F2 teapots

[Ernesto Martin]

What do you think about F2 teapots?
Any advice?
Where to buy?

Thanks everyone

[.m.]

Here's one
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/yi ... gxi-teapot
Not sure if they are in general any better or worse than late 80's/90's F1. I have a supposed F5 pot, which i like quite a lot (except it is very small).

[Chadrinkincat]

F2 tends to be a cheap alternative to F1 pots..

No real reason to seek out F2 unless you find one for cheap or just want to do a factory 1 + 2 comparison. Imho a fair price for most F2 should be 50% less than a comparable late 80-90’s F1 pot.

$85 for late 90’s shui-ping? Easy pass considering this is the least desirable era for factory pots.

[Balthazar]

Agree with the above, but I think you're going to be hard pressed to find anything at below $85 (unless second hand).

Chawangshop used to sell a bunch of Factory 2 pots. Been a while since I've seen any, but here are a few that are no longer available:

1980s Factory 2 Dark Clay Teapot 125ml ($140)

1980s Factory 2 Zini Clay Shang Xin Qiao 上新桥 180ml ($140)

1990s Factory 2 Zini Squirrels and grapes Pot 150cc ($85)

Early 1990s Dark Zini Factory 2-5 "Moon" Shuiping 85cc ("Factory 2 or 5", $90)

1993 Factory 2 Zini Bamboo Drum 竹鼓 Pot 160cc ($58)

There's also a really tiny one (Factory 2/5) for sale at TeaLife HK.

From Billy Mood's article:

Yixing Zisha Factory (No. 2) was formed in 1984 by brothers, Xu Siew Tang and Xu Han Tang, both master craftsmen. They managed to lured some craftsmen from Factory 1 to join them. Subsequent ranking of their craftsmen were self appointed and therefore not recognised by the central government. What does that mean to a teapot collector? Generally speaking that you should avoid collecting teapots made by craftsmen from Factory 2 since they are self appointed masters. However, we have to admit that there are a number of talented craftsmen in Factory 2 and we should collect based on quality rather than namesake.

... not to derail the thread, but how does one determine that a pot is "Factory 2 or 5" (as with one of the Chawang pots, and the TeaLife HK pot)? Does factory 3-4 even exist?

[Bok]

... not to derail the thread, but how does one determine that a pot is "Factory 2 or 5" (as with one of the Chawang pots, and the TeaLife HK pot)? Does factory 3-4 even exist?

3 and 4 made mostly flower pots and other utilitarian things.

There must be some documentation on F2-5 pots that allow for a more precise attribution of some pot designs. F1 to F2-5 is mostly more simple in that the latter are mostly more sloppy in execution and the clay can be odd...

Really only to be considered if they are offered cheaply or are the exception of the rule. But I'd say a person who can recognise the gems among the rubbish will usually not have no use for them either

Collection value is also close to zero. Too much F1 teapots around from the same period and in vastly better quality. 80-90s there are still 1000s if not 1000000s of items floating around. And all from the heavy-doped clay period

[Chadrinkincat]

@Balthazar

Yea I wouldn’t suggest buying an F2 shuiping unless it’s second hand. Better F1 pots will only cost $15-30 more.

Catalogue for F2.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/499515196 ... 6190487891

[Balthazar]

3 and 4 made mostly flower pots and other utilitarian things.

Thanks, that's useful to know.

@Chadrinkincat Agreed. And cool catalogue!

[Stephen]

I have two F2 teapots. They're in the F2 catalog chadrinkincat posted. I use the ba le shui ping on the left often - I like how it brews.

Apologies for the pics - it's night time here!