This posting is for all the armchair estate sale aficionados on the forum.  I got showered & dressed earlier than usual this morning for the 30 minute trip to the big event.  As I made my way through morning highway traffic, my mantra was “This is not too horrible.”  I arrived about 30 minutes before the 10:00 am opening of the sale.  As I parked, I noticed the vehicle in front of me had Florida plates so this sale did attract out of state interest.  There were also people coming out of the house with purchases.  It was entirely possible the sale ‘unofficially’ opened an hour or so before the stated opening.  Making my way into the house around 9:45, my first impressions was that this house was furnished with well kept ‘hotel’ quality furniture.  Nothing outside of the 21st century.  The big, showy Asian items such as the screen & big porcelain planters had not been sold yet.   I made a bee line to the fire place in the sitting area off the kitchen (this room contained the desk with additional items of interest).  
First glance impression of the Celedon Hu vase was not favorable and flipping it over to see the stamped blue mark confirmed it was a dud.  I think it was marked $45.

There was no sign of any yixing items in the area.  However, I did later see one pot with a hardstone spout in the hand of a Asian lady examining the jewelry cases in another room.  Next, I looked at the desktop items, but no flambé vase!  I found Sharon’s white cong vase and no joy.  Made specifically to be lamped.

The two conical bowls were still there and examination of the bases showed the potential for some age.  Honestly, I found them rather dull and uninteresting.  Sorry, I don’t have an eye for resale potential.

Next, I sought out the large porcelain plaque to determine why it hadn’t flown out the door first thing.  Here are some close up pictures of the decoration.  Again, not liking what I saw.  Am I wrong that this looked printed?

Same impression of no age with planter.

I was out of there by 10:30 this morning.  I did ask one of the estate sale people about the missing flambé vase.  He said “Oh, that was a good one and sold first thing.”  Now it’s anybody’s guess where it fell on the age & value spectrum.

I am happy to answer any questions while my memory is still fresh.

@william Thanks for taking one for the team, Bill. It was worth a try. Pictures are very tricky to judge sometimes. 

@william Yes, thank you for the adventure, I only wish your intrepid journey, always exciting in Houston traffic, had been rewarded.

@sharonp 

I did see your Indian black pottery.  I know nothing about these items.  I picked up the smallest piece and turned it over.  The bottom was highly polished & had what seemed to be several lines of faint engraving in cursive script.  Recognized the word Maria.  No idea about the frequency of fakery for these pots.

@william Thank you, did you happen to see what they wanted for the Virginia looking tavern/work table in the entry, probably wanted too much if that screen is any indication, agree it looks new with your better photograph. Did you figure out if the person was retired military or Federal employee, all those certificates. I had a neighbor who was retired government and the study had more certificates than the most vainglorius me wall of any lawyer's office I have ever seen.

@sharonp 

Sorry, didn’t check any furniture prices.  I did check through the some of the owner’s paperwork.  I would say he was career air force.  He retired from the military in 1992.  I have to admit I find these events a little melancholy in regards to the soon to be forgotten achievements of the deceased.  I wonder about their surviving families.

@william Yes, it is sad, when my Mother-in-law died, my Brother-in-law and I were assigned to go through her desk and we both agreed how much she would have hated knowing anyone (even family) was going through her things, as she was a very private person. I will need to destroy a bunch of journals and things of no interest to anyone else, including my grammar school report cards, part of my permanent record. Remember when Jane Fonda made a Freedom of Information request to the FBI, I remarked that I would request my record too, except that it would be disappointing when a blank page came back.

@william Sorry the hu vase didn’t pan out, but like the flambé vase and iron red vases, it would have been snagged immediately at the open of the sale if genuine- I heard people camped out a day in advance.

The photo if the planter still leads me to think it is genuine Qianjiang ware of the late 19th c - was it damaged? Do you recall the price? I’m guessing there must have been a significant repair or defect not to have been bought.

The Florida car was likely one my client / competitors.

Thank you for going and posting!

Sadly, I could not go as I was busy trying to figure out how to get this chest of drawers in my truck. 🤪

@greeno107 

Back in the mid 1980s, I visited in Houston what looked to my naive eyes a upscale shop packed full exotic, elaborate Asian antiques.  I never bought a thing there as it became clear all these ‘antiques’ were new.  I had the same impression with the table screen & the large planter.  They looked to me like the best that could be produced by Chinese artisans in the 1980s.

The big planter didn’t show any obvious damages and I don’t remember the exact price.  Probably between $500 and a $1000.  

Oddly enough, there was one large vase on a shelf near the fireplace that had some excellent landscape scenes painted in a European 18th century manner using a single colorway (kind of pinkish) on a creamy background.  What initially caught my eye, was the absolutely classic Chinese Yuhuchunping shape of the piece.  I flipped it over to read in elaborate English script “Handpainted in Italy”.   Very striking and not cheap, up scale tourist item.

@william Thanks again.

Perhaps I’m overcome with nostalgia- I’ve attended several really good sales in Houston, including one of a life long member of the Houston Museum of Fine Art’s Asian department- seems at some point the museum did not mind de-acquiring pieces to its staff… or perhaps they didn’t know.

@william  This is  the pattern that the planter emulates.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/61088645_a-pair-of-chinese-hexagonal-qianjiang-cai-vases-with

I’m not aware that it is a design that has been copied by modern artists, but perhaps… I’ve  seen a few Qianjiang copies, but they’re easy to spot.

I have never seen a planter, so perhaps that might be the biggest clue of being a copy, but if genuine and undamaged, it’s worth quite a lot.

@william I think I have a vase from that shop, several years ago I was on my way to Austin and stopped in a small town shop full of Asian things. The elderly dealer was quite impressed with having purchased the stock of what he called "The Ming Shop" in Houston. My vase turned out to be from a Hong Kong factory with one of the stretched out elongated mark and yes second half of the 20th century, Peter evaluated it for me and the decorative value was more than I paid for it, so I was happy. I also bought a famille rose plate from him that turned out to be from Macau. I have posted them before but I'm sure they have disappeared by now. So the stock he had acquired from the closed Houston shop was very optimistically named. The example Tim posted is listed as 19th/20th century, so I suppose they were unsure, since you are a collector and not a reseller, I suppose the only thing that matters is whether you liked the piece or not, as you would be adding to your collection and having to look at it daily.

@greeno107 

That pattern is very similar to the planter.

@sharonp 

The shop was on Post Oak near the Galleria.  I remember it was in a complex that included the most expensive Chinese restaurant in Houston called ‘Uncle Tai”.

I really have no interest in those busy famile rose types of decoration.  It’s interesting that Tim has located the decorative design on other examples.

@william 

Any Chance the Black pottery was Maria Martinez?  Not often faked, very sought after.

Jeremy