DaveT

I spoke to Markus, there will be three catalogues. 1. Armour 2. Masks and Kabuto 3. Nihonto and Tosogu This is a private museum, like the Met in New York. With national museums, you can request to see items, but with private museums, there is no public right of access.

You will need to contact the museum directly for the catalogue.

Most museums are in the same position, hence the rotation of exhibits. I can confirm that the storerooms are also nearly full. Amazing.

Cool, I got a mention too. Thanks for the heads up Peter. Die Kunstwerke wurden über Jahrhunderte in japanischen Familien weitergegeben, gepflegt und zum Teil auch dem Zeitgeist angepasst. So lässt sich auch der hervorragende Zustand der Exponate erklären, meint Janssen. Zudem waren vor der Ausstellung Experten wie der Brite David Thatcher, Spezialist für japanische Waffenrestaurierung, am Werk. Acht Tage brauchte er, um in die prächtige Rüstung 120 Meter Seidenband einzuweben. The works of art have been passed on to Japanese families for centuries, and have been adapted to the time. This explains the excellent condition of the exhibits, says Janssen. In addition, experts such as the Britishman David Thatcher, a specialist in Japanese arms restoration, were working on the exhibition. Eight days he needed to weave in the magnificent armor 120 meters of silk ribbon.

Just for lugging them around. The hitsu are large and heavy.

As you walk into the Samurai Arts Museum Berlin, the main display case hosts a truly outstanding Kato armour. Originally worn by Kato Yasuzumi (加藤泰済, 1785-1826) who was the 10th Kato daimyo of the Ozu fief of Iyo province. The original black odoshi has rotted away. Peter Janssen, the owner, wanted the armour to look its best for the Grand Opening night. So I got the call, Peter flew me out from the UK to inspect the armour and following on he commissioned me to make a replacement custom braid and to conduct the restoration. I returned to Berlin and the restoration took me 78hrs to complete, I set up a small workstation in the basement of the museum. During my time at the Museum, an elderly gentleman by the name of Okawado was staying at the Villa to attend the opening. It transpires that Okawado Sensei was the personal friend and student of the famous Dr Sasama. Okawado watched me work on the armour, and I could feel the pressure bear down on me daily. At the end of the restoration, he inspected the armour and said that he approves of my standard. In fact, he liked the work so much that he wanted to give me Dr Sasama's original notes on katchushi as a gift. This gesture completely humbled me. As a gendai katchushi, I can only try my hardest to learn and work to the required standard of our Japanese masters. To gain any form of recognition is in its entirety the best reward I can ever receive. This motivates me to learn more and try even harder to preserve the way. Thank you Okawado Sensei. Thank you, Peter, for bringing us together. I now have two more restoration projects in progress for the museum. The Samurai Art Museum is truly a place of inspiration!

I was very fortunate to be invited to the official opening of the Samurai Arts Museum in Berlin. The opening of this museum is the most significant event in decades for us collectors. Here are some photos from the opening. Can you spot any friends?

Well if you just apply urushi to the inside it won't be smooth. Urushi is not a magical compound that is simply painted on to achieve an amazing finish. It takes hard work and skill to produce a desirable finish.

Well, John, this is the difference between being a collector and a restorer. I re-lacquer armour as a profession. As you don't understand urushi-nuri I'll explain. Kokuso is a form of putty, it fills gaps rather well. The upper sabi layers can then be smoothed out. After the shu-urushi is applied the layers are cut back by hand using charcoal. This takes a lot of time and any mistakes where the urushi layers are cut too deep require the whole application to be repeated. The inside of a menpo is the most difficult part of any armour to lacquer. So a smooth surface is far easier and quicker to finish. I hope that this explanation is informative for those enthusiasts who study Katchu.

Because a smooth surface inside a mask is easier to lacquer

Sorry John but I cant agree with that comment. Wrinkles can be filled in the inside with kokuso to create a smooth surface for the interior. As to fibreglass, well a hot pin will burn through it as a test. What I think you have here is a mask that's had a low skilled amateur attempt to repair it with modern materials.

Joe, if you are able there is an arms fair on this Sunday at Birmingham. Ian Bottomley will be there at the Northern Token Table. There are a lot of people from the sword/kachu community that meet at the fair as a social.

I think there is one like it

Do they provide the dates at this years DTI?

