|
Subject:Re: Shang and Zhou Bronzes
Posted By: Gman Sun, Sep 20, 2015
If you are considering buying these pieces as garden ornaments, pay only the decorative value.
I wouldn't even consider buying into the theory they may be actual Shang or Zhou artifacts, unless you have some ironclad provenance including in situ photos of the site where the items were recovered from. And, since the items all have identical colorations, one would expect them to have come from the same site.
In my humble opinion, the mathematical odds of (a)three classic ancient bronze forms being found at the same site,(b)all having the same coloration, and(c)all being available for you to buy, are somewhere North of a million to one.
That said, I offer you a hearty caveat emptor.
YOU can buy them for whatever YOU want to spend, the question is whether or not you or your heirs would ever be able to prove to someone else their authenticity if YOU ever want to sell them. You are much better off proving their authenticity before you buy them than down the road, and I doubt that anyone here is going to certify these objects as authentic.
Again, nice decorator pieces, but without scholarly documentation and provenance, pay decorator value only.
I can't really comment on the retail values without a better idea of the sizes. Reproductions are often mass produced, and while they may pay the same price, a dealer in Seattle may ask a much lower price than a dealer in New York.
I would certainly look around online and see if you find identical items elsewhere.
Good luck
Gman
|