China Trade

I have been buying and selling Chinese pottery for years. I had a Chinese friend who started bringing antiques out of the main land when they first opened up for trade. I was able to touch and study old pieces and began to understand how to tell the age of china. I purchased and sold pieces I really should have saved. Through the years we've acquired and sold many pieces. I remember selling online an unusual bowl with a bat wrapped around the outside.

Recently we have had a lot of Chinese nationals come into the shop to buy antique Chinese porcelains. They are buying these to ship back to be auctioned in China. They will haggle for the best price literally beating you into the ground. I have learned to give a little but to stand my ground. We have reserved a few real good pieces that we hide on the back shelf. Recently we sold an oxblood bottle jar that had a mummified bat inside. Bats are good luck in China. We think that this happened by accident. The fruit bat climbed inside and then could not spread his wings so he could fly out. Another piece that they bought was an 18th century scarificial blue vase with poetry written in gold on the exterior that was worn off. This had been made into a lamp in the twenties. We like to have a mixture of things. What we sell on 1stdibs is what people are buying now. Good design and quality are what we go for regardless of period. We like the Chinese antique pieces mixed in with the mid-century modern classics and good Murano glass.
We buy what we like, and we like what is good.