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On 2/5 I posted three Chinese hand seals for which I am still looking for additional information. If you have a moment, please check it out.

These are the other three hand seals from the estate collection.
Similar, but different, all looking somewhat archaic. All hard stone.

I would like help with the translation on the seals. I am especially looking for dates.
Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
P.S. I have a few additonal photos. One of the seals has a figure holding some sort of animal.

Hi,

I don't know the meanings of the seals but I can tell you that, unfortunately, they are all of modern production.

All are of prehistoric style from a neolithic Chinese culture period (Hongshan) when stamps doesn't yet exist.

Kind of souvenir items.

Cheers

Do not believe any one of these three were made of jade, probably some types of soft stones. The material of the two at the right resemble the material used to make large Hongshan fakes. None of them are archaic.

Hi Pat;

The first seal in your first post may be made from Shoushan (seal stone).

The third seal in your first post could be jade but I say this because Super knows something about jades and if he says it might be then it's worth checking further. Super suggested a scratch test which is easy but will leave a scratch if the material isn't jade. Another test is finding the specific gravity of your piece. I have done this before and with a little effort it's possible to do, I'd say medium difficulty. Beyond that you would have to send it to a special lab and from what I understand even results from that kind of expensive testing can be questionable.

Pierre is correct there is a mix of prehistoric style of the nui (knobs)and seal. That doesn't mean they're fakes (whatever that means when it comes to Chinese art). Nobody would pay serious money for these seals thinking they were seals made thousands of years ago it's too obvious they were not. The carver or carvers more likely chose the style for their seal knobs simply because they liked it or thought it interesting.

The translation Mikeoz provided is totally credible. I can't confirm it because I don't have the tools much less the skill. Mikeoz is an expert plain and simple. It can take hours and hours to do these, you have six of them so you see how difficult it is to get a translation.

Keep researching. You might try showing these to IM Chiat.

All the best

Thank you, JHKIM. This was very helpful and informative. My head has been spinning about these seals and I had to step away last week to clear my head.

I am uploading a photo of all six with number references and jotting notes about each. Would most certainly be interested in your thoughts and/or corrections.
Btw.. I am do not know who IM Chiat is. Is there a directory of members?

General:
All appear to be archaic or semi-prehistoric, but are actually modern. Modern meaning probably early 20th century.
All are of prehistoric style from a neolithic Chinese culture period (Hongshan) when stamps didn't yet exist.
Souvenir quality
Characters on stones are not contemporary

1. Possibly Shoushan (seal stone) Seal reads Yu Fu Zhen Guan, referring to the Imperial repository.
2. Scratch tested – appears to be jade (tested with pen knife)
3. Scratch tested – appears to be jade (tested with pen knife)

Any input is welcome.

All best,
Pat

I.M. Chait is an auction house in California that deals in seals.

If you think you have jade then you need to go to an EXPERT in person with the merchandise.

URL Title :I.M. Chait

Thank you so much for the information.
I have attempted to find someone in my area (more rural) with no luck. This is when I miss living in a big city.

I'll continue as suggested.
All best, and my thanks,
pat

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