Over the years I have bought numerous Hall teapots, both for collections and for resale. Overall, most of the people who sale these teapots are very honest in their description. There are times though when a teapot may not be exactly as advertised. In some of those situations it may be a seller that has taken extra efforts to hide a flaw, and in others it may be that the person was not aware that a flaw had been previously hidden.

We all see the chips on the inside rim, or the finial that has been broken off and reglued. These are the more obvious flaws, as well as the spout that was broken off.. I recently came across a flaw though that was not as obvious. It was a hariline crack in the handle of a teapot. It was a black teapot, and under normal lighting the crack did not show up. It was not until I had the teapot outside in daylight that the crack became apparent. There did not appear to be any attempt by the seller to hide the flaw, but the seller being unable to detect it under normal lighting conditions.

The most common flaw I have found is chips on the spout of teapots. On many teapots, these are fairly easy to spot. There are some unscrupulous people though that will make attempts to hide a chip, especially on more desriable teapots. I have seen different methods used to do this. On teapots without gold trim, I have seen chips that were painted over or a Sharpie used to match the color. Clear fingernail polish would then be used to "gloss" the color and give it a smooth finish.

I recently came across a very nice teapot that looked to be in perfect condition, with all the gold intact. Feeling the tip of the spout, I noticed that it did not feel right. Closer inspection using a magnifying glass revealed that there was a chip, and that at some point someone had used a gold arts and crafts pen to cover the chip.

The most elaborate method I have seen to hide a chipped spout was where someone had actually sanded the spout smooth, repainted the sanded area, and then glazed it with ceramics glaze and baked it. Close examination revealed a slight difference in the color at the tip of the spout, and a line you could feel but not see where the new glaze covered the old glaze.

Fortunately, the majority of people that sale teapots are honest people that do describe them to the very best of their ability. There will always be a few bad apples though that are more interested in getting the most they can off of unknowing buyers.