Hello

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Tom,
    We all had friends who collected stamps or coins or matchboxes, like Peter described.
In both the first two examples, except for one or two real 'heavywights' (the British Penny Black in stamps; the US 20 dollar gold piece in coins, etc.), examples were relatively low in price and  there was never a great jump in prices. People continued modestly or less modestly collecting, their whole lives.
    I saw prices increase steadily from 1978 to 2000; but the last 14 years have been quite breathtaking.
   Sawankholok Pottery is still reasonable...   

Best,
  Joey

[David]

Dear Joey,

Thank you for sharing this nice/warm piece of your past, and for thinking of safeguarding these and other treasures.

Warmly,
David

[OIB]

Dear Joey,

Thank you for the extended response. Quite insightful indeed.

Thankfully, there are still many bottles of reasonable good quality and reasonably affordable for working people like me to ' indulge ' in as an outlet to balance my life !
And of course, my chanced discovery of this Forum added a totally new and ' rewarding ' dimension to my journey of collection, not to mention the new friendship developed in the process ! Never in my life did I imagine that I would have a Jewish SB ( not your name ! ) collector visiting my home to exchange views on the bottles !! To be invited by an English gentleman in Wanchai, Hong Kong to view his collection in the privacy of his home, to meet a Western collector in Bangkok..... I hope one day, I could meet face to face some of us ' regulars ' on the Forum ( Italian, American, Swiss .....  )

Inn Bok

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Inn Bok,
     
       Isn't Life wonderful? There is always something for us to Thank G-D for.
       I was thinking how blessed I was to be able to visit 4 cities in East Asia, centres of East Asian Culture, such as Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok and Singapore, and meet 'live' so many people I've been corresponding with for the past three years, sometimes a few times a day each,  eat wonderful Asian food with them, and see their collections.
      And this after visiting Giovanni in Italy a few weeks before. And then seeing Jerry & family, and their collection in the UK, after Singapore. I even got to preview a serious collection of snuff bottles, which included some of John Ault's B & W (admittedly the dregs, but still ex.John Ault).
      I plan to organise and register the Israel Snuff Bottle Collectors Association, and join the Asian Group that had it's meeting in Singapore in December 2014. Who knows? At some stage we can have an Asian Snuff Bottle meeting here in Jerusalem, Israel, in Western Asia, and you can all come to it, from East and West.
   
     And I hope you are correct that there are many reasonably good quality bottles available at affordable prices. I've not seen  them, I'm sad to say.

    Best,
      Joey

Dear Joey,

Thank you for the extended response. Quite insightful indeed.

Thankfully, there are still many bottles of reasonable good quality and reasonably affordable for working people like me to ' indulge ' in as an outlet to balance my life !
And of course, my chanced discovery of this Forum added a totally new and ' rewarding ' dimension to my journey of collection, not to mention the new friendship developed in the process ! Never in my life did I imagine that I would have a Jewish SB ( not your name ! ) collector visiting my home to exchange views on the bottles !! To be invited by an English gentleman in Wanchai, Hong Kong to view his collection in the privacy of his home, to meet a Western collector in Bangkok..... I hope one day, I could meet face to face some of us ' regulars ' on the Forum ( Italian, American, Swiss .....  )

Inn Bok

[David]

Dear Joey,

One can always start out with a book/knowledge collection and then proceed very selectively from there. 

If it is meant to be, then a good quality reasonable price will come by, if not, one can always enjoy the photos on the catalog/collection books and either be amused or enlightened by what was written on them. Or focus the collecting on a few nice bottle that one is sure to enjoy for a long time.

At some stage we can have an Asian Snuff Bottle meeting here in Jerusalem, Israel, in Western Asia, and you can all come to it, from East and West.

What are we going to do for food? 

Curiously,
David

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Sushi is big in Israel right now.
    And who knows? By the time I succeed in getting an Asian Snuff Bottle Association meeting here, we may have good Chinese food here again. Or I'll fly the staff from the Chinese Takeaway in Bunclody, over to Israel to cater...
Best,
 Joey

Dear Joey,

One can always start out with a book/knowledge collection and then proceed very selectively from there. 

If it is meant to be, then a good quality reasonable price will come by, if not, one can always enjoy the photos on the catalog/collection books and either be amused or enlightened by what was written on them. Or focus the collecting on a few nice bottle that one is sure to enjoy for a long time.

At some stage we can have an Asian Snuff Bottle meeting here in Jerusalem, Israel, in Western Asia, and you can all come to it, from East and West.

What are we going to do for food? 

Curiously,
David

[Wattana]

What are we going to do for food? 

Dear David,

I thought you meant "food for the mind"..........until I read Joey's response. Now he's got my taste buds working!

Tom

[David]

Dear Joey,

Sushi? Really? I am trying hard to visualize Sushi with no scallop, amaebi, squid, crab, ankimo, clam, oyster, lobster, eels, shinny fishes,...    no luck...

Are fish roe and seaweed kosher? If not...

Dear Tom,

Joey was teaching me about what is not kosher food, it was quite a shock for me to learn that a lot of my favorite seafood are not kosher. That along with no pork, wipes out a significant potion of Chinese people's staple.

Warmly,
David

[David]

Dear Joey,

More on kosher food... How about flying fish? it have scales, but glides a long distance on it's fins that looks like flying insect's wings.

Interested,
David

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear David and Tom,
     Think lots of Spicy Tuna maki rolls, California rolls with Pollock fish as a shrimp substitute, and some decidedly non-sushi stuff (like an Israeli invention combining gyoza and sushi).
     Though a kosher fish, Pollock has a texture, smells and tastes like shrimp. My late mom of blessed memory used to serve kosher 'shrimp' (ground pollock formed into a shrimp shape, and covered with breading, to imitate breaded shrimp) with spicy tomato dip as one of the 'proteins' at her 'Break the Fast' feast ending Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), where she would host 60-80 every year.  The maid would hide 5 or 6 for me, to make sure I got. they were a real crowd-pleaser!
    All kosher fish (those with scales and fins when alive) are fine for sushi. And Pollock replaces shellfish. Seaweed is a plant and therefore kosher.
   Flying fish are a question. I will ask.

Best,
 Joey

[Jctking]

Joey and all of you experienced collectors are lucky to have been there and keen when great bottles were accessible!

[YT]

Joey and all of you experienced collectors are lucky to have been there and keen when great bottles were accessible!

And to be at a time when collectors are united and bottles are much more true.

Cheers,
YT

[David]

Dear Joey,

Thank you for asking about the flying fish.

Next time when I go to the market, I am going to see if there are any kosher artificial "shrimp". It might taste better than the Japanese one.

Fried gyoza rolled in sushi or steamed and made into a nigiri might taste good. 

Kindly,
David

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Julian,

    You are correct (and so is YT), but certain bottles were always 'expensive' or seemed so: Ma Shaoxuan Portrait bottles with Political/State figures (as opposed to the cheaper Tan Xinbei actor portraits, never mind regular Ma bottles);  Imperial Enamels; etc.
   
   Best,
 Joey
   

Joey and all of you experienced collectors are lucky to have been there and keen when great bottles were accessible!