Hidden collection in Cornwall

[Lindus]

Thirty years ago Dr.FAT led me to a collection that few knew of and would guess is still pretty unknown. While he set about opening box's and cabinet I photographed what I could. Here are a few examples, poor quality pictures I agree, but will give a flavour of the find. If any of the membership would like to see all of the part of the collection that I photographed at that time and those in the UK who would perhaps like to see first hand,let me know and will fill a page or three on my web site.

 

Roy

[Jamie]

All very nice

 

I love that first Tsuba.

[Lindus]

Do not want to bore more than I usuall do the membership, just say ya or nay to the website publication as will take some time to do..

 

Roy

[Jamie]

I say yay- I'll definitely take a look.

Both those tsubas are really nice.

And I don't believe I have seen a quality tanto in Bone mounts before. They are usually tourist junk.

[Lindus]

I say yay- I'll definitely take a look.

Both those tsubas are really nice.

And I don't believe I have seen a quality tanto in Bone mounts before. They are usually tourist junk.

 

 

OK Jamie, if enough are interested I will start this weekend and let you know when the pages are ready, Have the full catalogue and of course will take some time.

 

Thanks

 

Roy

[docliss]

Dear Roy

Is the collection that you refer to that of the Truro City Museum? I have in my library a Catalogue of Oshigata & Index of Signed Pieces: Part (2) that you collated in 1984 and, speaking personally, I would love to see the original photographs of this collection. Nice to have contact with you again after our little E-bay connection some years ago.

 

Kind regards, John L.

[Lindus]

Dear Roy

Is the collection that you refer to that of the Truro City Museum? I have in my library a Catalogue of Oshigata & Index of Signed Pieces: Part (2) that you collated in 1984 and, speaking personally, I would love to see the original photographs of this collection. Nice to have contact with you again after our little E-bay connection some years ago.

 

Kind regards, John L.

 

 

That is correct, the photgraphs were taken in 1985, I have now moved into the digital era and have contacted the museum with the possibilty of completeing the study. As I remember it Dr.FAT and I discovered many items including a cabinet full of Inro,another of Okimono, none of which at that time had been recorded. Also some swords,Armour and Lacquer ware.

 

Roy

[Surfson]

Does the middle fuchi kashira set look to anybody else like the work of Goto Ichijo? Nice collection and worth cataloging if this is a representative sample. Cheers, Bob

[machinist]

That first tsuba looks like it should have a matching teacup to set upon it.

Not knocking it mind you, I always love to see what folks have to show.

[estcrh]

Roy, do you know if the tanto is mounted in ivory? It does not look like bone to me.

[Lindus]

Roy, do you know if the tanto is mounted in ivory? It does not look like bone to me.

 

 

 

Hi Eric

 

Am checking my old records ...The Aikuichi was and I quote" Collected in 1913 by Hawkins,Fine Ivory mounts carved in high relief with flowers of Autumn, signed Kizan Rakumin or alternativly Murayama Rakumin. The blade decorated in an inlaid design of conventional foliage.

The Kodzuka blade of silver and inscribed Made by Yasukane the son of Shishin who was the third grand child Of Ibara living in Tokiyama at the foot of Mt Kinsho in the province of NoShu. Kodzuka of Ivory carved in a design of Spiders."

 

The descriptions and translation were by Dr Turk, it would take a considerable amount of work to confirm all translation as most of the thrre hundred sword related items..The collection also contains a large number of arrow,yari,okimono and netsuke

Roy

[Lindus]

That first tsuba looks like it should have a matching teacup to set upon it.

Not knocking it mind you, I always love to see what folks have to show.

 

 

 

Yes it is one of around six of Ivory, large , beutifull and ideal for Coffe rather than teacups.

 

Roy

 

In addition for fun,added picture shows four Kodzuka,all signed and with the purchase price in 1913, 5/- +around 25P in todays money and roughly 20cents US, even in the wildest dreams it still would have been around £25 today....

[Lindus]

Does the middle fuchi kashira set look to anybody else like the work of Goto Ichijo? Nice collection and worth cataloging if this is a representative sample. Cheers, Bob

 

Hi Bob

According to Turk it is by "Goto Sekijo", no idea myself but would that fit?.

 

Roy

[Lindus]

Roy, do you know if the tanto is mounted in ivory? It does not look like bone to me.

 

 

Apologies for the picture quality Eric,have a look.

