Heritage World Coin Auctions
Hong Kong Signature Sale 3087 18-19 Dec 2020
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Uncertain Company Painted "Tea Money" Brick of 44 Ounces ND (c. 1878-1917) AU, Opitz-pg. 339 (this piece illustrated). 227x180x24mm. 1248.3gm. A seemingly singular item among the vast diversity of the Russo-Chinese tea bricks of the 19th to 20th centuries, and the first such brick we have been able to locate where the surfaces have been painted. Though we are unable to say for certain, comparing the imagery on this piece to the illustration of a wooden model on pg. 99 of volume II of William Harrison Uker's All about Tea suggests that the illustrated scene depicts the internal operations of a tea brick factory, with workers bringing in bags of tea to be processed; very clear parallels can in particular be drawn with the wooden hand press in both images. The portion of the scene in the lower right appears to depict a hydraulic steam press for the bricks (compare the image on pg. 98 of Uker's work), suggesting production after 1878 when the press came into use, a hypothesis supported by the high relief and immense detail of the brick. While we have been unable to attribute the factory where the piece was produced, Mr. Opitz's notes suggest that it may been produced for the Mongolian market. The texture of the blank reverse surfaces also recalls those of lot 38099 of our first sale of Mr. Opitz's Tea Brick collection (HKINF Auction 3077, December 2019), and point towards a very high-grade black tea being used. An all-in-all intriguing piece. The reverse displays a small inventory sticker from Mr. Opitz's collection.
Ex. Detroit Money Museum (Inventory no. 2-7-694)
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/china-uncertain-company-painted-tea-money-brick-of-44-ounces-nd-c-1878-1917-au-/a/3087-30083.s?type=CoinArchives3087
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 1500-2500 USD
Uncertain Company Painted "Tea Money" Brick of 44 Ounces ND (c. 1878-1917) AU, Opitz-pg. 339 (this piece illustrated). 227x180x24mm. 1248.3gm. A seemingly singular item among the vast diversity of the Russo-Chinese tea bricks of the 19th to 20th centuries, and the first such brick we have been able to locate where the surfaces have been painted. Though we are unable to say for certain, comparing the imagery on this piece to the illustration of a wooden model on pg. 99 of volume II of William Harrison Uker's All about Tea suggests that the illustrated scene depicts the internal operations of a tea brick factory, with workers bringing in bags of tea to be processed; very clear parallels can in particular be drawn with the wooden hand press in both images. The portion of the scene in the lower right appears to depict a hydraulic steam press for the bricks (compare the image on pg. 98 of Uker's work), suggesting production after 1878 when the press came into use, a hypothesis supported by the high relief and immense detail of the brick. While we have been unable to attribute the factory where the piece was produced, Mr. Opitz's notes suggest that it may been produced for the Mongolian market. The texture of the blank reverse surfaces also recalls those of lot 38099 of our first sale of Mr. Opitz's Tea Brick collection (HKINF Auction 3077, December 2019), and point towards a very high-grade black tea being used. An all-in-all intriguing piece. The reverse displays a small inventory sticker from Mr. Opitz's collection.
Ex. Detroit Money Museum (Inventory no. 2-7-694)
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/china-uncertain-company-painted-tea-money-brick-of-44-ounces-nd-c-1878-1917-au-/a/3087-30083.s?type=CoinArchives3087
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 1500-2500 USD