Chinese Auction Fraud Market, How NOT to get Ripped Off

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Really love these informative videos Peter! More historical videos would be great too, perhaps there are some good stories around some of the well known kilns/artist? Thank you for the content regardless of what you decide to post!

Great video every thing makes more sense now thank you

Another Invaluable resource from our guy Peter. Thanks so much

Thank you 🙏

Another great video Peter. The old adage always applies: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. And you’re absolutely right on this point too - any genuine find in an auction will have been spotted by everyone (and I mean everyone) else too.

It can’t hurt dispute the transaction with your credit card. I have found that it does work. Particularly if you can show that you have returned the item. Many auction houses are too disorganized to even respond to disputes. I am not sure why Peter is so supportive of Doyle. Their auctions, particularly the online ones, are full of mis attributions and fakes. I also got burned by attribution and condition at the Dixon online sale at Skinner. Yikes!

Almost everything chinese especially porcelain that comes from China on ebay is a fake.

Thank you for this video. I recently started collecting Asian objects. Most of them aren't rare because that's not in my budget. I buy what I like and keep them for my home.I like to pick up commons for dirt cheap. I get a lot of help from experienced collectors in groups. And I also do a lot of my own research and you are right. It takes years. I'm only at the tip of the iceburg as far as knowledge goes.Maybe just my general intrest will have me happen upon something special because I'm always shopping around and am quite good at a bargain. One thing I'm very careful about is knowing exactly what I'm buying before I shell out large sums of money. When I first started out buying and selling collectibles I had quite a collection of hit and misses but they were all bought cheap for learning experiences and I just auctioned them off at low end auction houses to recoop and alot of stuff ends up almost always bringing me more than I paid. It took me years to know what worth my time and money but it was all small stakes risks. This is very good advice. I don't go around thinking I'm going to find a unicorn but I'm still always on the lookout while i'm out and about just in case. :)

Very good and important. I wonder why so many a suckered into buying fakes? On 47th St in NYC Russians sell fake Rolexes to tourists quite cheaply--people do buy.

The mention of the Experts in the big auction houses brought a wry smile. It is a well kept secret here in HK the major auction houses have a small, 6 - 10, coterie of Dealers who are extremely knowledgeable and have been in the business of Chinese antiques for tens of years, who the in-house experts call on for definitive advice whenever they have doubts or lack of provenance of a piece considered for sale. These Dealers, in most cases, are the ones who decide if an unknown or suspect piece is genuine - NOT the auction house.

If Antiques Roadshow has taught me anything, the most valuable pottery is in the back of your Aunt's cupboard. If it were me with your knowledge, I'd call the show, The Bull..sh!t in the china shop.

Great video Peter. Fakes are an old problem and not just in China. The famous blue cross swords of Meissen were regularly used by other producers even contemporary manufacturers. I only buy from antique shops now and have given up on online buying. I can touch the objects and talk to the dealer. I think the key message I take from your video is be honest with yourself, you don't become an expert in a couple of years and not by looking at pictures. Love the dog!

Peter Combs the bane of the fake auctioneer market. I love it!

More great info! Knowledge is powerful. Thanks for educating us!

Thank you so much very informative I have learnt a lot. Not many people do what you do much appreciated

Thanks Peter, very helpful as always

Excellent information as usual Peter. Thanks for doing such a great service.

I can imagine that during Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s that many genuine antiques were shipped out of China into (British) Hong Kong & found their way around the world - but likely that since then they have been processed thru the major auction houses & very few are gathering dust in an attic somewhere

keep up good work Peter...😄。。。

Peter Combs does not pull punches. His auctioneer report card is very helpful. Curious what he thinks of the Bonham’s acquisition of Skinners. Will this improve Skinner’s Asian reputation?

hi what to join in hk ?

In estate sales i often do very good finds, auction houses that usually dont deal with asian art sell items with lackful text and wrong description. Yes, it requires à lots of training to spot this things. But i encourage beginners to go to the major auctionhouses and touch, and look and learn. Everytime i do that, i get more and more experience.
My best tip- start lerning doing good buys with pieces under 100usd.
When you feel comfortable, raise it to 200 and so on..
If you still have the interest after you have reached higher levels, then automaticly you will have the knowledge and the appreciation for finer items also..
babysteps, and be prepared to stumble a few times on the way.

Appreciate this straightforward information … priceless👍

exactly,, always learning,,

Thank you Peter! And thanks for helping us sort out collection of gems and dudes. :)

Cool🔥

Hi good commentary I see this even on ebay where there are sellers with remarkably good supplies if supposedly ancient Viking jewellery, much of which is rather too complete. With archaeological finds its rare that you find a pair or a complete item. They usually don't have modern solder on them either. But people buy the romance, they believe because they want to.

I hate to say this, but there's no way to NOT get ripped off by Chinese reproductions unless you get someone like Peter to appraise them, or have twenty years of your life to devote yourself to extensive study of Chinese history, reign by reign, dynasty by dynasty, studying feet, shapes, quality of form and mark, and meanings behind symbols.

Peter
As far as I know that Bonhams Auction is not honest one。

Such wise and tough advice, especially for new collectors of ALL genres of art. I literally experienced much of what you said when I was new to collecting. Amazing, Peter. Keep it coming!

Well there is sucker born every day!! Your review was, well sobering and honestly spot on!! So much dishonesty and liars! They have no conscience, it’s seared and empty!! Great show!!

Got ribbed by shipper! Bought loose stamp collection from a name sale (big name house). Shipper picked and choose rarest stamps from the collection (reason I knew is because of the collector notes on the missing stamps). Stupid of me to not raise........

The problem is that most people nowadays don't understand the concept of "beauty" that people in the past once did.

Love your presentation. Said by a person who used to work for an art forger.

Conclusion ...everything from China is fake.

All auctions are selling fake..


the only real stuff are in museums (when the stuff were looted from these countries).

Learned SO much. Thank you. Really enjoy your vids & learn a lot.

Very educational. Thank you.

Thanks Peter! This is another great video that not only educates collectors but helps the Industry.

thank you. Hungry for more, I particularly like your infos on chinese culture

Very interesting. Many thanks

Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video. A must see for all collectors.

👍👍👍👏👏👏🙏😊

❤👍👏🙏

Thanks Peter.

I had an uncle, he retired and with some spare cash began collecting “ivory”.
I don’t know about antiques but, could see they were resin and made from moulds.
He took me to his “friend” at an “antique” shop, where he got some of the figures. Nothing was old in there, just modern collectibles and cheap tat.
A place that had Indian dream catchers hanging from the ceiling and “silver” bangles in trays.
I told him not to buy any more but, he wouldn’t listen.
He wanted a collection to leave as an inheritance to his family.
He did get some enjoyment from researching the figures. Writing up their names and the folk stories they were from.
Most seemed to be Chinese mythology characters with a few Viking gods thrown in.
All those I saw were worthless, cheap knock off copies.
He didn’t want to show me any others, but my aunt said he also had a chess set he’d built up piece by piece.

Can anyone recommend a source (accessible from the UK) of good quality (and clearly marked) copies of antique porcelain? I'm not remotely in the income bracket to buy real antique porcelain but would like a few pieces of something similar around the house. I'm not interested in (completely bogus) modern "collectables" but just a basic producer of decent porcelain in antique styles.