FAKE 19th C CHINESE EMBROIDERED ANTIQUES

(with 2008 updates)

By Nicole la Bay

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You will find Nicole La Bay Chinese Antiques here:

After 6 years on eBay and being a collector of antique Chinese embroideries myself, I've seen SEVERAL WAVES of FAKES!
And from fairly primitive, they've become very sophisticated.

This little guide should help you spot a few blatant tricks.

First, 19th Century may only mean the style, so always look in the items specifics window just above the listings,  to check the date. If it says 1940, chances are the item was done in the past year!

Fakes can be:

1. Recent reproductions.

2. 1930s reproductions.

3. New items made with 19th C fabrics.

Items reproduced are so far:  Robes, Rank badges, Bound feet shoes, Small purses, Vests and Hats.

1. ROBES

19th century silks are ALL fraying, and have many other blemishes, including age spots, so all silk robes that look fresh are new by definition. There are now excellent reproductions of embroidered Court robes that can be bought for $150 or so, and at that price are honestly an excellent bargain, as long as you know what they are.

2. RANK BADGES

Massively reproduced in China after WWII, mostly from the 70s on, and now sold in the $0.98 range! They can be embroidered in regular satin stitch, couched metallic, or forbidden stitch, and are very well made.

2008 update: A new way of embroidering rank badges has appeared very recently. It seems the Miao minority is now embroidering them. These badges definitely have a Miao style! I've also seen a fake Korean badge embroidered in the same "Miao" manner. This would make sense, as Miao labour is probably cheaper, and recruitment of Chinese specialists is probably getting more and more difficult.

VERY IMPORTANT!

BEWARE that in the 30s, and this is something that is very little known, China exported fake rank badges to the US and the UK in various shapes.

I've observed them very carefully: often done on thick black cotton, they have very simplified birds and Greek borders. They use a fairly "wooly" satin stitch, birds are red, cream sometimes, and all the same (the flycatcher).

Couched metallic badges exist with exactly the same birds, (or the goose.)

They come in squares and small roundels.

2 badges attached together which are absolutely identical (and not one split front badge and one back badge) are 30s reproductions.  These pairs were sold as runners, as purses, or as trays. 

Linings are often traditional thin teal silk.

These badges are antiques in their own right, and really look old for many of them, but they're not the original 19th Century badges.

Tip: Couched metallic threads in fakes are low quality, and age FASTER than 19th Century ones, so if you see the metallic part flaking, or very tarnished, this isn't too good.

Back: Also, always try to have a look at the backing of the badge. The silk there should have aged with the piece, if it has survived, since it's extremely thin. It should NEVER be fresh.

3. BOUND FEET SHOES

The darkest spot. At any time on eBay there are about half a dozen pairs of genuine shoes including items in stores, AT MOST. All the rest is fake!

Old silk shoes are nearly all in BAD shape. Or it's miraculous. Only the cotton ones fare better. If the silk shoes look fresh, this means they've been overly restored, (meaning there is re-stitching in the frayed areas) or they're made with old fabrics that have been cut out.

Though fake shoes are all made in China, there are STILL genuine bound feet shoes sold on ebay Chinese sites, for whoever can recognize them! They're very costly and are alas mostly sold next to fakes.

The most recent bound feet shoes fakes are ADMIRABLE in my opinion But they're fakes. Meaning they have no value! So just purchase them for the beauty of the handicrafts.

Fakers want their shoes to look really appealing, and this is exactly where they're caught! Their product looks too good to be true.

2008 update: Also, I noticed, in many cases, though everything looks good, there is something in the overall balance of the shoe, the ratio between length and heel height, which is completely awkward. Even with bound feet, noone could have walked with them!  

Recently alas, I've seen a few of these Chinese fakes re-sold in the US, by buyers who had purchased them and found out about them.. So be aware that the fact they're from the US isn't a guarantee any more.

2008 update: RESTORATION:

I've seen heavily restorated lotus shoes on a Paris flea market recently. The shell was authentic, but different parts had been replaced.

Years ago, I had bought a pair of shoes from China also heavily restored (maybe 70%!)

In both cases, some of the cotton fabric used was from the 1960s. I'm not kidding.

My opinion is that it is better to buy shoes that look a bit dilapidated than shoes that are too refurbished.

There are no acceptable norms for restoration for this type of antiques yet. Inevitably some work will need to be done on these shoes, like re-attaching the couched threads, etc. Before this becomes clearer, I would suggest keeping the shoes as they are, with their loose threads, and just preserving them, like all antique silks, away from light.

4. SMALL PURSES

Fake purses appeared in the past year. Made with cut out pieces of embroidery, or freshly embroidered today by the Miao minority. Fading, age stains and particularly VERY damaged borders should tell you if the item is genuine.

5. VESTS

Court robes exporters also carry new "Xia Pei" vests. Same thing, very well done, and very affordable.

I also saw more simple vests with cut outs of old Miao embroideries in a store located in Belgium, so beware.

6. HATS

I've seen new hats embroidered by the Miao in the same store, (which only carries (delightful, I must say) reproductions, so this shows what a full bloom cottage industry this has become).

2008 update: In this guide written in 2006 I was saying: "So, so far, one can say that all 19th Century Chinese hats on eBay are good.." Well, of course the grace period is over. So caution here too.

Nicole La Bay

You will find Nicole La Bay Chinese Antiques here:

(c) Nicole La Bay 2006-2008