Page 50 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

category in its own right and can equally as technically be referred to as being “Chinese”. It
had among its manufacturing ranks silversmiths who, perhaps confusingly for us, straddled
both Straits and Chinese Export Silver categories. Straits silver is a complex silver
category inasmuch as it had three distinct manufacturing periods over the 100 years it was
produced [1835-1935]. Many of the silversmiths were Chinese with some operating in
China proper as well as in Straits territories effectively creating “export silver”. Some was
destined exclusively for the Straits and some for export to the West. Straits Chinese Silver
generally resisted aping Western styles; it was often Chinese-influenced and most likely to
be decorated with motifs that were Straits-relevant and on forms and styles that were
definitively Straits in cultural origin. Some Straits Chinese Silver also incorporated Islamic
decorative motifs contained within arabesques shapes. As with Chinese Export Silver,
Straits Chinese Silver often carries Chinese chop marks and it is because of this that items
often appear in Western auction houses or on e-commerce sites incorrectly classified as
Chinese Export Silver, with perhaps a degree of licence or optimism on the part of the
seller factored in. Chinese Export Silver generally achieves higher values than Straits
Chinese silver at auction.
It is mainly due to the general ascendant buoyancy of values of Chinese Export Silver as
an antique silver category that it is often seen by sellers as a bandwagon to climb aboard
and take a ride upon. Even 19th century English silver decorated “in the Chinese style” has
been known to have been described as “Chinese Export Silver”. Japanese silver, some of
which is quite stylistically similar to Chinese Export Silver, is also not infrequently mis-
catalogued as being “Chinese Export Silver”, mainly because of sellers’ inability to
distinguish between Chinese and Japanese character marks.

Silver and silver making, as with any creative art, should command respect; it is not and
can never be a convenient carousel to take a ride on and jump off at a whim.