Certificates

Artifact Certificates

This Certificate is supplied with all numbered artefacts from our

The Internet is flooded with unscrupulous dealers selling newly made ceramic pieces as "antiques". In the best of cases they do not know themselves what is antique and what is not. Others purchase reproductions for reproduction price (often in the "antique market" in China) and then re-sell, deceivingly, as "antiques". Many of these dealers also issue "Certificates of Authenticity" which are as 'fake' as the pieces they sell. If anyone can make or sell newly made pieces as antiques, they can also make a 'fake' and meaningless certificate.

We are NOT ANTIQUE DEALERS. We are marine archaeologists and only sell artifacts recovered by ourselves in cooperation with the Malaysian Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage and its Department of Museums.

As such I myself, as our leading researcher, have no problem to issue every piece with a serial number with a proper, meaningful and legally binding Certificate which guarantee its authenticity.

Sten Sjostrand

This Certificate is supplied with all numbered artefacts from The Wanli Shipwreck

This Certificate is supplied with all numbered artefacts from our 11th century shipwreck: Tanjung Simpang

The upper left Certificate is supplied with all numbered artefacts from our AD. 1830 shipwreck: Desaru.

Should you have any questions related to these Certificates or our shipwreck, please email to our principal researcher: Sten Sjostrand

THE ONLY PLACE WHERE YOU CAN BE SURE TO BUY GENUINE ANTIQUES

Nanhai Marine Archaeology Sdn. Bhd. was incorporated on the recommendation of the Malaysian authorities. This was done in order to formalize and to expand on the company’s researcher’s extensive knowledge of Asia’s ceramic developments and maritime trade.

The company’s researchers have been engaged in the search for historical shipwrecks for more than two decades and another decade researching maritime trade. Most of this work is concentrated to the South China Sea, a virtual highway for ancient shipping linking China to India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia in an extensive maritime trade system. This ancient trade started sometime around the 4th century and lasted well into the 19th century.

Following a successful shipwreck discovery, the company obtain a government permit to excavate the wreckage, and then carry out detailed marine archaeological procedures in recovering the artifacts, mapping the ship's remains and securing other data for future research. After each concluded project and following conservation of recovered artifacts, we search for and pinpoint ruined kiln sites and compare its wasters with the recovered ceramics until we are satisfied we located the place in which the shipwreck pottery was made centuries earlier.

As such we have precisely located a kiln sites in Sisatchanalai, northern Thailand in which our Royal Nanhai and the Nanyang shipwreck celadon ware was made around AD. 1380-1460. (See videos on: http://www.ming-wrecks.com/photopage.html ) Other kilns was located in Sukhothai where production wasters matched the fish and flower plates found on the Turiang and the Longquan shipwreck. These unique underglaze decorated wares was made at those exact kilns 600 years earlier! Our latest shipwreck cargo; The Wanli Shipwreck, of Chinese blue and white porcelain, was likewise pinpointed to the Guangyinge kiln site in Jingdezhen, China. (See video on: http://www.ming-wrecks.com/photopage.html )

Our arrangement with the Malaysian authorities is such that we finance all operations and train young Malaysian nationals (on our initiative) in maritime archaeology and related research. After giving all unique and single artifacts and thirty percent of all recovered items to the National Museum (and assisting with exhibitions of artifacts from each project) we are allowed to sell our portion of the recovery to finance future projects. The findings from ongoing research and the compilation of reports, books and catalogues are available on these pages as well as on a separate Internet site: http://www.maritimeasia.ws

Due to the unquestionable authenticity and precisely dated shipwreck pottery, many International Museums now display our shipwreck pieces as reference material.

The artifacts sold on this website are therefore legally and properly excavated and can be supplied with an export permit from the Department of Museum in Malaysia should this be required. This unique working arrangement makes us one of the few Internet sellers that sell from own excavation and issues a meaningful Certificate of Authenticity for every artefact with a serial number.

So, if you are interested to purchase some of our Antique porcelain, old time pottery or other shipwreck artifacts from the Song dynasty, Ming porcelain or Chinese blue and white porcelain or the famous Yixing teapots, you can rest assured that every piece is excavated through proper archaeology by our own staff. We do not sell anything that is not excavated by ourselves or properly recorded and researched before offered for sale so every piece comes with the “Best possible provenance”

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO EMAIL OUR PRINCIPAL RESEARCHER; Sten Sjostrand SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR POSSIBLE PURCHASE