So an unexpected find yesterday: another Biandeng! Same size but a whole different workmanship, more sloppy, less balanced and in hongni.
Clay feels very dense and mid to high fired. Looks a bit dusty but that seems to be from the storage.
The vendor said he bought them in Yixing at least 30 years ago but is not sure how much longer they have been there before he bought them.
Biandeng, opinions
The handle is a tiny bit better balanced than the Nwlh, more comfortable to hold. Other than that volume and thickness seem to be almost identical.
And half of what I paid for the first!
And half of what I paid for the first!
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Clay is definitely on the red side.
Took me ages to choose as he had a whole lot of them, all slightly different.
... and all the other basic 5 Yixing shapes. All seemingly from the same period and clay, maybe even the same firing.
Took me ages to choose as he had a whole lot of them, all slightly different.
... and all the other basic 5 Yixing shapes. All seemingly from the same period and clay, maybe even the same firing.
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Been looking a lot at other Biandengs, from different periods and with confirmed authenticity. Seems to me that this shape must have been more tricky to do and fire, even the older examples are often a bit wonky and off-shape, compared to the other basic shapes like standard Shuiping, Taijian, Bale etc.
The lids are rarely perfect.
The lids are rarely perfect.
Found an ancestor of my other biandengs, from the 60ies 
Took a snap of the three, F1 60s, F1 80s and prob.80/90ies non F1, *which is still for sale
The clay of the 60s is beautiful and I now understand how some things have to be touched and felt to get the difference! Dense, silky, yet sandy.
80 NWLH has the best craftsmanship though. 60s seem to be more sloppy, especially the lids.
Sorry for the quality, the light is terrible today...
Took a snap of the three, F1 60s, F1 80s and prob.80/90ies non F1, *which is still for sale
The clay of the 60s is beautiful and I now understand how some things have to be touched and felt to get the difference! Dense, silky, yet sandy.
80 NWLH has the best craftsmanship though. 60s seem to be more sloppy, especially the lids.
Sorry for the quality, the light is terrible today...
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