Would not have thought this to be worth so much

[George]

I would not have thought this T'ang Tzu chuan bottle to be worth so much ..

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

It is a ridiculously high, totally unjustified price, George! The bottle is cracked from base to neck on one side; one wrong tap, and it will split into two halves. The bidders don't know what they are doing. I love the 'condition report': "GOOD CONDITION, one long craze 'line' from base to neck, and small crazes on base and neck." What does the seller call "BAD CONDITION"? The object broken into 80 pieces which need re-gluing?!
  I twice received  cracked bottles as gifts. The first, a Tan Xinbei (Beijing Opera star) portrait by Ma Shaoxuan in glass, I gave to a jeweller friend. He made silver collars around the neck and base, connected on each narrow side by a silver strip, so they couldn't fall off. I later gave it to Jerry L, as a gift. I now have an equally superb portrait of the actor in a quartz bottle, from the late Claudio Gentili's collection. The second, illustrated in the White Wings (Kleiner Family collection) catsalogue, is also by Ma Shaoxuan, one of his masterpieces, sadly cracked. I'm keeping that one.
  But to BUY a cracked bottle, for that type of money?  Tang Zichuan is a good artist, but that is not anywhere near a masterpiece of his. The bidders are more cracked than the bottle, IMHO!
Shabbat Shalom, Joey

[George]

The bidders are more cracked than the bottle, IMHO!