Pi Jung Chiu bottle

[Mandarin]

Thanks Keith. The buyer lives in China. It seems the bottle is returning home......
Vaughan

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Vaughn,
   Congratulations on selling the bottle.
Steven sent me a link to the eBay auction today, after it sold, and I saw under shipping, "may not ship to Israel".  On the link you posted on the Forum, that caveat doesn't appear.
   Why was there that restriction? Did eBay put it on?
Anyway, again, congratulations.
Joey

[Mandarin]

Joey,

Thanks. Ebay put it on. Its simply a quirk of selling on ebay.com when the seller does not live in the USA. On my home ebay.co.uk page it also says 'may not sell to the UK' (even though I live there)! My auction description does state 'I ship worldwide and will pay for shipping costs'.
I have no idea why the caveat does not appear on the link I sent the forum.

I usually avoid selling on ebay.com for these reasons, plus the fact that it is nearly impossible to specify meaningful shipping costs from the UK. The only reason I did it this time is because ebay.com is the place where the vast majority of snuff bottle sales take place. Far more people use ebay.com than use ebay.co.uk.

Best,
Vaughan

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Vaughn,
   You were selling from the UK and they had on "may not ship to UK?!"  That's even more ridiculous!
   I didn't realise so many snuff bottles were being sold on eBAY...
Best,
 Joey

[Pat - 查尚杰]

Joey

On an average day there are 13000 plus snuff bottles on ebay. 99pct are new or crap but the 1 pct still worthwhile to look at.

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Pat,
  Was that a misprint?! 13,000 ?! Not 1,300?
WOW!!!
Shabbat Shalom,
  Joey

[Pat - 查尚杰]

Hi Joey

No. I meant 13000 indeed. .

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Pat,
    I'm in shock. I really thought you'd accidentally added a zero...
So, given your  "1% serious bottles" statement, that means there are 130 serious bottles offered on average a day. Is that how you and Steven get such great buys on occasion?
 My problem is that I don't trust my ability to judge over the internet. Oh well...
Thanks for the info.
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey

[Steven]

Dear Joey,

Pat was right about the snuff bottles being list on ebay, also right about the percentage of the serious snuff bottle.

I did get some good bottles on ebay  during the past two years, but its getting harder and harder to find a good deal any more , you know some good bottles have more than 200 viewers and more than 50 watchers, that means you have to compete with 50 potential bidders ,that is even more than the potential bidders in big auction houses.

Another good thing about the ebay is that the buyers are protected by ebay, if you think the bottle is not right when you handled it, you should be able to return it which can not be happened in the auction house.

Steven

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Steven,
   I am sorry but feel I must correct you.
   In an auction, if you have proof that a bottle or other object is fake, you can easily get a refund from Sotheby's, Christie's, etc. If a serious dealer (Clare Chu, Robert Kleiner, Michael Hughes, Robert Hall or Hugh Moss (I know; I would not add the last two, but they are respected)) writes an opinion on their letterhead, or a collector like Denis Low, Jimmy Li, etc., the opinion will be treated as proof.
 Shabbat Shalom,
Joey

[Steven]

Dear Joey,

You are right, but what if I am only a no mane collector who don't know those famous dealers and collectors, without those proofs, how can we get refund?

Steven

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Steven,
    You could go to a local museum with the piece, and ask a curator, or ask a local dealer to write you a letter.
    Besides, in these days of internet scandals going viral, no auction house wants any bad press, so they would refund your purchase if you have even only a halfway decent case that it is fake.
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey

[Steven]

Dear Joey,

I was just teasing you. I seriously didn't know I can get refund from a auction house, now I know.:)Thank you for your info.

Shabbat Shalom,

Steven

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Steven,
   I guess you can say: BAZINGA! (It is a "Big Bang Theory" reference)
I didn't realise you were just teasing. 
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey

[Pat - 查尚杰]

Yes. I agree with Steven. Good finds are getting harder on ebay. George used to do really well but I dont have so much time to go search.  The bargains are in the buy it now...

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Guys,
  My question is this: How do you FIND the 1% good bottles out of the 13,000?

  If I go to an auction, and there are 200-300 bottles, I go to the materials I collect (jade, IPSB, B & W) and go through maximum 30 of each type,  and usually 10-20, choosing what appeals most; then I bid. I get a bottle or not.
   I have gone to dealers, searched around in their sales stock (200-500 bottles), selected every bottle I might possibly want, and bargained over the price; or with dealers who are friends, like Clare Chu and Robert Kleiner, waited for them to give me their 'best price' which is almost always 15-30% less than the marked price, and decided if and what to buy.
   The thought of having to sift through 13,000 ?! I would not know how to do that.
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey

[Pat - 查尚杰]

Joey

Trained eyes as yours will sift through them like a knife through butter. It is not for every one but it work for some of us ...

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Pat,
   Thank you for the vote of confidence, but I am not so sure. I'll try it after Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey

[OIB]

Joey,

In theory, if you scan 2 bottles every second, you will take slightly more than 6000 seconds to assess all the e-Bay pictures. That is 100 min. or nearly 1 1/2 hours everyday ! !

In practice, however, it does not work out so neatly ! I do not think I have the time for that.

Inn Bok

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Inn Bok,
     2 bottles in one second? Try one bottle every 5 seconds; that is 65,000 seconds, or 11 hrs. a day....
Nope, not interested.
Joey