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Re: Can any one give me info on my chinese metal tea pot.

Posted By: Bill H
Posted Date: Oct 10, 2012 (02:22 PM)

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I've seen a few of these Chinese pots turn up at estate sales and auctions, some apparently quite new and a handful weather-beaten like yours. To the best of my memory, all have had inserts with visible dot matrix patterns, suggesting to me that the picture inserts are taken from 20th century art prints. Since there usually is an ancient precedent for everything 'new' in Chinese art, I suppose there may be one for these pots, though I haven't identified it yet.

The top line in the base mark isn't entirely clear to me, though it looks fuzzily like it might read from the right as the two characters 'Chao Pin' (Product of Chaozhou?).

The larger characters in the middle appear to read down from the right in three stacks as 'Zhen Ke' (Genuine), 'Zhu Shun' (Factory name where Zhu also is a surname), and 'Dian Tong' (possibly translated as 'adorned metal).

The two characters at the bottom of the mark read across from the right as 'Lao Dian' (old shop).

My best guess is that your pot may date anywhere from the 1930's to the 1950's and that it may not necessarily be pewter but possibly a spelter-type metal.

Considering the corroded state of the surface and my belief that this is principally a vintage curio, I'd guess the value to be less than US$100. I can't recall ever seeing one of these in a major museum.

Good luck,

Bill H.

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