Hello all! My parents got me an antique from Mainland China for Christmas when they were over in Taiwan. It's a hand-carved dragon-shaped boat with little figures of the emperor and his court on it. I want to find out a little more about it and how old it is so I can get it properly insured. It is carved out of rubber wood and looks very old too. From the detail of the carving, it probably took hundreds of hours to carve. The store they bought it from said that they couldn't guarantee it was over 50 years old, but when you consider that the Chinese threw out the emperor around the time of the start of WWII, it would have to be at least that old. Chinese art changed radically following the revolution, and something like this would just not have been made after 1940. Anyone out there happen to be (or know) an expert on Chinese imperial art? I can send/post pics if anyone thinks they can help. Thanks! - Freed
Sounds like a good candidate for Antiques Roadshow!! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/index.html :grin:
I thought that myself, but unfortunately, the next time they are in town is for a special episode (I can't remember what the theme is) and the boat just wouldn't fit in. - Freed
Dont play with it in the tub ! Send pictures of your item to Leslie Hindman Galleries in Chicago I sent them a couple of shots of an old silk cabinet I wanted to get an appraisal on and they got back to me within a week with an estimated value. Very nice people. I think the web address is lesliehindman.com. Hope this helps Dana PS also San Francisco has a huge Chinese art museum you might want to see if they have an appraisal expert you can contact.
Dana- I actually emailed one of the experts listed on the Antiques Roadshow website. We'll see what she says. I figure they wouldn't put their addresses up there if they didn't want to get email. If I don't hear back, I'll try Leslie. Thanks all for the ideas. - Freed
