How to identify real and fake purple clay teapots?

China is one of the four ancient countries, so after thousands of years of development, many traditional production techniques have been improved on the previous basis. Take the purple clay teapot for example, now it is not only very beautiful but also more practical. Moreover, authentic purple clay teapots have a certain collection value, and there will definitely be a lot of room for improvement in their value in the future. So, how to identify the real and fake purple clay teapot?

How to identify genuine and fake purple clay teapots:

First, look

First look at the surface. Because it is made of clay and is not glazed, the surface of a new purple clay teapot cannot be shiny, but rather has a rough feel. Fake clay pots are usually waxed and polished to make them look better.

Secondly, purple clay contains trace elements such as quartz and mica, which will form crystals during high-temperature firing. Therefore, under the light, many tiny silver-white bright spots can be seen on the entire body of the pot. Third, the colors inside and outside of a genuine purple clay teapot are almost the same and will not differ too much.

The second is to use boiling water test

Pour the freshly boiled water into the pot and pour it down the body of the pot, then cover the pot with the lid. You will see that the water does not flow down, but is slowly absorbed; the lid of the pot becomes wet first and then slowly dries. This is because the purple clay teapot has double-layer air holes and good air permeability.

The third is to leave the brewed tea in the teapot

The tea will not go bad within two or three days.

The identification method of knocking the pot body with the lid and listening to the sound is actually unscientific. Because of the different shapes and clay materials, the sounds will also be different. Moreover, adding windshield washer fluid to fake clay can also produce sounds similar to real clay. The greater benefit of knocking and listening to the sound is to identify whether there are any hidden cracks on the body of the pot.

Other ways to identify genuine and fake purple clay teapots:

1. Clay material:

In the industry, there are two types of so-called fake purple clay teapots: one is fake clay, and the other is fake style. Fake clay is made by replacing purple clay with chemical clay.

The counterfeit ones are that some craftsmen stamp their own seals on the pots but hire others to do the work; the second is that counterfeiters forge the seals of famous artists. If fake clay and fake styles are included, 90% of the purple clay teapots on the market are fake.

The fake teapot with the largest stock and the longest existence on the market now is made of hand-pulled clay. The properties of purple clay dictate that it cannot be shaped by hand and can only be beaten into clay sheets. Hand-pulled pots often appear to be completely handmade, but the clay used for these pots is actually ordinary clay plus chemical raw materials.

In Yixing, a worker can make two to three hundred of these pots a day, and the price is between 10 yuan and 30 yuan. This kind of pot has traces of lines left inside the pot.

2. Price:

The price of a real pot is two or three hundred yuan, which is reasonable

A teapot generally requires 1 kilogram of clay. Even inferior clay costs dozens of yuan, plus labor, packaging, shipping costs, and waste loss during the firing process. Therefore, it is more reasonable to sell an ordinary pot made by an apprentice or ordinary worker for two to three hundred yuan.

In other words, if a purple clay teapot is priced below 200 yuan, it is most likely a fake.

But for those good purple clay teapots, the prices are completely different. Nowadays, the purchase price of a purple clay teapot made by a craftsman with a little fame is at least 1,000 yuan. This kind of purple clay teapot can be considered a handicraft. Its value mainly depends on the craftsmanship of the craftsman, and the cost of the clay material does not exceed 10%.

Handmade purple clay teapots made by famous artists are currently priced at hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan each in the market.