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New Tampa show

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Curran Grand Master

Curran

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Stephen-

 

Saw that yesterday. Also was thinking to check in on you and Mr. Stuart, not having heard from either of you recently.

The Tampa show moved back 1 week from Valentine's Day, which means better fro those of us with spouses. Especially with spouses who have b-day two days before v-day.

I expect to be there the whole show, though not sure if I will take a table or not.

 

I suspect the show will be better advertised and open to a greater percentage of the public in Florida (locals never seem to know about the show), but it won't have the advantage of a shinsa team as it did last year. ~~~ It was a near stealth shinsa. Would have been better if the Yoshikawa NTHK or their USA caretakers had managed to integrate them more into the show. Seemed quite the ships passing in the night with neither benefiting from the other. Many in the show room didn't know where the shinsa was, nor did the shinsa have any signage to make it easier for walkins.

In previous years I've had to represent for individuals visiting from Sarasota in order that they be permitted into the show. That sort of invite-only is logical from a security point of view, but not wise in terms of attracting new collectors.

 

Hope to see you there.

 

Curran

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Soshin Grand Master

Soshin

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Hi Curran and Stephen,

 

I am planning to attend the new Tampa show next year. :D I am glad they moved it away from V-day in February as I will be sending that day with my wife. I will fly in on Saturday morning from Washington, DC and stay until late Sunday afternoon. I will be booking my flight shortly.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

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  • 2 weeks later...
usfpaul82 Apprentice

usfpaul82

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how lucky am I that I live 30 minutes away form the tampa airport. :) I cannot wait. It will be my first show. I have been reading up on show etiquette and so on so I hopefully don't look like to much of a fish out of water. I do have a question though. Is it ok for attendees to bring in their own swords, for possible trades, sales, etc.?

 

Thanks,

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Curran Grand Master

Curran

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Paul,

 

Yes. Welcome to bring your swords. Just practice good etiquette.

 

I live in Sarasota part of the year, and there are a few of us within an hour or two of Tampa.

Feel free to get in touch with me a month or two before the show.

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Soshin Grand Master

Soshin

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Hi Everyone,

 

I will be bring some tsuba for show and tell. :D One will be the Momoyama Period Namban that Curran has already requested me to bring it is discussed in the following NMB topic tread: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13927. I will also bring this other tsuba that was discussed on the NMB: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13176. These two tsuba will be for discussion only. Please send me a PM if you would like to see anything else I have talked about on NMB or is listed on my website.

I may bring a few additional tsuba that I might be willing to trade for something nice I find at the show. I am looking forward to the Tampa show next year. :)

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

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Pete Klein Grand Master

Pete Klein

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Paul -- Just a bit of fine tuning, please. It's perfectly allowable to bring a sword or two but sometimes people show up with a dozen or two. In that case they generally are asked to take a table if there is one available. It's neither safe nor practical to carry around multiple weapons through the aisles and it tends to be unfair to those who have purchased tables. If anyone is in doubt just write the show manager prior to the exhibition date and they will be more than happy to explain details.

PS: I watched a few years ago where someone bent over with his arms full of swords and several ended up on the floor after sliding out of their saya. Not good form, what?

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Curran Grand Master

Curran

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David,

 

Always enjoy watching your work. Very glad you are attending.

 

I purchased the (Buck?) book and read it this summer.

I also was slowly translating the tsukamaki section in the new Owari-Yagyu Koshirae book. The book is really 40% about tsukamaki and there are quite a few things I cannot translate, though the deconstruction in reverse order of some of the wraps is fascinating photojournal work.

 

I will have an original Owari-Yagyu koshirae with me, with nice old wrap and am hoping to have a nice Higo koshirae returned to me after nearly 10 years on loan.

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David McDonald Community Regular

David McDonald

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Dear Curran

 

I look forward to seeing your koshirae and talking to you about your translation.

 

later

david

 

David,

 

Always enjoy watching your work. Very glad you are attending.

 

I purchased the (Buck?) book and read it this summer.

I also was slowly translating the tsukamaki section in the new Owari-Yagyu Koshirae book. The book is really 40% about tsukamaki and there are quite a few things I cannot translate, though the deconstruction in reverse order of some of the wraps is fascinating photojournal work.

 

I will have an original Owari-Yagyu koshirae with me, with nice old wrap and am hoping to have a nice Higo koshirae returned to me after nearly 10 years on loan.

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Soshin Grand Master

Soshin

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Hi Everyone,

 

I am very much looking forward to the Tampa Show this year. I just wanted to post a photograph of the set of tsuba I will be bringing to the show this year for show and tell. One tsuba will be entering NBTHK shinsa this April. It's the tsuba in the middle of the photo labeled Higo (Hayashi). That's going to be a lot of old iron for a carry-on bag. :freak:

 

P.S. Stephen I hope you feel better soon. Take care.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

post-1126-14196857604192_thumb.jpg

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Soshin Grand Master

Soshin

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Hi Jon,

 

Was looking at the online catalogue during lunch and was impressed as well. I agree Bill has done a great job and love the website. I am very much looking forward to seeing more then a few lots in person before the auction. I will be around both Saturday and Sunday with some study pieces and may bring one more tsuba not shown in my above photo to sell or trade.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

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Ted Tenold Mentor

Ted Tenold

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Bill Green is really putting the fuel to the show and truly deserves a huge kudos! :clap: Thanks Bill!!!

