posted on June 12, 2003 08:29:51 PM new
Okay - another challenge for anyone who's up for the role of teacher to humble student of porcelain...
This I can figure out is porcelain, but I can't tell ANYTHING about it. I can't find out if it's Japan or European. Whaddya do when you get something like this?
It's a sweet little piece with a great design - featuring hand-painted gold highlights and very colorful delicate flowers.
The reason there is no picture of the bottom is that there is absolutely nothing there. It does have a raised base - so maybe I ought to show it, huh?
Would you list it as Japanese hand-painted candlestick? It does look like the holder once made a break for it, but was returned in a pretty nice repair job.
Your assistance is again appreciated.
Wayne
Trying to Make a Difference - One Satisfied Customer at a Time....
[ edited by TheFamilyBiz on Jun 12, 2003 08:30 PM ]
[ edited by TheFamilyBiz on Jun 12, 2003 08:44 PM ]
posted on June 12, 2003 09:19:48 PM new
You are totally missing what the true value of the piece is, and that is the cobalt glaze.
Does the blue cobalt bleed into the primary glaze about 1/8"? If so, then French.
If it is more muddy, then it is Japanese or English.
And it is called a chamberstick, designed to hold while carrying to bed and then setting it down next to the bed thus "chamber" thus "stick."
Call it by the right name. Use the following key words in your description: 19th century, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, cobalt glaze, flow blue, French, English, Japanese ... Then it doesn't matter if it is not marked because a collector will recognize it as being ohholymoly that is suchandsuch.
Perhaps list in two categories: Porcelain/Flow Blue and Antiques/Decorative/Porcelain(Ceramics)
Cobalt is real special. The French made the best cobalt, which is why you see Sevres cobalt goes for the big bucks. It was fired TWO times at extra high heats. This means there was more porcelain lost during the firing process, thus higher production costs, thus more expensive to produce, thus only the wealthy could afford to purchase cobalt. So pretty much the owners of it back in the 19th century were the wealthy merchant families, embassies and such.
posted on June 12, 2003 09:50:36 PM new
Noticed the seller of the Nippon plate said nothing about cobalt. What an idiot. Sorry for the remark. But the Japanese today are avid collectors of cobalt Nippon, and will bid up the price of the auction. However they won't bid if they can't find the auction, and they are not going to click into each and every Nippon auction on the off-chance that a seller did not say "cobalt."
Biz, I could identify it better for you if I saw the piece in person. I can tell by feel, look, how the glazing was done, and how the decoration was applied. I can't tell by photos, unless I see something I recognize, like a finial, or pattern, or decorating technique, etc.
posted on June 12, 2003 10:04:18 PM new
hotcupoftea, I have sold several Noritake and Made in Japan porcelain pieces to Japan this year. Do you know if this is the younger generation buying back the items that Japan exported here before WWII?
posted on June 12, 2003 10:18:01 PM new
Kiara, I sold a few pieces on eBay last year and made a real high dollar amount. I am not referring to the typical Nippon, but the specialty pieces, especially the cobalt. I have a few friends who sell on eBay also, in the same categories I do, and they all say the same thing. There are affluent Japanese, just like you thought, who are avidly collecting the nifty Nippon that was exported to Europe and North America. The special cobalt pieces will get the highest prices, perhaps because of the glazing technique.
I am trying to remember what got me good prices, and the winning bidders were Japanese. I think one was a beautiful fish plate, and it sold for over $500. One was a demitasse teapot, and again, it sold for over $500. I don't normally sell Nippon, just when I find a few choice pieces, or I have something in the house that I want to get rid of. I can't sell the ordinary stuff, too much of it on eBay.
I have a friend who lives in Okinawa. She buys 19th century French cobalt off of eBay and sells it directly to Japanese customers. Then some of her customers learned where she was getting her inventory, figured out eBay for themselves, and now they are aggressively bidding on French cobalt.
I am only saying all of this because it is important to study and stay on top of international demand trends, not just North American buying trends for antiques.
posted on June 12, 2003 11:00:25 PM new
Biz
That is a beautiful piece too, you should do very well with it & thanks to cup of tea you know exactly how to list it.
posted on June 13, 2003 12:10:29 AM new
Thanks hotcupoftea!
I will list this on Friday and will provide the link here. Does this view help show you the glaze a bit better?
I've seen what others refer to flow blue and it's been the "muddy" kind that really looks like the glaze was washed over the piece rather than applied as tightly as this appears.
Would you still say it's French then?
I also want to be sure to identify the apparently break and repair - any idea how that'll affect the appeal? Honestly, I had been looking at this piece for some time - inspecting and trying to think how to describe it - then looked very closely at where the holder meets the base and I saw the tiniest bit of adhesive material - can't tell what it could be, but it was a tell-tale sign that they had once occupied separate sleeping quarters .
Trying to Make a Difference - One Satisfied Customer at a Time....
[ edited by TheFamilyBiz on Jun 13, 2003 12:10 AM ]
[ edited by TheFamilyBiz on Jun 13, 2003 12:11 AM ]
posted on June 13, 2003 01:08:21 AM new
Biz, after looking at the closeup I agree with Kiara, the chamberstick is probably Japanese, most likely unmarked Nippon. On the French pieces, the artists would typically disguise the bleed between the cobalt and white glazes with gold overlay designs, applied by hand. Your piece lacks the gold designs.
For many collectors, a repair doesn't detract from value. I purchased a very special vase for around $1000 earlier this year with a professional repair on the rim. Your chamberstick is not on the same level of rarity as the vase I purchased, but still, the theory is the same. You want to use the words "professional repair", and be honest as to the structural integrity of the piece. You need to be careful. There is a whole language for this industry, and different words have different meanings, such as repair and restoration. There is one type of restoration that will come apart if you put the porcelain object in water. No kidding. Sellers take a rare piece, get it "restored", and the restoration is so good the buyer cannot see a single blemish. The seller doesn't say boo one about there being a "restoration" and the buyer doesn't discover it until she decides to clean the object in a sink of warm sudsy water, perhaps years later, the bonding material disintegrates and the object falls apart in the sink. This is quite distressing if the object cost quite a bit to purchase.
Jane, I can't say the value of the plate, other than equivalent plates at the antique shows will show a price tag of $75 or more. In that particular auction, the plate was small, thus not so much in demand, plus the seller did not describe it well, so the auction would not have been caught up in very many searches.
If you want to see a real pretty cobalt piece that will end at a very high price, click on this link. A friend of mine plans on bidding on the auction, so I really should not publish it for the world to see, but here it is anyway.
posted on June 13, 2003 09:11:01 AM new
hotcupoftea, thanks for the info about the Japanese market as that's interesting. I wish everyone was as polite to deal with as they are and they always pay right away too. They are my favorite customers.
mcjane, if you do a search for Royal Nippon you will find similar pieces like the plate. They don't sell for as much if they are unmarked but they are beautiful display pieces.
posted on June 13, 2003 07:57:00 PM new
Kiara, I wish the pot was mine. Well if it was, I would keep it for myself, or sell it directly to a collector, and it would never see the light of day on eBay. I own quite a bit of cobalt. Indeed, I have one entire Haviland china set of cobalt and gold, service for 12. Customers are always trying to get me to sell some of all the cobalt that I own, but I pretty much keep it for myself and only put up the ordinary stuff on eBay or sell the ordinary in direct sales.
.