What is the best F1 regarding Clay Quality

[Youzi]

Hello Tea Friends,

I'm not well versed in F1 and antiques, because I focus on the research of the modern Yixing market, but I'd like to buy an old pot for myself, so I would have good subject to compare new pots to. I'm guessing a good clay would be and F1 Zini, since there are not much modern Hongni pots. I'm not looking for good lid fit or construction, only great clay, clay processing and firing.

Do you have any recommendations for era and specific kind of pot? and where should I look for those F1 pots?

Thank you Very Much,

-Youzi

[Bok]

Personally, F1 hongni from the 60s, or if too difficult to find or more economical, 70s hongni. For Zini and other clays, I think the pre factory ones are preferable, if they can be found.

[steanze]

Hello Tea Friends,

I'm not well versed in F1 and antiques, because I focus on the research of the modern Yixing market, but I'd like to buy an old pot for myself, so I would have good subject to compare new pots to. I'm guessing a good clay would be and F1 Zini, since there are not much modern Hongni pots. I'm not looking for good lid fit or construction, only great clay, clay processing and firing.

Do you have any recommendations for era and specific kind of pot? and where should I look for those F1 pots?

Thank you Very Much,

-Youzi

Hi Youzi,

that depends on what type of tea you would like to brew. I'd say 1960s jiazini, or 1960s xiao hongni, or 1960s benshan lv ni (good luck finding the benshanlvni under $2,000 though)...

[Chadrinkincat]

60’s hongni but it’s $$$$ or early 70’s which is a bit cheaper

Has a couple 60’s and early 70’s
https://moodyguy.biz/usd/60s-hongni-6-cup.html

Qing-F1 60-90’s
http://zishaartgallery.com/product-cate ... eapot-紫砂壶/

Occasionally has 60-70’s but currently all sold out
https://emmettsteas.weebly.com/

[Chadrinkincat]

60’s hongni but it’s $$$$ or early 70’s which is a bit cheaper

Has a couple 60’s and early 70’s
https://moodyguy.biz/usd/60s-hongni-6-cup.html

Qing-F1 60-90’s
http://zishaartgallery.com/product-cate ... eapot-紫砂壶/

Occasionally has 60-70’s but currently all sold out
https://emmettsteas.weebly.com/

60’s but limited to 60-80ml and $$$$
Www.2088taiwan.com

[Youzi]

Hello Tea Friends,

I'm not well versed in F1 and antiques, because I focus on the research of the modern Yixing market, but I'd like to buy an old pot for myself, so I would have good subject to compare new pots to. I'm guessing a good clay would be and F1 Zini, since there are not much modern Hongni pots. I'm not looking for good lid fit or construction, only great clay, clay processing and firing.

Do you have any recommendations for era and specific kind of pot? and where should I look for those F1 pots?

Thank you Very Much,

-Youzi

Hi Youzi,

that depends on what type of tea you would like to brew. I'd say 1960s jiazini, or 1960s xiao hongni, or 1960s benshan lv ni (good luck finding the benshanlvni under $2,000 though)...

Do you happen to know what is Xiao Hongni? The resources for Da Hongni seems to be consistent, but for xiao hongni its not so much... Is it hongni where the ore is red, or is it yellow? or perhaps HLS Zhuni was called Xiao Hongni in the old times? is Xiao Hongni from HLS at all? I heard sources claiming it is Hongni from Zhaozhuang...

Do you have one of those Jia zini teapots? Or should I get an RoC Zini pot, if I want to get a good Zini teapot?

I want to get an old pot, for research purposes to compare it with modern clay. The modern Hongni market is a mess, so that's why I was leaning more towards zini. As Benshan Zini is much more easier to find than HLS Hongni of any kind.

[Bok]

In my limited experience, pre factory Zini is extraordinary. However, they are not consistent from one pot to another. I find their is a lot of variation among them. Really difficult to use one of those for comparison with modern ones. A 60s hongni would be much more consistent. But I understand your issues with hongni. So...

