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For the past several days, I have given some thought to how I would go about starting out as a new collector in today’s market. The major difference today compared to when I started collecting Chinese ceramics in the early eighties is the internet. I was basically confined to my geographic region (except for annual vacations) as my hunting ground for antiques. Now everyone has access to the entire world in their hunt for the next great piece. Of course, the other side of the coin is that everyone is bombarded with an ocean of fakes and low quality items that one must wade though to identify that one worthwhile piece. To stack the odds in your favor, you must get educated quickly to avoid costly mistakes.
The beginning collector that has access to a curated or screened selection of objects stacks the odds in their favor and also learns what is currently available for reasonable prices in the market place. For example, if I were starting today then it would soon become clear that one of the most plentiful areas for collecting is the category of Chinese export wares such as plates, saucers and cups. My eye seems to be drawn like a magnet to the early famile rose enamel wares of the Yongzheng/Qianlong period. Particularly those with elaborate outer borders surrounding central flower or animal designs. They have exceptional quality for mass produced wares. An example that recently sold for a ridiculously low price!
I would assign myself a beginner’s budget of $1000 to be used for 5 or 6 items in a specific category to be collected over the course of a year. This is a type of exercise that will require me to apply patience, perseverance and discipline to achieving a tightly curated group of objects that will function as wonderful learning tools for future collecting goals. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for new collectors to be able to handle and closely examine these newly collected items at their leisure at home.
I am sure the other experienced collectors on this forum can contribute additional advice for new collectors. The Asian arts & crafts field is vast and I only mentioned one very specific example that caught my attention.
Hi William,
Thanks for the thread.
I'm looking forward to reading what others think, especially as I am a sophomore collector. (I am not a dealer, at least not yet.)
One bit of advice I've received which I found helpful was: Buy what you know & buy what you love. (The first part is the trickiest, I know.)
Some more thoughts:
-when faced with what appears to be a great deal, make sure you stay clear eyed and check the dealer to see if they have others like it because it might be a fakes warehouse type of situation (New York City, Atlanta, and the outskirts suburbs of L.A. are notorious for this). Also double check the condition. Make sure it's the deal you hope it is before buying.
-Use Peter's $12 appraisal service to help in learning about types of antiques.
-I agree about dishes being a good deal - there are a lot of them out there, after all - and if you are collecting for display you'll find that repaired examples can come with a sweet price. (They also make fabulous gifts when you run out of room.)
Good luck and please share your finds with us!
-Steve
Dear William... thank you for bringig this up.
My advise would be to buy damaged pieces just to study them , later you can replace them with perfect ones.
Also check on Ebay the listing of sold Items ( by using advanced search options) that way you get a feeling for the Market where its hot and where not.. and what prices are payd for wich items.
Third get all youre Items authenticated so you know exactly what you have .
Last but not least join this Forum, watch Peters Videos, study Christies advice pages for collectors.
Finally ..important dont go for bidding competition place youre maximum bid early enough then log out.
best regards Martin
Thanks for jumping in there with your advice. My collecting days are mostly behind me. I just wanted to point out that there are pockets of good things at reasonable prices still out there. Also, I would have been thrilled forty years ago to have access to a site like ‘BidAmount’ to help point me to actual antiques of quality within my limited means.
Thank you William, Steve, and Martin. I found your advice helpful and interesting. As a relatively new collector, your advice has not fallen on deaf ears. Will be sure to keep this in mind in the future.
Edit: I meant plates in general make a good gifts, not the repaired ones. 😉
Thanks for such excellent insight and advice. I wonder if anyone here has ever collected or sought shards of antique ceramics to help get familiar with glazes, weight, decoration and other such aspects. I know that may seem odd but I think you can get more hands on when you don't have to worry about damaging a piece. So maybe these could be a good teaching tool.
Many museum’s Chinese ceramics collections incorporate shards along with complete pieces. They are hardly ever shown except for photographic on-line data bases. I would bet that if the request was made to the department curator to view their shard collection, they would be delighted to arrange a viewing.
Brian,
It is easy to get addicted to the thrill of the hunt. My personal experience was that after the hunt, I soon lost interest in the piece if it didn’t particularly fit with my collecting goals. I would get the most satisfaction from an item when it met the following criteria.
1. It was a type that I had previously researched and had added to my “Look for This” list. (Song/Yuan Jun ware)
2. It was a variant of category 1. (Song/Yuan Jun ware with a purple spot)
3. It had some combination of good potting, good tactile feel, and a successful glaze color that once it was in you hands it hard to put down.
For me, this was the recipe for long term enjoyment.
For me, it is still all about learning. Every piece I buy is a research piece. As you said, I soon lose interest in most of them, once I have sieved out all I can learn! But being a beginner, almost ever piece has something to offer. And it helps to hold them in my hands and spend a few hours looking online, once you folks have told me what they are!
Wise words, dear William, I absolutely agree with what you say. Just one or two additions:
The advice „buy what you love“ is often mistaken as an excuse to buy anything. If it turns out to be modern then „it wasn’t expensive and I like it“. Originally the advice meant: First get some knowledge about a field and then buy what appeals to you most from that field. Because that way you can live with your collection, don’t get bored of it and it expresses your personal taste and style. Also you don’t waste money and can always resell.
On the point of damaged things and shards I have a different opinion but you don’t have to share it (like everything I say of course). From the beginning I tried to collect only undamaged items. It’s not that expensive as it sounds if you restrain yourself a bit and buy say one perfect instead of five damaged items. It’s also affordable in the field of Chinese export wares mentioned by William, as there’s so many on the market that one can wait for perfect pieces to pop up.
Birgit
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Kangxi vases, Kangxi dishes and chargers, Kangxi ritual pieces, Kangxi scholar's objects, Qianlong famille rose, Qianlong enamels, Qianlong period paintings, Qianlong Emporer's court, Fine porcelain of the Yongzheng period. Chinese imperial art, Ming porcelain including Jiajing, Wanli, Xuande, Chenghua as well as Ming jades and bronzes.
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