Message #41109

[Tom B.]

Dear Samson and all,

Unique, one-of-a-kind is always dangerous when buying Chinese ceramics and especially so in a field as highly collected and published like snuff bottles.  Why? Because even the 'best' fake ceramics are made in series of at least three or more. I have been told more than once that anything unique with less than a 15 to 20 year verifiable provenance will usually not be accepted as genuine even when experts agree that that it really looks correct. If no other example has surfaced during 15 or more years, we might safely assume it to be genuine.   

This is such an attractive looking Blue & White snuff bottle that I am sure Joey would readily remember having seen one as part of an important auction or trusted dealer's stock or in an ICSBS member's collection in the past.  If fact I would imagine that any serious collector or dealer with interest in blue & white porcelain snuff bottles such as Robert Kleiner or Joey Silver would have readily added it to their collection.  So Charll (the avid SB Hunter) has seen a few of these mini Meiping shaped snuff bottles recently in small auctions where fakes occasionally turn up, but this was a new one to Joey. The only reasonable explanation is that it is "newish" from the 21st century. 

Best regards,

Tom B.