Antique Chinese Porcelain

After going through the shipwrecks (yesterday's post) you may want to start collecting antique Chinese Porcelain. For a tea fan, it seems to be a natural next step on your tea road. Such items can indeed increase your tea drinking pleasure. They are beautiful to look at, carry history and some even 'perform' better than modern porcelain.

But not always. Once, I bought a pair of maybe, antique gaibeis at Taipei's flea market (Hsin Sheng and Pa-Teh Rd). It looked genuine, but the tea I made in them would turn bad. It would give me a heavy feeling on my tongue, like eating clay. Beginner's mistake.

I therefore agree with Jan-Erik Nilsson's recommendation that you have to spend 10% of your antique acquisition budget on books on the subject. But before you spend any money, here is an advice that won't cost anything more than a little of your time: Visit his site. There is a lot of material for all tastes and nice pictures of Chinese antiques.