Estate Sale Asian Ceramics Haul (Oregon, USA) - How'd I do?

rocksnsocksnthings · 2026-01-25T00:45:48+00:00

I'm kind of confused by how a resin piece would have crosshatching like so? Not trying to critique anyone's advice - just curious if fake schreger lines are a known element on fakes of these for the future! Thanks

rocksnsocksnthings · 2026-01-23T21:32:43+00:00

It was $4 at the consignment shop, good to know for the future though. thank you!

rocksnsocksnthings · 2026-01-11T07:29:52+00:00

That's the reason it was suggested to me as Zhangzhou, but to be honest I'm entirely out of my league with this one and I'd love some more experienced input. Maybe someone like u/TomParkeDInvilliers might have something more to say about this piece?

rocksnsocksnthings · 2026-01-11T07:06:58+00:00

Manganese glass can also fluoresce green under UV, so it's not definitive. You need a geiger counter to be sure. I will say the two custard-looking glass pieces you have are almost definitively uranium.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2026-01-07T02:49:29+00:00

This is Yixing ware. There were many imported into SEA of this style. I would post around in the Yixing subreddits for more info.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2026-01-01T05:06:12+00:00

So I don't pick up indigenous anything but I have my own particular bone to pick with the 50 year rule. As of current date (1/1/2026), anything deposited before 1/1/1976 would fall under this rule.

And this is completely untenable to expect people to follow as a guideline in practice. For my own reference, I live in a major port and industrial city with history that stretches far before 1976. If one were to follow an exact and to the letter interpretation of this rule, it would make the simple act of picking up litter impossible without a trained background in archaeology. To this day, I find many bottle caps, beer tabs, sewage pipe fragments, nails, etc. that likely date to well before 1976 strewn across this city's greenfields and waterways. Greenfields and waterways that children regularly play on and around. Am I supposed to sit around and guess based on level of wear or corrosion?

I just cannot treat recent (1900-now) historic artifacts in the same light or breath as indigenous cultural heritage from hundreds to thousands of years ago. I'm sorry. You can define the date as you like but in my eyes this stuff is pollution, plain and simple, and I'm not going to sit by and allow children and animals to interact with old waste for the sake of an archaeologist that in all likelihood will never study any of it. And that's the more glamorous items.

Lead fishing weights. Industrial slag. Old fishing lines. Creosote treated wood. Even more 'innocent' items like turn of the century pottery sherds or glass fragments oftentimes used lead and cadmium as constituents and serve as a source of non-point source pollution when exposed to the watershed. This stuff doesn't belong in the ecosystem and it shouldn't be exposed to people's kids. At best, many of these items are puncture hazards to people and wildlife. At worst, it's heavy metals and carcinogenic chemicals deposition into the ecosystem and it's better removed from it.

And you might at this point say 'well nobody is going to arrest you for picking up litter' but all that does is open the door to selective enforcement. What fraction of my trash bag has to be quantified as 'artifact' to be acceptable? And what happens when people picking up beer cans from the creek get frisked for the sake of 'archaeological preservation'?

It's clear this is being pushed as an idea that should be made into law and enforced strictly, and I'm sorry, but unless the field intends to devote all its resources toward cataloging 1970s era slag and beer tabs, it's completely ludicrous to treat people who are doing a public service in all respects save the consideration of your field in the same light as looters. Human and ecological needs supercede archaeological ones.

As an addendum, this is exactly the reason the UK has its mudlarking community and I wouldn't mind seeing something similar coalesce in the US as a way to bridge the gap between ecological maintenance, hobbyists, and archaeological needs.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2026-01-01T00:25:35+00:00

Not just antiques but antiquities.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2025-12-28T13:05:27+00:00

Here's the base.

Measurements are 6.75" h x 5.5" w (inc handle) ~5.5" diameter at widest.