 

The NBTHK American Branch will be hosting a lecture and display of excellent Oei Bizen swords. There will examples of the era's best makers. Most are signed, many dated, and even a very rare Bizen maker. These lectures are an invaluable opportunity to study fine examples in hand, ask questions, and get educated in a way not possible any other way than having them in hand. While these lectures are open to NBTHK members at large (Japan, American, and European Branches) non-members may also attend for a $20 fee which will be waived if you join the NBTHK/AB at the door. There will be printed material covering the lecture/display as well.

 

If you would like to attend and are unfamiliar with the protocol of handling and examining sword blades, I encourage you to review this page; http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm where you will find two sections on etiquette at sword shows, and etiquette at special displays by Grey Doffin.

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raiden Proficient

raiden

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Hi everyone, had a nice time at the show, it was well received by all for those that attended the lectures and the small study group that I held about Higo. I also thank everyone that came to our table and I saw a few lucky people that bought some nice blades at a fair price! Hope to see you all at Chicago and the SF show.

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raven2 Rising Star

raven2

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I also was there and unfortunately it had a number of problems. It was very slow and I think this comes from the fact that the entry charge was $20 a day for Fri and Sat and $15 for Sun or $45 for a three day pass, if they bothered to tell you about that. So it cost $80 for my wife and me to go Fri and Sat. We didn't go Sun to save the money. People don't come in the door when it is too expensive. My wife heard a group talking to each other be turned off by the prices. The auction problem was that the reserves were so high (basically going towards retail). Add to that a 17% buyers fee and nobody really wanted to get into it because there were really no bargins. People go to auctions for bargins. Also there were no catalogs except a few that were there for the staff so it was impossible to really remember what the lots looked like. Holding a tsuba up for people to see across a room really isn't effective. I did get a nice tsuba at a good price but that was at the tables, not at the auction. Too bad because I had some high hopes that this would be a good year.

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nihonto1001 Proficient

nihonto1001

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IMHO, The reason the auction was not a big success is...

 

As treasure hunters we have the mentality, "My stuff is excellent and priced right; everyone else's is inferior and over priced". I think the starting bids and reserves were too high for the audience, which were mostly dealers. However, I can see why. People do not want to let their treasures go for a paltry price.

 

All in all, Bill did an excellent job of getting some premium items in the auction and with the show in general. I feel, with some minor tweeks, this auction will gain traction.

 

Sword collectors are a closed group. The best way to promote future success is getting new people interested. That is our duty.

 

If you were interested in any of the items, contact Bill Green. He will link you up with the sellers.

 

As for the show, there was a lot of activity with some very fine pieces changing hands. Also, a few big finds.

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Soshin Grand Master

Soshin

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Hi Everyone,

 

In regards to the auction I just didn't bother with going. There were some fine deals on quality tosogu at the tables so my opinion was why bother with a auction. I was also disappointed with the lack of a print catalogue. Overall I is still think it was a great show and I enjoyed meeting and talking with people.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

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b.hennick Grand Master

b.hennick

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Bill worked very hard to run this show.He tried some innovative new things .He does deserve credit for what he did. Yes there were problems but all first ventures have problems. I hope that with continued support Bill will do this again and take suggestions to heart.

Regards,

Barry Hennick

P.S. I found a treasure at the show.

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Pete Klein Grand Master

Pete Klein

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I must say I had a great time at the show but then I always do. I think Bill did an incredible job for his first time and that includes the catalogs produced and bringing in some new, inovative ideas to try out. If anyone was there three or four years ago the year before Al Bardi took over then you will remember what a bad show was. It was D-E-A-D! I never even bothered putting out what I had brought to the show to sell. In any case, this year there were also some travel issues to deal with due to flight delays and cancellations so that didn't help either. We all still had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit.

 

Just a word on fees. Of course, these things cost a lot to put on and there will always be fees to attend. I'd like to put this into perspective. By going to these shows and going to the lectures, asking questions of dealers and friends there and availing oneself of the knowledge available you will save vastly more than any expense realized to attend. Think of all the wasted money on crummy Ebay purchases just for one. At these shows you have the ability to see in hand many fine examples of swords and fittings no book or computer screen can offer. Mike Yamasaki had a prime example of a Jingo Nidai tsuba in incredible condition on his table. Several weeks ago there was a discussion on NMB about a tsuba possibly being Jingo. Anyone who saw Mike's example would now have a great reference point for the future. The hands on experience is THE ONLY WAY TO ACTUALLY LEARN DISCERNMENT IN THIS FIELD -- and -- you can have a lot of fun socializing as well! For anyone who has the ability to go you really should consider it.

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