 

Roy

[SwordGuyJoe]

Looks to be ivory to me as well. Along with Jamie, most pieces meant to look like this that I have seen were bone - and not ivory - and of very low quality for the tourist trade. The blades housed within are junk or at best very low quality nihonto.

 

This is clearly nothing like those. Gorgeous piece.

[Stephen]

sure would like to see a close up of the tanto blade, are the images on it cut or what?

[Lindus]

sure would like to see a close up of the tanto blade, are the images on it cut or what?

 

My 1983 photos were printed on paper with a sort of stipple surface,no idea where the negs have gone,have contacted the museum ask to revisit and digital photograph..

As far as my notes go the gold is inlaid into the blade,even in the poor pics you can get the idea of just what a special piece it is. Sadly none of the Japanese collection is on display, never was or will be as the RCM concentrate on Mine,Minerals & Local archeology.

When I asked the curator in 84 about this his comment was "If you have seen one netsuke, you have seen them all"!!! so in a way this little effort is to once again bring the collections out of store rooms and into the sun.

 

 

Roy

[sanjuro]

My take on that tanto is ivory also. Ivory carves deeper than bone, being slightly softer and also does not split like bone over a long period of time. This is high quality work. The ivory is probably elephant ivory which has a creamy colour rather than the white of old bone. Ox bone was the commonest material for the tourist trade, and it has a cheap white look. The habit of ivory faking was to colour the base of the carving with a dark brown stain to make it look old. This carving is just discoloured by dust and age which is exactly what you look for in old ivory carving. Ivory does not discolour with age but does get a creamier patina when exposed to sunlight.

[IanB]

Roy, I would argue that when you have seen one lump of cassiterite you've seen it all!! Yes, please show us more - particularly the armour and yari if possible. Some of these early collections contain fantastic quality items because the collectors were rich and the costs low. I used to have a book written by the Bishop of Durham who visited Japan about 1865 and he comments how swords and armour were a 'drug' on the market and the curio dealers were cutting costs just to get rid of stock. There is a museum near here holding items collected by two families who traveled to Japan in the 1870's - 80's and competed with each other to buy good things. Strangely they had given them to the Museum within a few years of acquiring them. I was lucky enough to be present when packing cases were opened after some 70 years or so in storage. There are some great swords in good mounts as well as three armours, two of which I would rate as being as good as anything in the UK, although late Edo period. One was sent out on the schools programme and is now in a poor state but the other is still magnificent. Among the swords is a daisho with blades by I think Tadayoshi III, both blades being less than 2 shaku but obviously as worn. Fortunately this museum does occasionally display some of the items.

Ian Bottomley

[Lindus]

Gentlemen, I have tried scanning and various picture enhancements but quite simply the pics arent good enough. Have contacted the museum and hopefully will be able to set up some pages with decent digital pic,s.

 

Have attached some others to show what I mean re quality.

 

Thanks

 

Roy

[estcrh]

Roy, thanks for the tanto pictures, I have seen some nice carvings on bone but they just do not compare to the work done on ivory.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Have attached some others to show what I mean re quality.

Roy

 

Hi, very enjoyable, thanks. That fish fuchi above left is almost for certain Murakami work, perhaps even the master himself.

[IanB]

Roy, Thank you for the images. The collector was a person of considerable taste.

Ian Bottomley

[Lindus]

Roy, Thank you for the images. The collector was a person of considerable taste.

Ian Bottomley

 

The collections are from old families local to Truro. De Pass & Hawkins gave large collection of almost all art forms, if you google them you will see but no mention of the Japanese collections!/

 

Interesting that we seem to think that today our research abilities take us way beyound the early collectors such as Turk,Depass et al,but when you read for instance Dr Turks comments on the reverse of the "Warabite to " plate, perhaps it begin to dawn on me that the real students of the art forms were into the language as well as the art forms.....

 

Roy

[Lindus]

Sorry folks it seems it is not going to happen,two replies from the Museum, one stating that the 600 Japanese items are not on view to the public, second saying that dfue to cut backs staff would not be available to monitor proceedings.

 

 

Will try again but outside an email campaign from NMB members cannot see this will occur.

 

Regards

 

Roy

 

http://www.collectorsloot.homestead.com

[Lindus]

For any visiting Cornwall at these dates I would urge a visit to Truro museum, this collection is outstanding...while there perhaps you can "Blag" your way into seeing the Nihonto related collection. Opens September 8 to December 31.

