Expert Datuk Suzuki

I have been a member of the South East Asian Ceramic Society (West Malaysian Chapter) in the early 80’s and my name is listed in one of the back pages of the book “Celadons and other related wares”.  I left the society because I will be listed as a trouble maker who wants to find out more about porcelain which is a wide field but once you know how to handle problems it is no longer a wide field.

Being the second eldest in the family and a total of nine family members, I helped to build this antique shop. The badwill was the attack on my father’s reputation that he is selling fakes. From then on I continue to study further in Chinese Antique Porcelain like Genuine ones, Bandung copies or fakes, Jing dezhen copies or fakes, Genuine Nyonya ware and its fakes, Genuine Peranakan ware and its fakes and leaving unsolved Pua Nguar ware (told by one scholar Mr. Goh at Amcorp Mall that there was no Nyonya ware in the 60’s) and its fakes.

In the earlier years there were many experts and most of the gatherings are held at homes of the members and I know that it would be a waste of time to attend such gatherings because when I raise any questions and the speaker could not answer will leaving me and the speaker disappointed.

One of the important expert that I left out in my earlier posting for this blog is Datuk Suzuki and he was recommended to my father’s place by Puan Sri Eileen Kuok, a close friend of Toh Puan Bunny Suffian and Puan Sri Eileen Kuok is the wife of Tan Sri Philip Kuok a former ambassador to Netherland and later to West Germany. Datin Suzuki has accused my father for selling a fake Yuan dynasty item as genuine and when my father asked for proof, Datin Suzuki claimed that Datuk Suzuki is an expert and I am also very happy that there are grand masters around to help to authenticate so that society will not fail from success.

Recently I visited some of the web sites and discovered that tour studies trips were organized and if the answers were not given to genuine and fakes, the trips will be just an ordinary tour. I also came to know that some of the Chinese experts in Chinese porcelain do not understand very much in authentication.

One friend of mine called Robert told me that one of his friend wanted to buy a tester to confirm antiquity. I then asked him the origin of the machine he replied he doesn’t know and how reliable is this machine he also said he do not know. He wants the convenience to use the machine to confirm the antiquity of the item. He told me that there will be a group of Chinese experts from People’s Republic of China who are ready buyers coming in June 2016 and he will be inviting them to see his collection. These experts had been invited to a friend’s house in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur during their earlier visit.   

 Another Chinese friend told me that he wants to go to Borobudur, Indonesia to check on two Buddha heads and I was curious to find out how the Buddha heads look like and told him to e-mail to me the photos and after he did and one month later I call him to come over to have a look at a temple near my house to see whether the material used to make the dragons and phoenixes are the same and he confirms it is the same because I cannot confirm the materials using the photos.

Toh Puan Bunny Suffian

There are three visitors, two from Singapore and one from Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia. The two visitors from Singapore with one searching for “peranakan porcelain ware Melaka” and the other searching for “antique for sales in Singapore”. The third visitor from Australia searching for “penang Furnishing antique store”. Peranakan porcelain ware are found in shops in Jonker Street and Heeren Street. Many years ago there were antique sales organized by dealers in Singapore and what happen today I cannot tell because I am only interested to know what are good Chinese antique porcelain and to carry on accumulating my knowledge and not to fail during any challenge (remember wealth never pass one generation if collectors bought the wrong items or if a genuine item in hand is sold off as a copy). I have not heard of penang furnishing antique store because time changes and most of the old furniture are sold by families and it is exhausted leaving those in the families which are not for sale.

I have been collecting items that I love it and study into it. During this Chinese New Year I went to Pasar Seni and bought one set of Parker 75 pen set. This set is one fountain pen and one ball pen and the casing is American sterling silver was sold to me for Rm100/-.  This set of pen needs to be polish because silver to Chinese is the second most expensive metal tarnishes easily. After I recondition them, the next day I was already using them. The fountain can be sold for Rm350/- and the ball pen can be sold for Rm300/-. To know the value, collectors must also know how to recondition items that needs to be reconditioned. Old items always have faults and needs repair or recondition.

 Many years ago, Toh Puan Bunny Suffian , the wife of Tun Mohammed Suffian , the retired Lord President bought a number of antique furniture items from my father and she even design a red and gold stool to match her red and gold dressing table and her furniture was featured in magazines and I kept these magazines as history. These magazines were given to me by Tun Suffian after Toh Puan Bunny Suffian passed on.

I came across a computer site and it offers tips for buying Chinese antiques and in this article it tells us to beware of fakes which are the most important. To make the purchase safe, collectors must consult professionals but this writer has not named any professionals. I do not know whether this writer and collectors will agree with the professional that I have name here 1)Mr.William Young Willetts (Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia). 2)Peter Clague, Malaysia.(Owner of Asia Antiques at Loke House, Medan Tuanku, Kuala Lumpur). 3)Che Mokhtar Bin Che Ali (Ex-Magistrate). 4)Mr. Mohammed (an antique dealer). 5)Ku Tong Wong (Ipoh). 6)Cheong Hon Mun (a dealer in Penang). 7)Mr.Lu Yaw(National University of Singapore).8)Roxanna Brown (Thailand). 9)Clarence F. Shangraw  (United States of America). 10)Mr. Peter Lam (Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum, Hong Kong) and also not to trust grandfathers and grandmothers stories like the item comes from shipwrecks, burial grounds. Another tip is you must ensure that you get your dollars worth is something very difficult follow and because of this tip I would advise not to become a collector for the reason everything has its beauty and everything has it’s price and how to based on it’s dollar worth which must be studied due to items are without fixed market price. I only know what is worth buying that fit to go into my museum with the characteristics that I can teach my children, grandchildren and friends that these are treasure and not rubbish.

 Many collectors are too greedy wanted to be on the top by using others’ knowledge but when they find an expert whom they think they can trust but this expert who turned out to be unworthy ones then problem lies ahead for the future. The purpose in collecting antiques is to share your knowledge with others and not to tell others that “no genuine, no fake” thus making yourself unimportant. Another greed is to pretend as collectors to buy and sell and if the deal to sell is not successful then blame the seller as a crook for selling fakes or copies which my father has experienced. At present there are not many good dealers because a lot of copies or fakes were produced and also a lot of grandfather and grandmother stories are also produced and that was the reason for me to become a taxi driver. I am happy that I know how to prove the items with me are good and without selling are of no worry to me because “treasure are treasure and rubbish are rubbish”. I believe that some of the visitors to this blog may have seen me asking questions and the answers has put the collectors into risk.