How our inkstones are collected and presented: First we do not find any inkstones from the local market, not just the quality from the local market is not acceptable for us, also our motive is to promote the local culture and local artists in Huizhou, we are only interested in the finest work from the local artists. Because each piece of stone is different and quality is also very different, the ordinary quality ones and low quality ones, through the local channel in China, we already take care of them for the artists. Unfortunately most of them belong to these categories. What we presented on the web and to our foreign collectors are only the best quality ones and really rare pieces. The price of each piece reflects the rarity and quality of the stone and the skills of the carver.
All of Yonghong and Libing's carvings are very skilled, clean, and sharp. How each stone is selected and designed makes it such a pleasure to feel it and hold it in your hand. I wish we could make them more affordable for you, but unfortunately their work are in such high demand and also because they do all the work from begining to end by themselves, the number of carvings they make are very limited. I think this is what collecting is all about. The last few years, we provided a lot of value to our collectors. Because of our web advocate, the artists become very popular and I think this is wonderful and is what we are all These are the only few left.
The following pieces were in our collection from two and half years ago. Their current price is hardly able to be accepted by the market in USA. But the local market in She and Tunxi Lao Jie is very crazy about their pieces. After the Chinese economy recovered from recession in the last three years, all of our artist inkstones are not as much appreciated in USA compare to Tunxi Lao Jie, but it's our pleasure to privide them to our viwers in USA. Because we heavily invested while the economy was in trout, we now able to still provide these exquisit pieces at affordable prices. We remembered very well, fifteen years ago, we had quite a bit of collections of Qingshu Fang's inkstones. At that time, were able to sell his pieces for $40. Two years ago we sold the last piece of his work for $250. But we were not able to obtain a single piece of his work in the last five years. After he stoped carving, his pieces are as expensive as a painting by Qi, Baishi. Sounds un-resonable, but it's true. So we never bought anymore of his pieces.      

We have 4 grades of  collectible inkstones, judging from stone quality to craftsmanship. Some larger pieces are less valued as smaller pieces, this is because Dragon's Tail stones are very prone to hairline (they are almost invisible, more serious ones goes deep to the stone, most of them are just on the surface) and undesirable veins. Perfect small pieces are treasured as jade by collectors and carvers, this made the  original stone cost much more than other kind of Shi inkstones. None of the collector's inkstones can be produced in quantity because the raw material is very rare to find. On the order page of the inkstone and inkstick supply page, there are a few Dragon's Tail Inkstones artists can use, because of their sizes and limited price range, you might find stone veins or hair thin cracks which do not affect it's funtionality, rather provided the affordability for people who would like to grind their ink with a genuine Shi inkstone.