Chinese Marks – Daryle Lambert's Antiques and Collectibles Blog – Thanks Dan.

Chinese Mark - Thanks to Gotheborg.com

It is no mystery that China's economy is growing faster than almost any other in the world. In fact, if there isn't some intervention, they may soon own America lock, stock and barrel. We should have seen this coming when Mao said that he could lose 500,000,000 people and still win any war. With the American total population just over 300,000,000 people, he was saying that he could lose what would be equal to our entire population and still be victorious.

You know the history of China? They were invaded several times and most of their antiquities were taken out of their country. Since their economy is now strengthening, it is giving them great pleasure to be able to buy their history back, plus all the other fabulous items that the world so cherishes. If you had a painting worth $100,000,000 and wanted to sell it, China would be your market. They are also willing to pay premiums for what they want to buy so this is an invitation to us to keep looking for the best Chinese treasures. But how can we identify them without knowing the language, you must be asking.

This is where our friend Dan comes into the picture. Yesterday, I received an email from Dan saying that a website that he had run across might be of service to my readers. Was he ever right! You might want to visit this sight if you have Asian pieces with marks that you don't recognize. The site has over 800 marks for your use and here is the link http://www.gotheborg.com/marks/index_marks.htm

I can tell you that this site can be of tremendous help to you because I have already used it on one of my pieces. Guess what? It seems that my piece is much older than I thought. You should bookmark this site so that it will always be available when you need it. Here is another book that might help you, Antique Chinese Accessories: Vernacular Items, C. 1850-1930 by Margie L. Yates. You know I must have a story to share, so here it go. A friend in Florida whose parents collected Tiffany also often picked up Asian antiquities and he inherited this small jade carving from them and decided to sell the piece at a Christie's action, I believe. The auction house had a $30,000 - $40.000 estimate but, are you ready for this? It was hammered for over $600,000. I don't believe my parents left me anything like that but one can hope.

I am having the hardest time not telling you a secret but the other staff members have said that if I give it away before Monday my name will be mud. I can assure you that everyone should read my blog on Monday. 

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