Hi Tam,

Glad you enjoyed the article. I have started a new thread called Jadeite jade and Nephrite jade and have a link to how is mined, cutting process, sold and how the fakers do it. All with great pictures. I will be adding to this thread from time-to-time. I hope you visit the page.

They tend to be very creative when it comes to calling serpentine or bowenite jade by adding a mystical name to it that nobody has ever heard of before. ? 

Mutton fat and or hetian is still very popular today and can be very expensive especially if it dates back to the Qing period and has some weight and design to it, like a lidded censer.

Mark

Hi Tam;

Have you still got the bamboo bitong that was laser carved?

If so, I would appreciate it if you could post a picture of it.

Mark

Has anyone ever visited the web site named www.chineseantiques.co.uk and followed the links to meet the fraudster and today's rubbish and narrated by a person called Dr Lewis Wang?

It is very extensive and so on. It gives praise to Peter and this site with it's weekly updates etc.

But it warns against buying from juice1499 also known as Chamberlain Antiques.

He writes the following 'be very careful with this seller juice1499. This seller has been on ebay for years and is very clever, he mixes fakes with period pieces to give the appearance of legitimacy. I have a massive archive of sold items with sales in the millions, spanning many years'

I would be interested in fellow members and peter's opinion on this website, as peter is always praising chamberlain antiques as honest and reliable sellers etc. This site is slamming and naming a number of fake sellers that are well known to all of us including in his daily trash or treasure the so-called jade buffalo and the cinnabar plaque  that I posted earlier.

Mark

Dear Mark,

This is very interesting to hear. I will check out the website that you mention in your post when I get a chance.

I have bought several things from Mr Chamberlain over the years. Indeed, I was an early buyer from him, before he got the foothold on eBay that he currently has. Let me say that the items I bought have been a very mixed bag. Some have been right, but some wrong. For example, a peach bloom water pot that I bought from him a number of years ago, and which he described as Kangxi mark and period, isn't. I had it checked in Sotheby's. It's a nineteenth century copy. I knew rather less in those days about the subject than I do now, and I won't be making the same mistake twice, but certainly from my experience, Mr Chamberlain's judgment isn't as sound as one might hope.

Peter seems to rate him, and he's probably improved as the years have gone by, but even so and all the same, I'm still left with a misrepresented item that it's now too late to challenge. And it wasn't cheap.

Alan

Dear Mark,

Thank you for letting know about that site, which I didn’t know. I did look at it. Great part of the fakes that he shown there are clearly fake but no doubt many ebay’s buyers are fooled. It is impressive how many people do buy without competence. I see the same here at Antique Fairs, Chinese buyers who buy blatant fakes.

It’s good that this Dr. Wang is alerting Chinese buyers to not buy Chinese fakes, ironically made in China and then sent to Europe and USA to acquire credibility. Most of the time sent back to China where they discover that it is a fake.

In that site, it is Mentioned a great Dealer collector, Michael Vermeer form USA. He was really competent. We spoke several times on Skype. Unfortunately he died a couple of years ago. His collection was auctioned in USA and most of the lots was bought by Joanie’s house of Treasures at very low prices and then sold on ebay with large margin. I can’t access to the sales of this seller because he/she is not selling to Italy, but I know through others that he/she did apply labels of Vermeer collections on other things not coming from there.

Be aware that false collection labels are very common recently. Another trick that recently is more often seen is to put fake items in old Japanese wood boxes.

Giovanni

Thank you to both Alan and giovanni for responding.

It's really like diving into the waters surrounded by sharks!

Even something I bought last week from vic antiques (UK) was put on the list by Dr Wang. Fortunately the one I bought, being a jade scholars rock is OK.

But I also tried to buy a jade statue that looked OK, but the pictures were blurry, so I only left a small bid.

Mark

Dear Mark,

that of the blurry pictures is another trap. I confess that I did fall myself a couple of times. Something that could be very good, so one goes there being afraid that others could precede him. It is a clever trap, but still just that, a trap.

Giovanni

Dear Giovanni,

May I ask, which seller was it that you referred to who was putting fake labels on his items? I wasn't clear from your expression which seller you meant - Joshua Chamberlain, or Joanies?

Regards,

Alan

And again on this thread, you mentioned, Giovanni, that Joanies bought up a lot of Mike Vermeer's porcelain. Well, yes, so it appears they did, but I assume you're aware that Christies also got a lot of it for sale too? My suspicion is that Christies had the pick of Mike's items; items that for one reason or another didn't make the grade with Christies were bagged by Joanies and sold on for very good profit.

Alan

Dear Alan,

Christies’s pick up the best pieces, about 20 for what I know. Then the rest of the collection was auctioned at Brunk Auctions in North Carolina. Many pieces were sold at very low price, Brunk Auctions did a really bad job, practically no advertising. I did not offer on any lot because to import from USA into Italy is a real problem.

After the auction, many lots did appear on Joanie’s sales, meaning that she has bought many lots at the auction. For sure some other items which was not in the collection was sold by Joanie’s bearing the Vermeer collection.

My comments about fake labels was not referred to this. I was saying that since a while on ebay we can find items bearing labels of famous collections, but they are fake. The labels are very convincing, but still fake.

Giovanni

I can confirm that Lauren Auctions and Eden Auctions are one and the same.

How? Eden had my address details and sent me regular updates regarding their auctions etc. Lauren on the other hand, I have never emailed to or any other form of communication and low-and-behold I today received a upcoming catalogue for their sale.

So where did they get my details from?

Yep, that's right straight from Eden.

Mark

Posted by: imperialfinegems

Has anyone ever visited the web site named www.chineseantiques.co.uk and followed the links to meet the fraudster and today's rubbish and narrated by a person called Dr Lewis Wang?

It is very extensive and so on. It gives praise to Peter and this site with it's weekly updates etc.

But it warns against buying from juice1499 also known as Chamberlain Antiques.

He writes the following 'be very careful with this seller juice1499. This seller has been on ebay for years and is very clever, he mixes fakes with period pieces to give the appearance of legitimacy. I have a massive archive of sold items with sales in the millions, spanning many years'

I would be interested in fellow members and peter's opinion on this website, as peter is always praising chamberlain antiques as honest and reliable sellers etc. This site is slamming and naming a number of fake sellers that are well known to all of us including in his daily trash or treasure the so-called jade buffalo and the cinnabar plaque  that I posted earlier.

Mark

Hi, Mark. I just bought a fake item from juice1499. He did refund for it though. My guess about this seller is if he does not specify the age of the item or not put his label on it it is very likely questionable. Be extremely careful.

Hi John,

I am delighted that Chamberlain Antiques refunded said monies back to you.

Mark