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Originally Posted by mariusgmioc
Talking about antique Chinese blades coming from China
Why would a Chinese dealer try to sell a genuine antique Chinese blade on eBay, to a Western buyer, thus violating the Chinese law and risking very harsh punishment, when he can get a much higher price in China from one of the thousands of newly rich Chinese?!
PS: Prices for genuine Chinese antiques have gone over the roof in recent years precisely because of this new category of very rich Chinese collectors.
PPS: When I went to Japan, I was considering buying some nice pieces of Japanese antique Satsuma, Kutani and Imari pottery, only to find out that in Japan they are priced about 5 to 10 times more than in Europe or the US.
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The business can be very strange. There was a time in the early 2000s when I bought a few antiques from China and then sold them back at twice the price. At the time I assumed that the price increase was due to to the greater likelihood of genuine items being from America as opposed to those found in China. There are circles of very knowledgeable Chinese collectors who know each other's items, and sell them at more reasonable prices to each other. If they catch an American posting a picture, they will be angry at whoever sold it. Since 2008 it has been illegal for Americans to import Chinese antiques, not just for the Chinese to export them.
The truly high quality stuff has been essentially locked up since the 90s. I had a fun decade hunting village militia items made from quality steel, but even those are now reproductions, in relic condition and overpriced. Sometimes you will see something that is all three.
