How many teapots come up for sale each year?

Around twenty a year come to market on Sellingantiques, and fifty-five different dealers have listed one. That spread means no single specialist controls the category. Porcelain, pottery, Chinese export and novelty wares all arrive from different hands.

What period do most of these date from?

Eighteenth-century attributions outnumber every other bracket in the dealers' own dating, at forty-eight listings against thirty-five for the 19th century. Beyond that, the labels are mixed: Victorian, Georgian, Regency, 1800s, 1900s, 1880s and 1930s all appear. Sixty-one listings carry a clean year, but bracketed dating is the norm. A few sampled entries have a filed date that contradicts the circa given in their own title, so the field works as a rough sort rather than a research finding.

Are Chinese and Japanese pots common in this category?

Chinese pieces are the second largest group after English factory porcelain, twenty-nine titles in the sample, eight of them described as Chinese porcelain. Yixing red stoneware, famille rose and famille verte all appear. Japanese pots number ten, covering Imari, Satsuma, Kutani, Hirado and Kakiemon.

Do teapot stands sell separately?

They do. Thirteen titles mention a stand, and several are offered as stands alone with no pot, including Prattware and Spode examples. When a stand comes with its pot, the pairing sits higher in the range than a stand on its own.

What are the earliest and latest pieces recorded?

The dated field runs from 1700 to 1960, though a handful sit outside that. A Kakiemon pot given as around 1680, and Japanese and Chinese ewers around 1700, are the earliest things in the archive. At the other end, mid-20th-century Royal Worcester painted-fruit wares include one given as 1960. The category doesn't stop at 1900.

Which unusual shapes have turned up?

The oddest forms are one-offs rather than a type. A watering-can novelty pot, a commode-shaped earthenware pot with a widow finial, a double-spouted agateware pot, a racing car with a registration number, and a pot with a spaniel finial. Miniatures and children's wares are a steadier thread, with eight titles saying miniature alongside a doll's-house pattern pot, a nursery pot and a toy tea set.