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Originally Posted by Bill Marsh
Well, yeah, but I would not have bid on this piece in my wildest testosterone-induced bidding state, anyhow. For what it is claimed to be it was very cheap. For what I suspect it really is, it was far, far too much!
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But this is what I am wondering. I think there is a good consensus that this one was made very recently, but I think "genuine" ones were made in the early 20th c. to brighten up a wall. They seem to be based on 18th c. Taoist ritual swords, often including markings characteristic of the Qianlong era, however, rather than incised designs and characters with metal inlays/koftgari they seem to have very thin designs, that almost seem painted on, or done in very crude koftgari.
I have talked to a few collectors in China and America about this, and there seems to be debate whether some are genuinely 18th c. with some early 20th c. copies and many fakes, if there are a few high quality 18th c. pieces and many fakes, or if there were a large number of early 20th c. wall hangers made that are now being copied.
Josh