Asian Antiques

[Packman]

My mother passed away and I am tasked with splitting up and/or selling some of her things for the estate. She had a large collection of asian antiques hat her father purchased while he traveled through china in the 20s and 30s.

Instead of posting everything, the main question I have is regarding several ivory carving. I have what I think are two Brush pots, a small man, and two twin maidens. The maidens have some damage to them. One fan is broken off and it looks as if their hair "buns" have broken at some point and been fixed.

I have tried to find values on these items. Faux Ivory on ebay show 600-800 for the maidens, but if I google Christies Auction, they have had several brush pots and other ivory pieces sell for 10s of thousands of dollars.

My other question is how do I go about selling these items. I don't think ebay or Craigslist is the right platform.

I will add more pictures in next post. The first 3 are of the ivory pieces and the fourth one is a small set of pigs. I'm not sure of the material or the markings. My next post will be of a couple of jade (I think) pieces that look like they would have gone on the end of a pipe or something.

Thanks for your help.

[Packman]

Additional photos...

Sorry if picture quality is bad. All I have right now is my iPhone and iPad.

[Ipcress]

Sorry but i don't see any great value. The " ivories " are not that old ( when comparing to the 19th century ones that fetch good money )

[mart]

Pics are not good enough to tell much !!  Can`t see the detail or graining to tell if it is ivory or other material !! I would get someone local to you to evaluate them !!  Even those not so old can bring a good amount !!

[Ipcress]

Pics are not good enough to tell much !!  Can`t see the detail or graining to tell if it is ivory or other material !! I would get someone local to you to evaluate them !!  Even those not so old can bring a good amount !!

Can tell from style, too, Mart. They look like ox bone from the pics.

And if he's UK then they can't be sold without a certificate as they appear to be post 1947

[frogpatch]

I sold some vintage ivory pieces that my brother brought home in the 50s. Four out of five dealers tried to steal them, or were lacking in expertise, by telling me that they were bone, ivorine, pressed ivory powder etc. It was fun when they didn't know I was a dealer and also knew the exact origin. Beware of unscrupulous and ignorant dealers.   Ivory has a grain, is extremely hard, always cracks from the base up and darkens with age. When you press a hot pin against it, the pin will not penetrate and it will smell like burnt hair or a singed fingernail. All Ivory has value if it is antique as it is illegal to sell new ivory. Only an expert can determine if it is true Dynasty art or tourist trade goods and tell you its value. Mine were 6 inch Japanese deities, not rare but well done and they brought good money. 125.00 for 7 back in 1980. Today I would expect about twice that.
I hope that helps.

I am not implying Ipcress is one of those dealers. I just edited this when I saw the post.

[Ipcress]

 

I catalogued a £30,000 ivory box so have a rough idea...Not a dealer though 
can be diffuclt from pics though but these appear to be mid / late 20th export stuff.

[Packman]

What about the jade pieces and the pigs?

Also, I have attached more pics of the brush pot. I'm almost positive it is ivory. I will ry to get some more pictures later today.

I don't think they are late 20th century pieces. My grandfather was dead by then and his travels in china were during he 20s and 30s.

[Packman]

Also...if you click on the photos, they will enlarge to show better detail.

[mart]

We know that !!  We always enlarge but much of the clarity of the pic depends on what you use to take it with !!  And the format you use as well as lighting, background ect !!~  Even after all that its still very hard to evaluate pieces like these !!  They are quite nice and you should do well with them but I still recommend someone qualified where you are rather than looking at pics on a computer !!

[Packman]

Does anybody have an idea about the little pig figures.

I can't seem to tell what material they are.

[bigwull]

you can do a hot pin test on the underneath...this will tell you if they are resin...