Treasure Tuesday's Fabulous Thrift Shop Find

There's a great charity thrift shop close to where I have my morning coffee.  Needless to say I run through almost daily just after they open.  I found this Chinese export Famille Vert porcelain charger there recently.  I knew it was old, but you just never know how old when it comes to Chinese export because they haven't really changed the porcelain making process much love the centuries.  The fact it wasn't stamped "Made in China", or "China" lets you know it's probably pre 1900.  Older pieces tend to have better craftsmanship and more intricate designs.  At a price of $45 it wan't a super cheap find, but I had a feeling the value would be much, much higher.  I decided to pay $20 to have it appraised by www.ValueMyStuff.com, which is a newly discovered resource.

Here is the appraisal.

A Chinese circular and gently shaped famille verte dish.

Description

Decorated at the centre with a large flower basket, the cavetto with a narrow band of diapers relieved by panels of Precious Things, the outer rim with twelve segment panels of various flowers amongst rocks, the rim with a narrow flowerhead chain edge, the reverse with flower sprigs, the base with an underglaze blue 'shop' mark.

Date

Probably late in the reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662-1722)

Extra Notes

A very nice famille verte dish but with a fairly standard pattern. The really valuable ones are a little earlier perhaps than this example and involve sometimes quite complicated figure groups in scenes or landscapes.

Replacement Value 

$1,600

Auction Value 

$700-$900

Just because a piece is marked with a certain date doesn't mean it was created at the time period indicated.  Asian porcelains are often made i"n the style of" an antique and even dated thusly.  Unless you're an expert, it's best to assume it's a recent reissue.  As you collect Chinese porcelain you'll get a sense of how old pieces look and feel.  The glazes have a different feel to the touch, decoration is usually better, and there should be some signs of wear and age, especially at the base rim from sitting on tables etc. over the past couple hundred years.