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Subject:The Antique Hustle
Posted By: beadiste Sat, Dec 13, 2014 IP: 65.74.52.150

An interesting read from Ginger Huang at The World of Chinese in the attached link. A sample quote:

Indeed, the antique business in China is never short of scandals, and most scandals come from established antique experts who work in state-run institutions. In 1994, a couple of Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) terracotta figurines turned up in the Panjiayuan Antique Market, very rare items and highly sought after. The China History Museum (now China National Museum) and the Forbidden Palace Museum carefully studied them, and they passed both human and modern technological examinations. The experts applied for funds and rushed to buy them all. Antique collectors, of course, followed suit and arduously fought for these figurines. However, as more and more o f these “rare” figurines kept showing up at the market, experts soon realized that something was wrong. The National Historical Relic Bureau started an investigation into the matter, and it turned out that they were all the product of a single village in Henan, all made by peasants who earned a bamboo basket for each figurine sold.

Link :Antique Hustle


Subject:Re: The Antique Hustle
Posted By: rat Mon, Dec 15, 2014

Good article, and quite believable. One can still find genuine items at flea markets like Panjiayuan but not good quality antiques. It's definitely getting to be needle-in-haystackish.


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