All in all for your purposes, if you’d really wanted to compare old vs new, there probably isn’t the one pot that will do, rather than a spectrum.

[steanze]

Do you happen to know what is Xiao Hongni? The resources for Da Hongni seems to be consistent, but for xiao hongni its not so much... Is it hongni where the ore is red, or is it yellow? or perhaps HLS Zhuni was called Xiao Hongni in the old times? is Xiao Hongni from HLS at all? I heard sources claiming it is Hongni from Zhaozhuang...

Do you have one of those Jia zini teapots? Or should I get an RoC Zini pot, if I want to get a good Zini teapot?

I want to get an old pot, for research purposes to compare it with modern clay. The modern Hongni market is a mess, so that's why I was leaning more towards zini. As Benshan Zini is much more easier to find than HLS Hongni of any kind.

Xiao Hongni is a kind of hongni used in the 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s by Yixing Factory 1. As far as I know, it was mined from chuan bu. Xiao Hongni is not zhuni.

Yes, I have jiazini teapots, ROC zini is also good. As @Bok mentioned, ROC zini is quite variable, I think jiazini is better than some ROC zini , and perhaps worse than some other.

I think it will be very hard to do a comparison based only on one pot. Also, good benshan zini is not that easy to find as far as I know... it is not used in factory 1 after the 1960s.

[steanze]

Early 70s jiazini (side handle) compared to 2 ROC zini pots:

IMG_20191102_142745792.jpg (129.38 KiB) Viewed 7799 times

IMG_20191102_142754208.jpg (186.01 KiB) Viewed 7799 times

[Youzi]

Do you happen to know what is Xiao Hongni? The resources for Da Hongni seems to be consistent, but for xiao hongni its not so much... Is it hongni where the ore is red, or is it yellow? or perhaps HLS Zhuni was called Xiao Hongni in the old times? is Xiao Hongni from HLS at all? I heard sources claiming it is Hongni from Zhaozhuang...

Do you have one of those Jia zini teapots? Or should I get an RoC Zini pot, if I want to get a good Zini teapot?

I want to get an old pot, for research purposes to compare it with modern clay. The modern Hongni market is a mess, so that's why I was leaning more towards zini. As Benshan Zini is much more easier to find than HLS Hongni of any kind.

Xiao Hongni is a kind of hongni used in the 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s by Yixing Factory 1. As far as I know, it was mined from chuan bu. Xiao Hongni is not zhuni.

Yes, I have jiazini teapots, ROC zini is also good. As Bok mentioned, ROC zini is quite variable, I think jiazini is better than some ROC zini , and perhaps worse than some other.

I think it will be very hard to do a comparison based only on one pot. Also, good benshan zini is not that easy to find as far as I know... it is not used in factory 1 after the 1960s.

Maybe I'll have to settle on a Xiao Hongni pot, at least I'll have something to compare the modern red clays to. Do you happen to know the name of the mine in Chinese?

Could you share some photos of your Xiao Hongni and Jia Zini pots?

I thought F1 sourced clay from HLS, that's why it is considered of higher quality than modern pots. If F1 didn't use HLS Zini after 1960s, then where did they get their Zini from?

[Youzi]

Just spent my last full day researching about Xiao Hongni. Turns out, it's not from Huang Long Shan, but Chuanbu (川埠) Village Chalin Mine (查林矿区) and Fudong Mine (洑东矿区). It was a substitute Hongni material which was usually blended with Nenni (嫩泥/Tender Mud) or Zhuni to increase the plasticity of the clay.

[steanze]

Just spent my last full day researching about Xiao Hongni. Turns out, it's not from Huang Long Shan, but Chuanbu (川埠) Village Chalin Mine (查林矿区) and Fudong Mine (洑东矿区). It was a substitute Hongni material which was usually blended with Nenni (嫩泥/Tender Mud) or Zhuni to increase the plasticity of the clay.

Yes!
Sorry for the delay sharing the photos, I had a couple of busy days. I will try to upload them soon.