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Thank you for posting additional pictures of your cong and the Christie's link for us to enjoy. Based on pictures alone, your cong almost looks better than that of Christie's. Now Christie's described its piece as "A dark green jade cylinder, cong, probably Neolithic Period, Liangzhu Culture" and with a price Realized of only £960 Set($1,764), I have great difficulty in being convinced that it was indeed a genuine Liangzhu or Neolithic piece.
Based on all these white lines seen inside your cong, I am almost 90% sure that it was not made of nephrite while a lot of authenticate Liangzhu pieces were made of real jade that was hard enough that they required corundum and/or diamond to carve. That was the uniqueness of the Liangzhu culture because both corundum and diamond were believed to be available for their jade "carving".
I also believe the carving of your piece were accomplished with modern high-speed tools and to purposedly leave it in an unfinished state (without a thorough polishing)was to make it appear to be archaic. I once saw pieces of a Vietnamese Neolithic collection for sales by a collector (around 300k) about 8-9 years ago, as soon as I saw the material and carving quality/appearance of them, I immediately knew they were genuine. I only regret that I did not attempt to acquire a few pieces from him. Another forum poster at that time did get a few pieces from him. How I envy her. IMHO, it is very difficult to appraise any jade pieces based on tool marks because there were at least 14 changes of tu but much easier to base on the quality of their material which are usually unique and superb. I do not believe most of the genuine Neolithic pieces would be made with inferior material. Even today, with modern high-speed tools, a good jade "carver" would take a few years in finishing one jade piece, therefore the selection of good/great jade material is almost a must. After selling his pieces for what might appear to be high prices, what he received for his labor was really minimal. During the Qing dynasty, before polishing with high hardness grit (such as diamond, corundum, etc.)was invented, it would take a year or more to just complete the polishing process. Therefore, some time judging by the luster of a jade piece can indeed help in evaluating its age. Of course, once again, I am no jade expert and can very easily be off the mark. Even many jade experts have different opinions when appraising the same jade piece. Again, thanks for sharing and I wish you good luck in your further studying on your cong. Keep us update in what you learn from the museum. Thanks.
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Re: Example of shape - Christie's - Tim - Nov 27, 2015 (09:32 AM)