Gotheborg.com is a private help and information page set in motion by the Swedish collector Jan-Erik Nilsson, inspired by his mentor Professor Bo Gyllensvärd (1916–2004), active in Sweden from the 1940s until his passing in 2004, and many others who selflessly have shared their knowledge and promoted scholarly interest in Asian Ceramic history and culture for its own sake.
Its purpose is to be an unbiased help and information page for collectors of Antique Chinese and Japanese porcelain and by this keeping alive a vast amount of tacit knowledge in this most difficult area of collecting.
The Public Gotheborg.com Main Site is managed solely by its owner, while the Discussion Board is run on a voluntary basis by and for its own members, while the technical costs are financed by a membership fee. The Discussion Board is commercially independent. No advertising is allowed. No user data is collected, used or secretly sold to anyone. The site is run on a single, dedicated and professionally maintained server of our own, located in Sweden.
It consists of a Public Part, and a members only Discussion Board (Forum).
It depends.
Yes. Use the quick email consultation form at Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Quick e-mail consultation page.
Yes. One good idea is that you become a member of the Discussion Board. In this way you help keep the entire site on-line and you also get to know a lot of nice people with similar interests as you have. A number of different membership levels provide an opportunity to sponsor this site if you like to. More info here at our Sponsors page.
The Gotheborg Discussion Board is a members forum, where all questions, answers and pictures are saved "forever" in a database. Right now (in 2023) there are 360,000+ pictures and commenting messages available for anyone wanting to just look up something of particular interest.
Yes, you can send email questions directly to me via the Ask A Question page.
It is only experience that counts. Any expert is only as good as the number of genuine pieces he has seen.
Every period has its particular history, aesthetics and technology. Usually anyone with enough experience can tell if a piece feels 'wrong' and does not follow and understand the technology and aesthetics of the period. Most people who make fake porcelain also don't try that hard. Usually it is enough for them to be able to fool tourists and amateur bargain hunters.
I don't know everything, but I have been around for quite some time, and if I am not sure, I will say so.
No. Sorry but, no. To be able to give unbiased advice we have decided to not put ourself in a situation where we are depending on the financial support from any commercial entity, even if this is unfair to a lot of very serious actors. We just think that from an ethical point of view, we just need to be completely independent.
If it is yours, the copyright remains with you. However, don't submit anything to the Discussion Board or site if you don't own it, if the pictures are not yours, if you are not comfortable with having the item at hand discussed inside and out, and if you don't want your text or pictures appearing in the list archive or at the gotheborg.com web site or in any derivate form that might occur. As the owner of this site, I must assume that I can publish and use whatever you submit even if the copyright is and remain yours.
The sole purpose of all information found on Gotheborg.com list or web page are for entertainment or educational purposes only.
By accessing the information offered at the gotheborg.com list or web page you expressly agree that any use of the gotheborg.com list or web page is at your own risk. Gotheborg.com expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind. Nor does gotheborg.com make any warranty as to the results that may be obtained from the use of Gotheborg.com or as to the accuracy or reliability of any information obtained through the Gotheborg.com discussion list or web page. Any user must evaluate and bear the risk associated with the accuracy or lack thereof of any content published on the gotheborg.com list or web page.
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