 

Roy

 

 

Japanese Shibyama

This highly ornate ornamental lacquerware was made in Japan in the 1800’s and became hugely popular with Western collectors. Pieces will be on display from the Royal Institution of Cornwall’s collection which is considered to be one of the best collections in Europe and housed here in Truro.

[IanB]

Roy, As someone who has spent a considerable part of my life in a National Museum, I know what you are up against when it comes to museum staff. Local museums are frequently staffed by people with little or no knowledge of many the items under their care, and in some case a total lack of interest in them. In fairness I must say that many do try and learn, but often the contents of the collections are so diverse, nobody could become knowledgeable about the entirety. There is also a tendency to be over security-concious and hence suspicious of 'outsiders' wanting to get their hands on items. Sadly this attitude is occasionally fully justified. An example I know off involved a very valuable collection of classical coinage that a local collector had bequeathed to his local museum. The collection came to the attention of a coin collector who spent a considerable time over the course of a year or two, always in the presence of the curator, examining and cataloguing the collection. Years later it was examined by another enthusiast who discovered that many of the most desirable items had been replaced by electrotype copies.

Despite all of this, one reason for the donation of objects to a museum's collection is for it to be come available for study by others. It is the curator's duty to make it available and excuses like 'lack of time' and so forth are not good enough. Some of these officials become very possessive about the objects in their care - tending to regard the collection as being as 'theirs'. I always took the attitude that if someone wanted to see something that was not on display, it was my primary duty to allow them to do so, after all, it is their collection.

Might I suggest a gentle hint to the staff concerned along these lines. If that fails, try a local councillorand really put the wind up them.

Ian Bottomley

[Lindus]

Thank you for that Ian,allways a cautious chap when Dr Turk and I were allowed access to the collection many years ago,I would insist that the curator inspected,signed out and in any items we took away for study.

During the time we found several items did not match Turks earlier catalogue description or were missing from the collection,it seems that at some period a staff member treated himself to "Beer money".

 

I have pretty much given up on the idea for two reasons, the first is the obvious historical lack of interest of the museum for the Japanese collection as their main interest is Cornish history, and why not indeed. The second is that around a year ago someone from the V&A came down and spent time reviewing the whole collection. We had concentrated pretty much on the mounts etc as well as the fine inro, my last communication with the current curator ended with " as soon as we have a staff member available we will contact you".

 

As to them being cautious, good, but the museum has a history with me and I doubt that that is a consideration at this time.

 

I mention the forthcoming exhibition as it is a chance to see some very fine work seldom if ever on display.

 

Regards

 

Roy

[Geraint]

Dear Ian,

 

As someone who has benefited from your very generous hospitality on a visit to the Royal Armouries may I say that your approach was a breath of fresh air. I am sure that it in part has to do with your career as an educator. Following a tip from Roy I too attempted on several occasions to find a way to view the collection of Japanese items at Truro and was fobbed off until the day when I contacted a recently appointed curator who shared your approach Ian. I must say that she was interested and more than willing to encourage visits. Over the course of some years I managed two visits to study the items hands on and eventually the curator, Hazel Berryman, invited Roy and I to review the pieces and select some items for display. Sadly she moved to a different museum shortly afterward and the shutters came down at Truro.

 

It was quite a shock to read a catalogue entry and then find that the corresponding item was a very cheap alternative to the one described, something which happened on several occasions. And just to drive home the point, the photograph of the backs of several kozuka include a purchase price written in ink. For the benefit of our younger members, 3/6 is three shillings and sixpence which equates to roughly 27cents US. Read 'em and weep guys!

 

Geraint

[drbvac]

Amazing pieces and a sad story indeed that they are for all purpose "gone" . Any museums of any worth will aways try to exhibit parts of their collections on a rotation and if they find they are not using certain collections at all they should trade or sell to a museum or group that will allow public access. This is happening all over the world and not just for Nihonto and at the whim of the tastes of the current curators.

 

Can you imagine the excitement if 2 or 3 large museums were to sell their collections of Nihinto? I am sure considiring the technicallities involved that there are blades and fittings sitting in storage for hundreds of years probably not even being properly preserved that are just beyond description and possibly priceless - even small institutions could have many.

 

Not my intention to hi-jack the thread but in these times of terrible government overspending and defecit financing perhaps some high position beaurocrat or political nit could be convinced that since these items are never going to be appreciated as they are to sell them on the open market - get them out there and God knows how much money they could bring in.