Not long ago, a court in Nanjing, a counterfeit ancient coin merchant was sentenced to three years in prison and fined, and whether the cultural relics market should comply with modern commercial credit norms caused an uproar in the collection industry.
According to the Market News, a Nanjing citizen surnamed Qin sold 110 fake ancient coins for 400 yuan each, claiming to have been unearthed from the construction site. Qin mou did not admit guilt, because there is an unwritten unspoken rule in the antique trade, and it is the responsibility of the buyer to identify the authenticity.
An industry insider said that selling fake goods or refusing to return them in the antique collection market is not deceptive. A practitioner of the Nanjing ancient relics market said that since ancient times, this field has relied on its own knowledge and experience to collect antiques, and it is all based on eyesight to make money.
Industry estimates that if the state uses existing laws to penalize such acts, as many as half of mainland antique dealers will face imprisonment. What is even more surprising is that Professor Yang Jingrong, an expert in pottery in the Forbidden City, said in an interview with Beijing media that 95% of antiques in the antique market are fakes.
Professor Yang said that in Jingdezhen, china's porcelain capital, although the salary of hiring professional craftsmen to make antique artworks is high, making fine porcelain fakes can at least earn hundreds of times the profits of producers. In the 1990s, the first finely crafted imitation yuan blue and white porcelain vase was sold for 3 million yuan at foreign auctions.
Antique artifacts have caused many collectors to suffer huge losses, and the trend of counterfeit technology has caused headaches for the most experienced experts. For example, counterfeiters use the chemical elements of irradiation vessels, advanced printing methods, and even use boiling tea to smoke to make the scroll paper white. Some people raise bugs and rats to bite the scrolls and make them look old.
Rampant counterfeiting deters art collectors, dealing a blow to the antiques industry and disrupting the auction market. A well-known painter, who asked not to be named, said he once saw a fake painting that had been auctioned for 1,500 yuan, and when it was auctioned at another auction a year later, the price soared to 25,000 yuan. A person familiar with the matter said that some small auction houses that specialize in selling fake calligraphy and paintings to ordinary collectors are easily manipulated by auction houses due to the lack of public regulation.
As for the Nanjing case, Xiaobian believes that the sale of fake antiques will not necessarily be punished, considering that the seller may not know the authenticity, or the buyer may be willing to buy even if he is not sure of the authenticity of the item. It is recommended that more effective regulations be developed in the country so that the law does not succumb to industry norms. What do you think about that? You are welcome to let us know in the comments section.