jlawson

Barry, I received a Juyo blade that I got while in Japan at the DTI yesterday via Fedex. Hope that is not an anomaly as I am expecting 3 more.....

Grey I think you may have missed my point. I also agree with you that money will seek out and acquire quality in all fields, in fact I said something very similar in my post. The issue I see is that the universe of qualified and ready buyers is shrinking due to them getting older and the number of new students not outpacing the ones who are exiting. Look around at the sword shows, we are not as many getting younger students, and we are all getting older. I am 41 and am in the younger crowd in the room. Looking at us where we used to support many shows nationwide we struggle a bit supporting 3. Since I know you are involved, how many folks are in the JSSUS now compared to 15 years ago? Could not agree more with you Jean that these are works of art not pebbles but to the example of the paintings as well: most everyone has an oil painting in their home, but a minute fraction of that number has a Japanese sword. Same can be said for any niche hobby.

There must be a market for such things in order for prices to remain high as well though. Hate to say this but scholarship for Japanese Swords is in serious trouble based on years past. We are not bringing sword students into the hobby and people are exiting the hobby faster than being replenished. In addition your comment about veterans also holds true here as well. The old days of being able to get into the sword game for little money and finding a treasure are going away. This is a very expensive hobby that takes years of study to get to a level where one should be knowledgeable enough to buy. Although it may be argued many young folks don't have the patience for this type of study for a hobby. In addition, this hobby at its purest form is a very expensive proposition that exclude so many young people from become true students. Which causes them to buy without knowledge, get stung on a purchase, then swiftly exit front he hobby because they were "taken advantage of". Do not get me wrong I still think there will be a market for the best of the best of items (as there is in all hobbies) but the universe of people buying them will become smaller and smaller creating a buyers market. Just my .02

Since they did away with their Japanese art department a few years ago this surprises me a bit. In fact many of the people that are at Bonhams now came from that department. It seems their prices are reflective of when they exited the business a few years ago. I imagine there will be some disappointed parties on the other end of this sale in regards to what sells for what price etc.

The ko-osafune seemed to fool most everyone, thinking Ichimonji.

Interesting tsuba of kinai. The mei were likely not cut by the same hand and are later generation. Kinai tsuba vary in quality and most people only see the lower quality i.e. mass produced tsuba that there are so many of. There are fantastic examples of carving from kinai and are held in high regards in Japan when you see the very fine work.

Great job Ford. Curious as to what will or has happened with this tsuba since the movie. Did it go back to Japan for competition?

One correction there , I should have said weakness in the hada vs just over polishing etc.

Yes very interesting. I also find it amazing that the Rai jigane is associated with weak core steel showing. I have heard often that this is the Rai jigane when it is just ground down from many years of polishing etc. I have seen many Juyo and Tokubetsu Juyo that have spectacular jigane and absolutely no weakness. It seems that in the general collecting world when we discuss the "rai jigane" we are talking about a rai sword that has been over polished etc. Seeing the healthy versions of these swords absolutely destroys that myth and the rai jigane takes on a whole new meaning.

It was a great show and thanks to all who helped put it on. The light booth was something that we have needed for a long time and made it such a treat to see blades in different lighting modes instead of having to take blades outside etc as I have done in the past or searched for that one elusive bulb to see what I needed to. Great cross section of blades and fittings. Curran, yes Masa was there for the first time from his shop in Kyoto and brought some very nice fittings and based on his table sold quite a bit. Also a nice change to see additional Japanese dealers selling vs our standard few that come over and prowl for buys.

Should have read a bit closer there as there was a link for the discount site in a prior post. Ordered and downloaded, thanks.

Anyone have any current codes available? Looks like all the codes have expired above. Markus just posted his latest and I was wanting to get it.

I would tend to agree Curran, likely Umetada would be the attribution.

No, not personally just found it via search. However there are several out there that offer similar functionality. Google and you will find them. Hope that helps a bit.

Try this http://www.searchdome.com/ebay/ 95% of what you are looking for including the ability to exclude specific sellers and enhanced search etc. Very close.

I have done something similar already. However it was done for a different purpose several years ago. The API for interacting with EBay exists from a developer standpoint in regards to searches and is fairly easy to use. What you have mentioned would be something that would take a talented and motivated programmer 4-5 days to accomplish. Unfortunately there is little to no viability of that in a commercial sense and likely not worth the effort for someone to do financially. However as a labor of love I am sure someone would do it.

I remember this Koshirae from the DTI catalog in 2006. Reference on page 26 for folks that have the catalog. Very nice Mike, wondered where this Koshirae went to.

Actually Clive I dont think that is accurate. Many of the tsuba were from the Edward Wrangham collection that was sold last year through Bonhams not Christies. The successful bidder of a bunch of lots apparently never made payment. Many of the items went for much less money this time around likely due to it not being well advertised.

Ouch. Someone using their wallet for a flashlight instead of reading and looking for the light. Even expensive books are cheap in comparison. Wonder when this piece will surface at a show claiming to be Jingo? Everyone pays for their education in this hobby, one way or another......

Yes, you were mistaken. The hammer price for it was 2750 and yes the tsuba was the reason, the sword was of no consequence in the price. I am not sure about the other swords etc being diamonds in the rough as I was not there personally and was not able to inspect them as one should due to the photos posted online. Most of them seemed average or below average from the photos and brought prices that I would expect if they were posted on Ebay with the same photos etc. Interesting comments from Ron there and I am not sure if he was referring to this auction and possibly this lot specifically but one thing to remember is that whatever you are bidding make sure you are ready to own it for that price. In the case of this lot the Tsuba was the only possibly discernible winner on that lot and from the photos posted it was an ok tsuba. However if someone had other photos that were not posted online and was able to look closely at the tsuba the may have just gotten a great deal even paying the price it went for just for the tsuba, completely ignoring the sword. Back to Ron's point it all depends on your knowledge level.

Hammer price for the sword with the Tanaka tsuba was 2750 + buyers = so around $3300. A bit of a gamble if you bought it based on the photos provided from the auction company.

They were certainly more expensive than if the link hadn't been posted on here. :-) There was definitely some major phone bidding occurring from more than one person reading this. I ended up with what I was after.

I have it and will scan it for you Curran. James Lawson

FYI John I have seen that collection as well and bought a total of 10 tsuba this year at the DTI out of it. The ones that are left are not much and have been already picked through. The 1st one you have listed also has a hozon paper. Also if you are really set on buying the lot still he did 50% for me buying the ones I did in November so don't accept the 30%.

I agree kind of odd how they communicated it. I would have thought to have seen something in the newsletter etc.... Oh well maybe we should just cross our fingers and hope someone is playing a very early April fools prank on me with this letter. Maybe one of you guys is just trying to get me not to come to Tampa next year to eliminate some competition. Doubt it though. Sorry to say looks like we are losing another show.