Father passed away, left me with his collections. I know nothing about

[Glenngc]

I hope someone could at least point me in the right direction.

A few months ago, my father passed from alzheimerz (lewy body). He had traveled the world for business, and spent the last 30+ years in china (mostly shanghai) Unfortunately, he was using his intelligence to cover it up, until one day, he "checked out". He had no idea who I was, made no sense, and was living back in China (mentally)

During his travels, he picked up many items and shipped them back. Some things, like a Terra cotta soldier and horse (full size) were really easy to identify. Other things, not so much. Because of his status/wealth and assistants/security, I believe some of the items are more than just decorations; but need help.

This "hatchet" contains metal on the back blade and jade on the bottom

This blade is made of metal and has faint writing

This tea pot appears to be bronze, missing top, and appears to be no bottom. Weighs 1774grams

Stone?

Jade items

Pictures

I know that my father absolutely adored the Chinese culture, people, art, customs, etc and had collected a staggering amount of items over the years. I'm just not sure where to begin as we start unboxing more and more items. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If there is interest, I have posted full size pics, with more angles, signatures, etc at the link below http://www.supermotors.net/registry/17502/85128-2

[TheBigZaboon]

Some of the hardware and the jade may be real. But fakes abound in the Oriental art market, as do crooks. And the fakes are probably as old as the real thing. I recommend you consult a recognized university art department or museum.

On a forum like this, there's alot of people willing to help and offer opinions, but without seeing the object itself, I doubt anyone can offer you a reliable opinion.

To be frank, if any of the stuff is real, you have to be wary of any advice you receive.

But it may just add up to an enjoyable and edifying adventure.

Just my two RMBs...

[889]

As said, bronzes are always highly suspect, and exporting genuine archaeological items would have been a very serious crime in China. Indeed, there are U.S. legal considerations as well if these were illegally exported from China.

So common sense, without any examination of the items, says it's not very likely that these are genuine. Further, the art, while nice enough, is pretty pedestrian, and a collector savvy and wealthy enough to buy genuine bronzes would probably have been buying much higher quality artworks.

Is there no documentation among your father's papers?

(Folks here may help identifying signatures on the art, but post closeups here; your link is too slow to load, at least for me.)

[roddy]

You're probably better off, if not with an actual antiques dealer, on an antiques forum....

[889]

Also, a "full-size" terracotta soldier and horse would certainly be a replica -- they're made in a village near Luoyang -- and that also suggests your father was not buying seriously old stuff, as does the "boxes and boxes" quantity involved.

Many expats in China enjoy buying replicas, and know perfectly well what they're buying, so I'm not at all suggesting your father was taken in.

[Glenngc]

Thanks for the replies. Before we recognized that he had dementia, he destroyed most of his house. Any documentation would be gone at this point.

While living abroad, he had assistants and security 24/7, I'm assuming they kept him away from the tourist places. It's also possible he just bought things because he liked them. His house was filled with odd things from all over. (In a collector, not hording way)

Obviously the terracotta soldier is a replica. I had gone to visit him at one point, and one of the places we went was the terracotta museum. He bought a full size soldier and had it shipped back. We just didn't know he went back to get a horse and another soldier.

Even after he retired, he maintained an apartment in Shanghai and would frequently return. If he had no family in the states, he definitely would have made it his permanent home.

I guess I'll have to track down an expert to come out and help us identify everything.

[Lu]

I agree with others, it's best to find a reputable antiques dealer specialised in Chinese things. I also agree that it's very likely that a lot of the things are not genuine antiques (not that that makes them less nice to look at, I myself have a Tang three-coloured horse that's some 10 years old). Not sure why your father's assistants and security people would have kept him away from touristy places, these places are usually interesting to go and see. And if he could get to genuine art dealers, he most surely could get to dealers in fakes as well.

 

Sorry for your loss, and I wish you all the best with sorting all this out.

[roddy]

Do let us know how you get on.