When we first began exploring the teapot art market, in China, we discovered that many artists and dealers set prices of teapot art, relatively and unreasonably high, versus other forms of art, like paintings and traditional sculpture.  As investors in and collectors of art, in addition to being a dealer, in art, we were offended by this practice, which, often, is a phenomenon, in prices of many goods available, in China.

Our response to this overpricing in the teapot market has been multifaceted.  First, we have endeavored to make connections with artists, directly, so, that we know what the prices are from the source.  Then, we have included the art, only of artists whose prices are relatively reasonable.  In addition, we have written several articles about this overpricing phenomenon, published in both English and in Chinese, to try to make people aware and wary.  In the beginning, in fact, we put a link to one of our articles on a tea forum of Adagio Teas, in the U.S, and there were so many complaints from dealers, who were apparently overcharging on teapot prices, that the article was closed by the moderator.

It appears that we are still a thorn in the sides of some teapot dealers because, in the last month or so, we have gotten calls from artists telling us that other dealers are complaining about our prices being too low and that they cannot compete with us.  In the case of one of the artists, we took his overpriced teapots off the website, at least, from the Chinese part of the website, which is the only part that he can read, because he insisted that we make the price four times the price that we had on the site.  We left those teapots on the English version of the site at the original prices that we had on them.  This week we got our second call from an artist, and we told him that the problem is not our.  The real problem is that the other dealers are overcharging on prices out of greed.  If the prices that we charge can earn us a reasonable margin on his art, other dealers could also be satisfied with that level of profit margin instead of insisting that we follow them in trying to rip off customers.  In fact, we even give genuine dealers a discount on our retail price, so, there is no reason for other dealers to complain that they cannot compete with us.  Indeed, we have, on a number of occasions, seen teapot art that we offer at Leona Craig Art, priced by other dealers for as much as ten times the price that we charge.  What those other dealers really mean when they complain about our prices is that they can no longer charge the excessive, rip-off prices for the teapot art that they were accustomed to charging before we at Leona Craig Art entered the market.

As art dealers, we will always get a dealer price on any art, be it paintings or teapots, because it is our business to buy larger amounts of art, to promote, and to sell art, and we get compensated for that either by getting an inside dealer price from artists or by investing, risking our own capital, and holding art for a number of years to make a return on investment from price appreciation.  More generally, it is the business of the arbitrageur to make returns from the differences of prices in two markets, in this case, retail versus wholesale art markets and recognizing emerging artistic talent before others have caught on.  In fact, the teapot artists who we represent, in the Leona Craig Art Gallery, also sell their teapots in the retail market.  As a result, most of them suggest that we charge a lower price than they charge to retail customers because they give us a dealer price, in the first place, and they want us to be able to compete with them in the retail markets, in the second place.

At Leona Craig Art, we want to promote art and the art markets: we do not want to promote bubbles in the art market.  In a country where ethical standards are, in general, lacking, and greed is rampant, we want to stand out, not only for our selection of great art, but also for our integrity, honesty, and fair dealing.  We do not want to end up like those teapot dealers, who are complaining about us, and have our customers come back to us after realizing that they have been ripped off when they find out what the prices should really have been.  Therefore, we will continue to promote only the art of artists who have both artistic talent and ethical practices in pricing their art.

To see our current offerings in teapot art from Yixing China, the capital of Chinese teapot art, please, visit the Leona Craig Art Gallery Teapot Section.