Does anyone have experience buying teapots from the ebay store
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend ?
They have a large selection of yixing listed as pre-1960 at what look
like reasonable prices, even allowing for ~$30 shipping. They also
seem to have decent feedback and several repeat customers. Everything
I read about buying Yixing--old or new--screams caveat emptor, but some
of those pots look pretty neat to me.

Bill Wolfe wrote:
Does anyone have experience buying teapots from the ebay store
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend ?
They have a large selection of yixing listed as pre-1960 at what look
like reasonable prices, even allowing for ~$30 shipping. They also
seem to have decent feedback and several repeat customers. Everything
I read about buying Yixing--old or new--screams caveat emptor, but some
of those pots look pretty neat to me.

I was looking at his history to figure out if he partook of the common
Chinese practice of setting up fake ebay accounts to give himself high
ratings, and it's not totally clear. He's either doing that or
constantly selling pots to the same people. I would be careful, this
could be a scam.

Bill Wolfe wrote:
Does anyone have experience buying teapots from the ebay store
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend ?
They have a large selection of yixing listed as pre-1960 at what look
like reasonable prices, even allowing for ~$30 shipping. They also
seem to have decent feedback and several repeat customers. Everything
I read about buying Yixing--old or new--screams caveat emptor, but some
of those pots look pretty neat to me.

I personally won't buy any pot sight unseen, unless it's a vendor who
will definitely take it back with no questions asked. Given the high
costs, shipping and otherwise.... don't do it, especially if the pot is
expensive. If it's cheap and you don't mind if it turns out to be
crap, then it's not that big a deal, but given the age range you're
quoting... that doesn't seem likely.

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

If you look at one pot after another you quickly notice that the
griminess (which is despicably bad) is very uniform and black. I
suspect that these are (badly) antiqued. Even if they were real, I
can't think of any way they'd get that black without totally neglecting
hygiene. Would you really want to brew tea in those? Nasty.

Cameron


Bill Wolfe wrote:
Does anyone have experience buying teapots from the ebay store
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend ?
They have a large selection of yixing listed as pre-1960 at what look
like reasonable prices, even allowing for ~$30 shipping. They also
seem to have decent feedback and several repeat customers. Everything
I read about buying Yixing--old or new--screams caveat emptor, but some
of those pots look pretty neat to me.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the pu'erh he's got listed is fake. I don't
think Menghai was using the dayi wrapper in '99 and the cake itself
looks no older than an '04.

Cameron



Bill Wolfe wrote:
Does anyone have experience buying teapots from the ebay store
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend ?
They have a large selection of yixing listed as pre-1960 at what look
like reasonable prices, even allowing for ~$30 shipping. They also
seem to have decent feedback and several repeat customers. Everything
I read about buying Yixing--old or new--screams caveat emptor, but some
of those pots look pretty neat to me.

Cameron Lewis wrote:
Also, I'm pretty sure that the pu'erh he's got listed is fake. I don't
think Menghai was using the dayi wrapper in '99 and the cake itself
looks no older than an '04.

Cameron



Bill Wolfe wrote:
Does anyone have experience buying teapots from the ebay store
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend ?
They have a large selection of yixing listed as pre-1960 at what look
like reasonable prices, even allowing for ~$30 shipping. They also
seem to have decent feedback and several repeat customers. Everything
I read about buying Yixing--old or new--screams caveat emptor, but some
of those pots look pretty neat to me.

Is there a way to report such things on eBay without already having
been ripped off?

Cameron Lewis wrote:
Also, I'm pretty sure that the pu'erh he's got listed is fake. I don't
think Menghai was using the dayi wrapper in '99 and the cake itself
looks no older than an '04.

Cameron

Menghai was definitely starting to use the Dayi wrapper by 99. Now,
whether it's real or not is another question, and I'm not an expert
wrapperologist.

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

Just as Marshal said, buying yixing over the Internet is like gambling:
you should only pay what you can comfortably afford to lose. I would
advise that you keep your expectations low and be pleasantly surprised
if the item turns out to be good.

I've ordered from maybe four or five Mainland eBay vendors now, and the
majority of them provide substandard goods (note, Scott @ Yunnan
Sourcing is, as most people on here already know, very decent).

About your vendor in particular: I've had a quick look at some of the
"1900-1960s" pots and I'm not convinced. A forty year old pot is going
to cost you much more than that, and, well, they just don't look forty
years old.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

"HobbesOxon" writes:

Just as Marshal said, buying yixing over the Internet is like gambling:
you should only pay what you can comfortably afford to lose. I would
advise that you keep your expectations low and be pleasantly surprised
if the item turns out to be good.

I've ordered from maybe four or five Mainland eBay vendors now, and the
majority of them provide substandard goods (note, Scott @ Yunnan
Sourcing is, as most people on here already know, very decent).

About your vendor in particular: I've had a quick look at some of the
"1900-1960s" pots and I'm not convinced. A forty year old pot is going
to cost you much more than that, and, well, they just don't look forty
years old.

