Wall hanging with frogs?

I almost didn't buy this but I just couldn't walk away without it. The images looked like faces to me but my wife said they looked like frogs. It looks to be hand made.

 

I vote Toads. The backs are warty. I have no clue as to the origin of the item, apart from thinking it looks South American and possibly from a toad worshipping tribe.

Some toads, like the Cane Toad, exude a psychoactive substance that can give toad kissers a high,(really, this is not one of my jokes) so toad worship is not altogether fantastical.

 

That's some knowledgable information. That's what I like about collecting. You learn something different almost every time. I'll have to look that up and just sit back and read it. How do you know so much information?

 

How do you know so much information?

I have spent much of my life learning odd useless bits of stuff and not forgetting much of it. The only use I have ever found for it is in the antiques field where you need to know a bit about everything, or know a man that does. It is also very useful for generating plausible but totally BS replies to questions you cannot answer, and spotting the BS of others when they get a fact you do happen to know, wrong.

It can pay off in recognising obscure objects others would pass by. Otherwise it's a head full of dusty old books.

 

I'm trying to educate myself on almost everything but I can't hold more than one book at a time. Usually, I try to educate myself more so on the porcelain side, so many fakes out there.

 

Get a genuine piece, or pieces, even if it is broken and live with intensely for a while. Broken or damaged good stuff are called study pieces. You learn the look and the feel and even the taste intimately, so your subconcious rings a bell if something does not seem right.

It's the same thing as chickens trained to peck just one colour of corn, (at one time experiments were made using pigeons to guide missiles with pecks on a screen) but as we are humans we'll dress up the primitive recognition as 'good taste' or something.

Books are useful but there is no substitute for handling the real thing. Museums are not a lot of use but at a decent auction you can handle and closely inspect stuff, even if you have neither the intention or means to buy it.

 

Here's a Nippon piece, a three legged standing vase. It feels and looks really nice. The details are very fine. I'm assuming it's real.

 

Rule of thumb, anthing that says Hand Painted is relatively recent, and apart from Belleek and Herend I know squat about 20th C china.

 

I was confident it was a recent piece. Since I can't afford the earlier pieces, might as well start somewhere. I'm still hoping to come across a Newcomb in my journey. It would take someone not knowing what they have and the moral thing of telling them what they have.

 

Your Nippon piece probably pre-dates 1922 (It is only 8 years away from being an Antique)

 

Really? Thank you for the info. I've searched for one similar but haven't found one yet. It's going no where. It will be passed to my grand kids.

 

The only down side to this piece, is that it's chipped on the rim. But it's at an angle where you can hardly see it, ei the photo.

 

Armando, The only "good" pieces I have all have chips/cracks/flaws of some sort, but I also just turn them to the wall.
(if they are really good pieces, I need to sell them )

 

Hi Armando,
There are so many pieces of Nippon ware around and they are good but not very valuable. The ones that bring real good money are the ones that have certain decorations or unusual uses. I have one large vase with American Indians on it which would sell for several thousands of dollars, if perfect. Mine is missing a small handle which in my hurry to obtain the vase I never noticed until I got home. It is a wonderful piece to display but value is less than 50 bucks. I still got a good deal since I paid 10 dollars for it. I love buying stuff that is chipped if CHEAP because it is how you learn to "feel and eye" the good pieces from across the room. I spotted the Indian vase from two rooms away bypassed everything to grab it. Then made my way back to the other rooms.
greg

 

I think I'm getting there. Like I've said before, my wife says I have a good eye for nice things. I pushed my wife out of the way to get to this piece. Once I have the item in hand, I'm looking to see pictures, etc. are transferred or hand painted. If hand painted, I look at how well or sloppy it was done. If it's not a transfer and a well painted piece, I usually buy it.

 

I would love to walk around with someone that really knows their stuff and see what they spot in a shop.

 

Are we not losing sight of the frogs?

 

Maybe everyone felt your answer was adequate.

 

They have more sense than that. Someone must have a better idea even though mine was not one of my joke answers, even if it sounded like it even to me.

 

I did. Toads.

Af and I share the same kind of brain. Not that I could even approach his knowledge, but we both remember 'stuff' that has perhaps laid dormant since 1957. Or, that is so out of the realm of that which people think we know about, that it makes a gratifying impression on others. (Smirk!)