Dear Adrian,
I'm at the stage that any time I get a good bottle at a fair price, I consider it a lucky break...
It is so easy today to overpay, or to buy fakes, that you thought were genuine, that getting the genuine article for below top market value, is a plus in my book.
Let's take the Xue Chengcai I bought from the late Robert Kleiner. I paid him about US$1,200 for it as a bottle from ca.1945-1948 (I understood that the artist had died in 1948, but Robert must have had wrong information), whereas I paid Robert almost US$4,000 for the box of 10 Cultural Revolution bottles he'd bought from the Michael Kaynes-Klitz Collection sale.
If I'd known it was also CR period (ca.1966-1976), I'd not have 'splurged' and paid over 3 times the price of what I considered a CR subject and period bottle worth to me.
But now I know that CR bottles are worth more than I thought they were; in fact, while looking to see if I had a 'Kaynes' Society SB Review that Pat mentioned, I found a volume from 1972, with a section with a sales catalogue from Y. F. Yang, celebrating his first nine years in HK as a dealer (June 1962-June 1971), and it had CR theme bottles for sale DURING the CR! And CR bottles by Liu Shouben were
US$240 to US$420. Shandong and other lesser artists' bottles from Beijing/Hebei, were US$70-90.
Incidentally, a Chen Chuan in a square quartz bottle was US$400 in 1971. I bought a Gan Xuanwen in the same type of bottle in July 1981 in London at Sotheby's, for 1/4 the price, but admittedly that was with the advice of the late Eunice Cameron of blessed memory. 2 Ma Shaoxuans were on offer for US$481 each. Wang Xisan works, signature and seal; signed 'One Bottle Studio' but with his seal; no signature or seal, but described by Y.F. as by him; were available for prices from US$500 down to US$300.
Best,
Joey