Christie's auction of Hizen swords - Nov. 09 in London

[bjmoose]

For those who might be interested:

 

The Fred Fimio collection of Hizen swords will be up for auction at Christie's on Nov. 9, 2011. It is a beautiful selection of Hizen blades - I have been lucky enough to see most of them during my visits to Fred in Ontario.

 

Here's a link to the up-coming Christie's Auction for his Hizen collection- it starts on pages 136-137: http://christies.scene7.com/s7/brochure ... &wb=000000

[Pete Klein]

Thanks for the link -- there's a great chaire listed!

[NihontoEurope]

Nice!

 

What do you think about the estimates?

 

I think that not one sword will be sold within the predicted limits.

 

My prediction is that 80% of swords the will go for at least 180% of their estimates.

 

In the Hizento text on page 135 (by Victor Harris) the swords are raised above the stars. No correlation to the estimates.

 

Perhaps they want to draw as many flies to the party as possible!

 

That was my thoughts.

 

/Martin

[Pete Klein]

And by the time you finish you'll be paying an additional 40 - 50% of the hammer price for VAT's and fees.

[NihontoEurope]

Ouch!

 

Let's buy the Ichimonji then... was it 40-50k or something

 

/Martin

[markturner]

Some advice for a novice please?

 

As its local and I am very interested, I was looking at the catalogue. Most of the Hizen blades are out of my price range, but there seemed a fair few lower priced items in the "gentlemans collection" listed before the Hizen section.

 

Do any of the blades shown in that section look interesting, priced reasonably and worthwhile investing in? I would be quite keen to attend and auction ( not done so before) and wonder if there are any pitfalls? What are the likely extra costs on top of the price paid at bid?

 

Thanks for your advice,

 

Mark

[pcfarrar]

Do any of the blades shown in that section look interesting, priced reasonably and worthwhile investing in? I would be quite keen to attend and auction ( not done so before) and wonder if there are any pitfalls? What are the likely extra costs on top of the price paid at bid?

 

Yes some look good but the odds of getting them cheap are pretty slim. London auctions are well attended by dealers with deep pockets that are happy to pay over the odds for things.

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Mark,

The odds that a novice will get a bargain at a Christie's auction are pretty slim. Remember, the prices listed are only guesses and sometimes those guesses are unrealistically low in order to attract attention/bids. And then you have the buyer's premium and before you know it you're paying more than full retail.

If the sale is close, by all means attend; should be fun. But just be sure to sit on your wallet.

A better learning experience would be to attend earlier for a viewing. This way you can actually see the swords, even the ones you can't afford, and when you get home you can spend money on a book.

Grey

[Soten_Fan]

I didn't attend the auction as it was on a weekday, but I popped in the weekend at the viewing session and handled all the blades. There were a few that looked surprisingly affordable and the thought of attending the actual auction crossed my mind.. But when I checked the sold prices in Christie's the other day, I was glad that I didn't take the day off from work.. Most of the blades sold for way more than the estimates..

 

The Ichimonji one sold for £72,000 when the estimate was 30 to 40k. And that is not including the buyers premium and the VAT. It was a fantastic blade though... I held it in my hands for a few minutes..

 

Actually, at one point when I returned to the upstairs room I saw it there sitting proud in its shirasaya.. And there wasn't a soul in sight. A naughty thought crossed my mind, but my sense of morality prevailed at the end! :lol:

[David Flynn]

What would the final price be, 90,000pounds?

[paulb]

Based on the results on the website the £72K was the final price not the hammer price

Just to correct Pete's estimate on charges, unless changed recently the buyers premium is 20% and VAT is only charged on the premium so a more realistic figure of the charges is 24% rather than the 40-50 quoted. (it's still a hell of an addition!)

[Pete Klein]

OK - hammer must have been (GBP) ~56,690 with ~14,172 commish (if it's 25% which I believe it is) =~ 70,850 (I'm rounding it off a bit to save some math). So, add 5668 VAT on hammer (.05%) and commish (.2%) and you get about 76518 total so I believe that's about 35%. My earlier comment was also taking into account all the extras you will encounter if not at the auction such as shipping agent fees- you name it. In any case it's a nice sword, isn't it?

 

PS: if you go to page 167 it gives a breakdown which is a bit more complicated as it's 25% on hammer up to 25000L then 20% from there to whatever. It throws my math off a tad but it's still in the ballpark. Any math majors out there go to it.