Can't people decide for themselves whether or not to comment? I agree that posters should specify whether or not the pot they post images of is a pot they own, but fail to see why we need to regulate what we can comment on through another rule.
What about when Sketchy Vendor X claims a pot they have for sale is a real antique, and Teapot Neophyte Y comes along to get second opinions on whether or not this is likely to be the case, before they make the purchase. Why shouldn't we help out?
Yixing
@Balthazar It is to avoid what happened to the Early pot fb group in the beginning, that people used a confirmation or denial of known “authorities” as a positive/negative endorsement to argue with vendors, or just generally swamp the forum with authentication requests.
Of course you are right people can just not reply, but I think a general advisory is better to also not make feel people like they are being ignored by other who they know could possibly say something but don’t.
The people with a serious interest will eventually find a way to get answers and learn by other means anyways. That is my take on it.
Of course you are right people can just not reply, but I think a general advisory is better to also not make feel people like they are being ignored by other who they know could possibly say something but don’t.
The people with a serious interest will eventually find a way to get answers and learn by other means anyways. That is my take on it.
But is there anything to suggest that something similar is happening here? Haven't been seeing a flood of requests for identification of other people's (or vendor's) pots.
I think an encouragement (or even requirement) to include information about whether or not the pot is question is one you own would be better than a rule (or perhaps it's just intended as advise?) about what the post audience can comment on.
I think an encouragement (or even requirement) to include information about whether or not the pot is question is one you own would be better than a rule (or perhaps it's just intended as advise?) about what the post audience can comment on.
I just noticed that the OP, before the edit, already says "please share your wares". I guess that means this has always been an implicit rule for this thread, so it kinda moots my objection here...
My bad, I always assumed this was more of a "general information about yixing wares" thread.
My bad, I always assumed this was more of a "general information about yixing wares" thread.
I don't see any of it as a rule, just an advisory. I think anybody is encouraged to ask questions or provide answers or opinions. It's more like when several hundreds of $'s are in question, one may not want to get involved...Balthazar wrote: ↑Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:31 amI just noticed that the OP, before the edit, already says "please share your wares". I guess that means this has always been an implicit rule for this thread, so it kinda moots my objection here...
My bad, I always assumed this was more of a "general information about yixing wares" thread.
How to tell whether a teapot has been colored with chemical additives or by reduction firing? Take this teapot, for example. I think the color (black) comes from additives. Would you use a teapot that looks like this? Yes, I own this pot. 
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@Mark-S
With dual color pots, if it’s reduction firing, the body would be much darker. I think it’s a good guess that handle, lid, and sprout may have things like magnesium added to make this black color. I don’t own wuhei pot, but I do have a F1 hei ni pot that I posted earlier. The color looks much darker with the hei ni pot.
I just wanted to comment that @steanze and @Bok along with other seniors have helped a lot on my journey in learning Yixing. Photos authentication is not the same as in person. And those Yixing experts in this forum do not get paid for providing feedback/authentication. I’d be okay to just ask about pots I own. Conflict of interest between vendors and sellers, it’s better to save for a paid authenticator.
How's the lid on the inside? With artist pots it's usually painted with colored clay, so the inside of colored pots are still natural usually. for cheaper pots I assume it's not necessarily the same thing.
Anyway I wouldn't be worried of too much stuff leaching if the pot is high fired enough.
Looks perfect for pumpkin spice chai.
First things first, I'm no expert. This is what I've gathered from reading, observing the pots in my possession, and pictures of pots online. I'd love for people with knowledge on the subject to chime in and correct anything that's off, or caveats.
One thing to look out for is how many different kinds of particles you can see in the clay. When clay is artificially dyed it will dye most particles (from what I've read), so when you look closely with a magnifying glass or hi-res photo it will mostly be one colour (along with black spots). This is true for all the 80s and onwards hongni pots I own, although mine do have the occasional silvery particle and black spots. Looking at pictures of 60s hongni, there seem to be white particles (mica?) in that clay.
I only have one pot in HeiNi territory (90s Shui Ping with character for moon stamped in lid). It does have white particles, so I don't know if that means the clay in my pot is just some dark zini, whether black dye affects the clay differently, or something else.
For hongni, I believe the red "dye" is iron oxide, which I guess is ground into a fine powder and mixed in.
@DailyTX @Youzi @bliss
That's very helpful, as always, thanks a lot
I attached a photo of the lid (sorry for the bad quality). The overall quality of this pot is pretty good in comparison to my other pots. I'll definitely keep this one. Especially the colors are very nice. It's great that I don't have to worry about the color. 
Could be a F1 pot but I have no idea how old it is. Maybe from the 80's... but that's just a guess.
@bliss
That's a good idea, I will check the texture when I return home next weekend.
That's very helpful, as always, thanks a lot
I attached a photo of the lid (sorry for the bad quality). The overall quality of this pot is pretty good in comparison to my other pots. I'll definitely keep this one. Especially the colors are very nice. It's great that I don't have to worry about the color. Could be a F1 pot but I have no idea how old it is. Maybe from the 80's... but that's just a guess.@bliss
That's a good idea, I will check the texture when I return home next weekend.
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Speaking of black and white particles. The article 4 Signs of a Real Yixing Teapot from Mud & Leaves is worth a look. It has some nice pictures illustrating the points, and the Chinese terms for instant googling of relevant Chinese language resources (hello auto-translation for some of us).
For the black parts I think they added manganese oxide. I have a pot with added manganese oxide I use in the office.
From what I've read, Manganese Oxide does not seem to be as bad as Barium Carbonate. Especially, when processed correctly. And since the clay still looks normal and has a natural feel it really should not be a problem. Also great to know that even the pros use pots with additives... thanks
