sheffler said among other thing I quote". "If they had been real, the 45 rare and extremely valuable vases would have been worth approximately US$20 million" and also that certificates of authenticity had failed in its performance in this press statement.
Example:
a) Saturday Star World News section by Reuters dated Nov.9,1994 titled "Liberace's Cadillac fails to thrill bidders" which claim that 1931 V8 Roadster, used by the flamboyant pianist in his stage show, was expected to fetch 100,000 sterling pounds, attracted only a 55,000 bit when it was auctioned.
b) Thursday Star World News, October 8,1998 titled "No Takers for possible early Lincoln photo" tells that a daguerreo- type claim to be the earliest known photograph of Abraham Lincoln failed to sell at an auction on Tuesday when bidding petered out at US$150,000 and this items was put up for sale by Christie in New York.
c) Miller's antique price guide tells that "The never-ending problem of fixing prices for antiques."
For the 2 example, Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Sheffler is implying that Liberace's Cadillac and Lincoln's photo are no good otherwise it would have been sold at a higher price.
4) Sunday Mail 28th July 1996 titled "Royal Fakes". It turned out that a pair of Chinese Porcelain 'Famille-verte' caches pots of the Kangxi period, on loan from the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen's mother are reproductions done in factory in Paris and was placed at Grosvenor House Art and Fair. Who was expert or experts who verified the cache pots to be Kangxi period is not known which creating embarrassment.
5) NST World News Thursday Aug. 15 1996 titled " Malaysian couple jailed for selling fake Chinese Porcelain". I do not know whether it is the same or different subject. If it were to be same subject then we are having 2 stories to be one subject. Assistant US Attorney Ross Nader in this press statement said "The couple told buyers that 45 porcelains dated from the Ming and Yuan dynasties in China. All were actually manufactured in the last 25 years. Before sale, the couple asked Clarence Shangraw, then chief curator of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, to verify the porcelain's authenticity and recommend that the museum buy some, but he said they were fakes." I do not know what degree or degrees Clarence Shangraw posses but compared to Mr. Willetts professional reputation is recognised by as prestigious as Encyclopedia Brittanica. Mr. Willetts was caught making mistakes when comparison was made in the museum. (Sarkar on Evidence (12th edition) Value of Expert Evidence in General verified genuineness by making comparisons with the exhibits in the museum against the fakes)
There are so much to laugh at that it is about to be a laughing subject than a collecting subjects.
All the press records are extracted from Malaysia's newspaper.
Earlier this year, a Chinese magazine and Nanyang Siang Pau dated 2/6/2002 featuring the same topic that Taiwanese get specialists to make imitation porcelain to cheat Taiwanese collectors. When imitations can be made exactly the same as originals, then museums and university of antiquity subject is not required anymore. Collectors who do learn about weathering process are idiots. Let idiots be idiots forever.
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