The original price of 500 yuan cup, used to sell 20,000? After the “fried shoes”, someone began to “fried bowl”

A frosted glass bowl, the color from white gradually become transparent, hiding neat little bubbles, the bowl has its own name, called “rain sound” – the sound of rain.

Citizen Tang Qing in a food blogger’s picture of this one “rain sound” at first sight, finally found in the second-hand website. When she asked the price, she was dumbfounded – 20,000 yuan.

She later learned that last year, the author of the “rain sound” had opened an exhibition in Shanghai, starting at 1 p.m., 5 a.m. people went to queue. When “Rainy Voice” was just launched, the price was only 500 yuan.

Some people really like it, and some people buy it and immediately resell it at a high price on second-hand websites. Some people even specialize in Beijing, Shanghai or Japan, a number of cities on behalf of the purchase, “service fees” is expensive.

Just like the “fried shoes”, these originally for the life of the “icing on the cake” edible appliances, frequently sold at sky-high prices.

The “substitute”, “lottery”, the same way to play the fried shoes

The process of searching for the “rain sound” allows Tang Qing to see a “whole new world”. Searching for “rain sound” on Taobao, she found multiple links to products, but almost all of them were “not in stock” when asked.

“How can they be in stock? I have to wait for writers (the Japanese term for creators) to hold exhibitions, or go to galleries to buy them.” After these sellers reply, they usually pull Tang Qing into a WeChat group, in which hundreds of people, like her, look forward to the day when they can buy their favorite edible utensils, but the waiting time is measured in years: “I never thought buying a bowl would be so tedious.”

And some sellers on idle fish, will tell her directly, “either high price to receive, or certainly can not wait.” Reporters contacted one of the sellers, the other said: “Many popular styles either extremely limited production, or simply will not come out again. For example, many people chase the ‘rain sound’ series, the writer clearly does not want to do anymore. Not a few times the price, and then long can not buy.”

The “rain sound” series on the idle fish platform is basically not for sale, but when it was first launched the price was only about 500 yuan

The strong demand has given rise to professional speculators. When a Shanghai gallery exhibited glazed foodware last year, a number of middle-aged men with small bags and live-streaming cell phones rushed in and filmed the wares on display while letting online bidders bid on them. When another gallery exhibited the same kind of ware, it was not expected that there would be “scalpers” lining up in advance and asking for “rounds”, which nearly led to a clash on the spot.

In response to such a situation, not long ago the Japanese glass writer Nishiyama Snow in a gallery in Beijing, only in the gallery in advance to spend a certain degree of guests, can be exchanged for purchase credits according to the amount spent, the purchase of products after the lottery. Despite the rather harsh conditions, there are still many people to participate, someone said bluntly: “Even if the draw is not like, plus a few thousand to sell is also earned.”

Sky-high price “fried bowl” reasonable?

Some well-known craftsmen’s apparatus, like a rising “potential stocks. Not long ago, Japan’s ceramic writer Kuroda Taizo news of his death, idle fish on his work all off the shelves, and then on the shelves when the price rose: a small tea cup 4800 yuan, a 10 cm high small tea tube, there are three knocks, to 15,800 yuan.

The original expensive Kuroda Taizo porcelain, because of the rumors of his own passing again rose in price

In the view of some industry insiders, these daily-use utensils frequently sold at sky-high prices, in fact, is not surprising. “On the one hand, China has a tradition of collecting porcelain and other utensils since ancient times, on the other hand, compared to the assembly line manufacturing but deliberately controlled production of sneakers, the sought-after edible utensils are all handmade, and production is indeed limited.” Mr. Chen, who runs an art gallery, told reporters that compared to the main audience of sneakers is young people, the audience of these daily utensils is actually broader: “For example, men drinking wine and tea, need cups, while women in cooking, flower arrangement and other aspects of the dishes and flower vessels in high demand.”

“Whether for collection or use, utensils should return to the public eye, rather than become a ‘scalper’ profit-making tool.” Tang Qing and many consumers feel that the existence of the “speculative bowl” group, on the one hand, so that consumers wishing to collect and use the normal price can not be purchased, on the other hand, the actual proceeds of overpriced products did not allow the creators to benefit.

Mr. Chen told reporters, as operators they have also thought of many ways, such as limiting the number of purchases, raise the consumption threshold, many authors and artisans also publicly appealed to fans “if you like it, do not buy things in the hands of speculators”.