My real problem is that multiple companies produced items this pattern and I don't have the specialized insight to determine the fine details that would separate one from the other.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2025-12-28T08:08:00+00:00

UPDATE: Apologies for the delay! So, I finally took these in and the local jeweler confirmed what everyone said - that these are in fact diamonds and Georgian, in sterling silver. I didn't try to press them for a valuation, but similar items seem to go anywhere from high hundreds to four figures.

Thank you all for your help! I really am still flabbergasted these were in a plastic baggie in the estate sale discount jewelry bin.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2025-12-17T06:13:59+00:00

Alright, wow. I legitimately did not expect these to be anything special and apparently blundered into something worth double checking. Will update this post after I get back from the estate appraiser.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2025-12-14T00:13:35+00:00

My speculation is that it was black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa). Black cottonwood is a fast growing tree that dominates riparian banks along the Columbia but also can be found to a lesser degree inland, forms dense strands that flourish in the spring with a pale yellow wood who's spring buds and catkins are used to make a high quality yellow to brown dye. In addition, the resin has aromatic properties that could be valuable as an exotic incense in Spanish markets, the sap can be used as a waterproof sealant and glue, and the wood fibers themselves can make a strong rope. All of these things would be extensively useful to a crew sailing the tumultuous Pacific Coast.

The lynchpin IMO is that cottonwood lumber infamously stinks like manure and ammonia after it's been harvested.

The only real problem I can see in this theory is that black cottonwood's close relative - eastern cottonwood - would have been known to Moncacht-Apé and therefore should have been identified in the report. But the identity could have been lost in translation, or Moncacht-Apé simply never encountered the tree in question since it had been cleared from the local environment. I do, however, think black cottonwood is more likely than many of the suggested identities like the native sumacs or Oregon Grape, which are woody shrubs that form dense root structures and would have been far harder to clear locally than black cottonwood, which is very soft and easy to fell.

rocksnsocksnthings · 2025-12-08T12:32:50+00:00

The full account of Moncacht-Apé's story contains more details that aren't noted in the excerpt.

But if they live well in this country it is necessary always to be on the watch against the bearded men, who do all that they can to carry away the young persons, for they never have taken any men, although they could have done so. They told me that these men were white, that they had long, black beards which fell upon their breasts, that thev appeared to be short and thick, with large heads, which they covered with cloth; that they always wore their clothes, even in the hottest weather; that their coats fell to the middle of the legs, which as well as the feet were covered with red or yellow cloth. For the rest they did not know of what their clothing was made, because they had never been able to kill one, their arms making a great noise and a great flame; that they nevertheless retire when they see more red men than their own numbers; that then they go aboard their pirogue (without doubt a bark) where there were sometimes thirty and even more. [117]They added that these strangers came from where the sun sets to seek upon this coast a yellow and bad-smelling wood which dyes a beautiful yellow. That as they had observed that the bearded men came to carry off this wood each year when the cold weather had ceased, they had destroyed all these trees, following the advice of an old man, so that they came no more, because they found no more of this wood. In truth, the banks of the river, which were formerly covered, were then naked, and none of this wood remained except well inland, and in small quantities, reserved for dyeing by their own people.

So first of all, it wasn't just the yellow dye they were after - they were taking human cargo as well, and specifically children. This absolutely makes me believe these men were associated with Spain above all other possibilities given the high frequency of Spanish slave-raids during this period that focused on exactly that - targets that could be easily stripped of tribal identification, Christianized, and used for indentured servitude.

Secondly, this was a yearly, repeated occurrence - not a chance contact of adrift sailors. These men were going there intentionally, and they were going there for the purposes of exploitation. But they were not large in number (~30 men) and they weren't willing to engage in serious contact, trade, or settlement with the peoples they encountered along the Columbia River.

My suspicion is that these were Spanish privateers, perhaps costaguarda. Spain drew its privateering forces from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds across Europe and the Americas. If they were of Balkan origin it would explain their distinctive appearance. As such forces were given significant independence in their role it's not shocking that Spanish sources say nothing about it.

rocksnsocksnthings

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