Dear Eric, I've been in Dans shoes as Ive been a collector for over 30 years. I'm not the seller of the armour, I dont even know the seller, therefore I have no vested interest in its sale. Nor have I attempted to approach the OP. My comments are based on the photographs and price. Members are suggesting that the armour is a good one, and priced according. Dan did the right thing asking, and we replied. But now you need to stop the ranting as its a poor reflection of this community if the thread becomes argumentative over logical.

Eric, There is no going rate on what an armour should cost. Its all about what the seller is asking and what the buyer has to spend. I cannot understand why you are directing a potential buyer to shop around when the armour he has found is reasonable priced. On your list you have Jones & Jones (dead link) they have the kirisuke armour that I mentioned, it's just over 10K and again reasonably priced. The one above is far better, and you would expect to pay more for it. I'm networked to most of the dealers that sell kachu internationally and we often talk to each other about pricing. I'm very aware of market prices as I still sell armours all year round from my Gallery. So my opinion and advice to Dan is a professional one.

Hi Dan, A nice matched armour that's in good condition. Hon kozane gusoku are expensive. I've seen UK dealers selling kirisuke versions for £10k so I actually feel that this is priced correctly. Japanese armour has seen a price hike since the OTT collection sold. I attend all the UK Arms Fairs, and prices are creeping up. I would sell this between £12-14k I would leave the jacket, they cover up too much of the armour, also this has the flag holder at the back. The baton is a good thing to have and are becoming very difficult to source.

From Japan 1. What you transfer from Paypal to your FJ account is exactly the same amount. No commission 2. Bidding is easy, fully automated 3. All deposits are automatically refunded in 20 days 4. No commission, just pick a 300 or 700 yen plan and you are covered. 5. Sometimes there are discount days for using PayPal by 5% 6. You can declare whatever value on the good that you want which is better for transit security. Unless you are buying swords then From Japan cleans up. Forget any other service.

I will contact all the people that have said they are interested in this forum, facebook and the samurai armour forum. The venue can hold a lot of people. I would like to cap it at 40 attendees.

Peter Janssen is a remarkable and generous man. He has subsidised the museum venue now so that everyone will find it affordable. The Samurai Arts Museum is without a doubt becoming the European home for the arts we love. The entry fee to the Gathering 2 is now only 10 euro per person. I will be opening up the ticket sales next month. From what I have seen there will be enough places for everyone who has put their name forward. The first Gathering was the best nihonto & katchu event that I've even attended, the Gathering 2 is set to better this. We have some great speakers and interactive talks lined up. Not to be missed!

Well worth a read, and a visit in person. http://www.samurai-artmuseum.com/samurai/

Try From Japan as they have an option to bypass low ratings, or use a private Yahoo yahoo agent.

My issue is counter productive to business as I keep advising the bidders to walk from the item. There was another mask that finished this week, sold for three times more than it was worth. I've now noticed that the sellers are setting the buy-it-now and reserves higher. We have ruined it I'm very sad to say.

Here we go, today's example. Now I'm sure the buyer is very happy with the purchase, but what I see is the following. An armour without the front of the dou, a hanpo mask with an adapted nose. A nice sangu russet iron set and a kabuto with its shikoro detached. My estimate buying blind was a max of $1,000 as the sangu are worth that. SOLD for: $5,885 / 651,000 yen / £4,448.00 Would you risk this kind of money on just three bad photographs? https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/l401621269

My Yahoo Account has a small rating of 57, and I managed to get under the radar. When I first started I had sellers cancel my bid because my feedback was low. But this is the real issue. When you win an auction the seller has to still agree to sell the item to you. They are provided with the winner's information, so if it says a Gaijin name and bank account, or JAUCE, FROM Japan etc they know who you are. They can if they so wish to terminate the auction and block you. One seller did this because he did not want the item to leave Japan. During the live-bidding, the seller can terminate the auction. So Yahoo is loaded completely towards the seller who can bid against you using a fake account, pull the auction even if you win. Yahoo will do nothing. Next, we have the gaijin who wanna bid war, they are the biggest problem we face as a buying community, these people have very deep pockets and are paying well over the odds, which is rather selfish, but hey-ho, of course, this has an effect, this encourages the sellers to now hike the prices on anything that you may find desirable. Today a Somen was pulled, it was made by the gendai Smith ichiro, it had a myochin gimei, the seller pulled the auction when the mask had already exceeded its normal going rate. Cheap stuff is getting cheaper, good to high-quality items are becoming overpriced. This is not a market reflection because I'm networked with a lot of dealers in and out of Japan. This is unique to yahoo