Bob M.

With a starting price of 3000 euros plus buyers fees plus shipping & insurance, customs clearance, import duty, even if there were no other bidders and the auction house would let you have the piece at the opening bid price, then approx. $5,000 cost. A lot of these fittings are actually owned by the auctioneers and so there is little chance of getting any sort of bargain on them. The auction house is well aware of the return that they are expecting ( unlike the situation with standard consigned lots ). Personally I have made it a rule that if I am contemplating bidding on any lot over £500 then I want to see it in hand - no matter how good or revealing the published pictures seem to be. It is far too easy for a photo to be manipulated these days. So - I would expect to see that the piece ( at least ) matches or exceeds its image in real life.

Very sad but not unexpected news. My condolences to all his family and friends. I only had the pleasure of meeting Guido on a couple of occasions, during visits to Japan but will always remember the underlying sparkle of his personality and his pleasure in word games. RIP Guido. Your race now fully run.

Hi Uwe, Amazingly, the esteemed tosugu master, Mr Bob Haynes was one of the exhibition's Co Chairmen - over 61 years ago! The event being held in California. I have given background ( as far as I know it ) in the 'A Series of Fittings' thread in this forum, item nos 306 and 307. Any further information is always welcome.... Regards

Hi, Item No. 194 in the 'A Series of fittings ' thread ( pinned above ) will give a comparison. Regards

Hi Grev., Just to be clear, it wasn't this Bob M. who sold you the pieces... Regards

Just playing devil's advocate here - Of the results arising from NBTHK shinsa what percentage could be regarded as wrong ? Same question but in the views of Western collectors and dealers ? Are these ( wrong attributions ) grievous enough to change the entire current system ? How strong would the arguments need to be to overthrow the time and investment by numerous academics and dealers who have a vested interest in retaining the status quo ? Perhaps an alternative society to give opinions with a more 'western and modernist' slant could be set up ? Take the responsibility away from the NBTHK to look at Tosogu as they are clearly not up to the job ? Is part of the problem that genuine expertise in this field is disappearing at an alarming rate, thereby giving less able 'experts' more of a say than in older days? Is there a danger of the opinion/attribution being more highly regarded than the piece itself ? Even more so than today? Interesting thread though, great to see opinions on this. Regards

I understand that Sothebys now impose a minimum lot value of £5000 on Japanese Art. Anything coming in at under that figure is sold through Olympia Auctions which was set up by an ex Sothebys associate.

Hi Dale, I think that the gentleman collector that you refer to as being named adjacent to the back b/w view of the tiger is Donald Stoehr. There are a number of obituary notices for him, if the same person, but I have not seen anything that references a specific interest in Nihonto or fittings. To the best of my knowledge, the tiger pair were split ( under contentious circumstances ) in the early 2000s. It is quite likely that the original and still missing piece ended up with an east European or Russian collector after the Nagel auction. This was getting on for 20 years ago and so it could have changed hands multiple times since then. Images of the Utsushi that Ford made have been freely available on the internet for many years also. Sites like pinterest have shown it for a long time, so it is no wonder the Chinese fakers have picked up on it. Obviously, it was only after the views of the back of the tiger tsuba became known to us that it was possible to compare Ford's Utsushi with the original. The more complicated treatment of the point where the tiger sits was an interpretation of the available information from the front view ie. in that area, almost nothing. I remember having long telephone and Skype conversations with Ford about that area on the piece , and eventually deciding to go with the paws and exposed bamboo framing, all of which were very difficult to blend convincingly. As I am sure you are well aware, there is more background information and commentary to see on the 'A series of fittings' thread - for those who are unaware or would like to revisit, the relevant Item Nos. are 306 and 307. Best Bob

When I last spoke with Ford , about a week or so ago although clearly very poorly, he was in a positive frame of mind, impatient to get the medical procedures out of the way and resume his work in his studio. Today's dreadful news comes as a shock although sadly, in truth, not unexpected. I first ' met ' Ford on the NMB when he replied to a posting of mine. We got on together quite well and then after a while started to look at the tiger tsuba project together. Over the years we became friends and cooperated to build the basis of a collection that would be of good quality but above all informative and educational. My thoughts are with Bella and family, Joel, Kyle, Jo and all those who knew him over the years. Bob