Sooner or later, we're going to see an eBay vendor flogging thick,
40-year-old Pu'er bricks, each with a fine contemporaneous Yixing pot
inside it.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

HobbesOxon wrote:
Just as Marshal said, buying yixing over the Internet is like gambling:
you should only pay what you can comfortably afford to lose. I would
advise that you keep your expectations low and be pleasantly surprised
if the item turns out to be good.

I've ordered from maybe four or five Mainland eBay vendors now, and the
majority of them provide substandard goods (note, Scott @ Yunnan
Sourcing is, as most people on here already know, very decent).

About your vendor in particular: I've had a quick look at some of the
"1900-1960s" pots and I'm not convinced. A forty year old pot is going
to cost you much more than that, and, well, they just don't look forty
years old.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

It's striking that no contributor to this lest can vouch for this guy.
I've bought a few pots on eBay over the years. A couple turned out to
be decent brewing vessels and wound up as gifts, Others dripped or had
other functional problems and wound up in the trash. None were great
bargains, though all were cheap. The idea of picking up a decent
40-year-old pot for $60 is very appealing, but I guess I'll stick with
vendors like Brian Wright, who I know through experience or reputation.
Thanks to all who weighed in!
BW

There is also the fact that he's selling Meng Ku, Fu Hai, and Lang He
products as "Menghai Tea Factory" stuff. While I think that Fu Hai and
Lang He are in Menghai county, Meng Ku definitely isn't.

The reason I think that the vintage (at least) of the Dayi wrapped cake
is fake is that the buds are too brightly silvery and the cake is just
too green to be 7 years old. Since my '99 7542s are zhong cha label
wrapped, I just assumed that they hadn't started with the dayi label
yet.

Cheers,

Cameron

MarshalN wrote:
Cameron Lewis wrote:
Also, I'm pretty sure that the pu'erh he's got listed is fake. I don't
think Menghai was using the dayi wrapper in '99 and the cake itself
looks no older than an '04.

Cameron

Menghai was definitely starting to use the Dayi wrapper by 99. Now,
whether it's real or not is another question, and I'm not an expert
wrapperologist.

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

Cameron Lewis wrote:
There is also the fact that he's selling Meng Ku, Fu Hai, and Lang He
products as "Menghai Tea Factory" stuff. While I think that Fu Hai and
Lang He are in Menghai county, Meng Ku definitely isn't.

The reason I think that the vintage (at least) of the Dayi wrapped cake
is fake is that the buds are too brightly silvery and the cake is just
too green to be 7 years old. Since my '99 7542s are zhong cha label
wrapped, I just assumed that they hadn't started with the dayi label
yet.

Cheers,

Cameron
From what I understand anyway, Dayi was first used in the late 80s for
export products, and by the mid 90s there were already wrappers that
look similar to the Dayi wrappers we see today. I know for a fact that
1999 has lots of Dayi cakes, although I can't say if this one is or is
not a fake.

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

Bill Wolfe wrote:

It's striking that no contributor to this lest can vouch for this guy.
I've bought a few pots on eBay over the years. A couple turned out to
be decent brewing vessels and wound up as gifts, Others dripped or had
other functional problems and wound up in the trash. None were great
bargains, though all were cheap. The idea of picking up a decent
40-year-old pot for $60 is very appealing, but I guess I'll stick with
vendors like Brian Wright, who I know through experience or reputation.
Thanks to all who weighed in!
BW

Oftentimes scammers succeed because the price is too good to be true.
If it's too good to be true, it often is. And I think a $60 40 years
old pot falls into that category.

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

more than less likely this is a scam i love the feedback on this guy

I have bought 9 pots from Anling and found them to be excellent,
although I couldn't verify their authenticity. He will sell you a
certificate of authentification if you ask for it. At least three seem
to be of pure zhuni clay, and a few other a quality clay mix. They
were all very grimy but treatment with denture cleaner, toothbrush and
q-tips cured them all. One is my best sheng puer pot, another brews
delicious da hong pao, and a third is ok, really high-pitched ring with
handmade indicators but I haven't figured out what tea works best in
it. It has a flat shape. A fourth, thicker-walled is the one I use
for high-mountain taiwanese oolongs and it really brings out their
aroma. I have gifted 2 of the pots, and three are too big for daily
use so they are sitting around my house.

What you can't tell from the pictures, but what Anling will answer to
you if you ask, is how thick the walls are of the pot.

I had a great experience with him. But get ready to spend time
cleaning.

Bill Wolfe wrote:
Does anyone have experience buying teapots from the ebay store
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend ?
They have a large selection of yixing listed as pre-1960 at what look
like reasonable prices, even allowing for ~$30 shipping. They also
seem to have decent feedback and several repeat customers. Everything
I read about buying Yixing--old or new--screams caveat emptor, but some
of those pots look pretty neat to me.