Vintage baoding balls of doves and chickens

Vintage Baoding Balls

The old saying “They don’t make them like they used to” can be said for many things including baoding balls. These days, quality can vary greatly depending on where you get them. In the old days, the balls were thicker and heavier, the designs more elaborate, and cases nicer. This post is a collection of vintage baoding balls showing you what some of the old baoding balls looked like many years ago, like an online museum. 

Notice in old baoding balls, they used a cloisonne enamel which have discolored over the years. Balls had more copper cloisonne shapes and thicker outlines. That is understandable because copper was not as expensive and the enamel likely had more impurities since they were made differently than the enamel they use today. There were also more factories and skilled artisans that could make these baoding balls back then. It takes many steps to hand make each ball so you can imagine as less factories are able to make them, you don’t see newer balls like the old ones.

2 comments

  1. Terese Palmberg

    Hello. Yesterday i went to an auction. I bought a pair of boadingballs. They look very old and the case looked old. They are very beautiful. I wonder how must is the boadingballs worth? I bought them very sheep.
    / Tess from Sweden

  2. Byron Barksdale

    Hi I recently found a pair of baoding balls in the dirt by my house. They are if fairly good condition except for one has a chip out the enamel. …..is there any way to repair this?

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