Jump to content

DTI 2008

Brian
 Share

Recommended Posts

Brian

Brian

Posted
Posted

Struggling to post this through very tired eyes as I battle to wake up this morning.

DTI 2008 first day was a roaring success. over 40 people crammed themselves into a lovely little izakhaya for copious amounts of loud banter and even more copious amounts of liquid refreshments. After the 3 hour time limit was reached everyone made their way onto the streets of Tokyo. Unfortunately failing the attendance of a good sheepdog, the groups ended up losing each other and split into at least 2 groups. We ended up losing Guido, Ted, Ford and the others..but since we ended up with Clive Sinclair, Kenji Mishina, Koichi Moriyama and others, I think we had the better part. They were stuck with Ford and the majority of the other mad collectors.... :lol: :glee:

Note to self...make sure you have cellphone numbers with you. At this stage, I have yet to confirn that everyone made it back alive.. :)

 

Oh...and there was some sword show thingy earlier in the day.... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

 

Kidding (it`s all true though)

 

The DTI is a roaring success and totally mind blowing. I don`t think I am lying if I say there are more than 60 dealers in attendance. Wall to wall swords of the highest caliber and more tsuba than you can take in without your head hurting. The foreign attendance is high this year, and I got to meet many fine and wonderful people. When I am more awake I will update with some items on view and some of the people I met. It is all pretty overwhelming and by the end of the 8 hours I had't even begun to take in a fraction of the items on offer.

First impression tells me that prices are very reasonable. Although many prices are in the top level, for what you are seeing and getting, there are very good deals. Trade looked brisk, but I am told it isn't as good as it could be. I thik the next 2 days wil change that.

Many are going back today, I will have to return on Monday and see what is left.

There are going to be many sore heads and empty wallets today :)

 

More to follow, time to take inventory and see if everyone made it home. Great seeing and meeting everyone. Those who were there, feel free to add more when the shaking subsides. Will post some pics when I can.

 

Brian

Henry Wilson Veteran

Henry Wilson

Posted
Posted

Hi Brian

 

I got back safe and sound, so don't worry about me!!! Yes, last night was good and many thanks to Bob Hughes and Guido Schiller for making it happen. Also it was nice to catch up with you and N again as a well as meet new people and put faces to names.

 

As Brian says the DTI is a feast for the eyes. The most noticeable for me is a very nice Nobuie tsuba and is listed in the 2008 catalog. I had a look over Guido's shoulder at a Masamune as well, saw a very very nice modern made same koshirae with gold fillings and a silver seem as well as piles of nice fittings. I bought a kozuka to finish of a koshirae I bought last week and it fits (physically, and thematically) very well.

 

As a general observation ( an only regarding fittings as I did not pay too much attention to the swords) I noticed there is a lot of high priced good stuff and a bit of low priced poor quality stuff. The items in between are not that plentiful which on my part only really resulted in a bit of window shopping.... ;)

Brian

Brian

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Good to hear, Henry. Now that I have had a shower, I can type without correcting every letter. :)

Folks, we should be proud to have people on this forum like those that I met at the DTI and the dinner. If you ever want a good social event, I can't think of better folk than people like Henry, Ted, Guido, Bob Hughes, Ford, Koichi and the many names I will inevitably forget to mention. I met Reinhard at the DTI too..and as I had been told, he is a great guy and a serious collector. Nice guy, and I will be chatting more to him on Monday and hope to have him return to the forum.

 

Back to the DTI...

This isn't a low class show, and Henry is right when he says that there is a lot of top expensive items. I also wasn't able to purchase anything (yet) but it is amazing to see what is on offer. None of that "out of polish" stuff we are so used to seeing. The swords are in polish and there are thousands of them. If you are serious about collecting you really do have to try and make Japan a few times. I thought there were some really good deals even for the sword guys who can't afford the $10000+ stuff.

For eye-candy, there is no shortage. Masamune on show, Sadamune...etc etc. Too much to take in at one visit.

I saw many tsuba that just blew me away, although kidneys are apparently not accepted as payment. ;)

It is apparent how many dealers do not deal online, and how many items move locally here. The market here seems very healthy.

There is a lot of talk about the Yen exchange rate though, and it is indeed affecting the sales. The dealers have seen a drop in sales to overseas clients. Polishers have also seen a drop in overseas business due to this. It is noted and hopefully the markets will stabilize.

My lack of mention of specific items at the DTI is due to the overwhelming aspect of the show. I will try get more specific after Monday when I hopefully return.

 

Brian

benkyoka Enthusiast

benkyoka

Posted
Posted

The first day of the show was truly fantastic and mind-boggling as well. Seeing so many high-quality pieces was a thrill. Now if only I had 26,000,000yen! Meeting so many nice people afterward was great. Their passion for all things related to Nihonto was evident. Thanks to Robert for organizing it for everyone!

Brian

Brian

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Going back today, although once again I see to have picked up bronchitis and can barely breathe. Do I have to pick up one of those surgical masks to wear all day? :)

I have pics, but no way of getting them off the camera right now unles I find an internet cafe with photoshop. PC in the hotel room has bare minimum of internet functions and no box to plug into.

May have to wait until I get back for pics from me.

 

Did the Oedo antiques market yesterday, but as I expected there were a few fittings but all very expensive (average tsuba for over $1000) and I think these markets are not an option for finding any bargains.

 

More later.

 

Brian

Brian

Brian

Posted
  • Author
Posted

John,

Will see you are the Mishina sensei talk, and we will see what we can do. Looking forward to it. Got lots of pics of the show itself, but few of specific items as that is pretty awkward.

Btw..we had 52 ppl at the Saturday "gathering," and another gathering coming up on Friday.

Huge thanks to Guido and Bob Hughes for organising such a brilliant evening, and to all those who were able to attend. It seems we have many more lurkers than we know about and the dealers were very interested in the forum too.

Of course many don't deal online at all, they have their steady market. Prices were somewhat high but probably mostly fair. You name it, it was there somewhere. Held a wonderful Sadamune today c/o Reinhard. Most swords in full polish. Yari don't seem too cheap anymore, so maybe the interest is increasing. Plenty of everything for every taste. I think there were round about 70 dealers there?

At the end of the show, dealers seemed eager to deal. I bought one small tanto tsuba that went down about 30%.

I expect overall trade was a bit less than expected. Probably due to the exchange rate.

 

Brian

Guido Grand Master

Guido

Posted
Posted
I've no news from Paul Martin by quiet a few time. Anybody got in touch with him at the

DTI or elsewhere in Japan recently ?

John ?

He was at the DTI. :|

Brian

Brian

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yes, spent some time talking to Paul and he is well, but very very busy. He has multiple interesting projects on the go.

Aside from the swords, one of the highlights of this trip was meeting so many people I had heard about. Most are nothing like I had imagined (I bet they feel the same way :D ) and they are all a great bunch of people. I would make a list, but I am going to forget some names and look silly. I will try and post pics of a few of them if they are ok with it.

 

Brian

  • 4 weeks later...
Brian

Brian

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Will post some pics this weekend. If anyone was at the gatherings, and does NOT want their pic posted, please let me know via pm.

I don't plan on posting many pics of the gatherings..but you never know who is in the background :)

Have some of the DTI, although not as many as i would have liked. Stay tuned.

 

Brian

Brian

Brian

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just a few teaser pics of the DTI. A lot of the pics didn't come out as well as planned. Must be the camera :lol:

Bear in mind that there were I think between 60 and 70 dealers there this year, so this is just a fraction of what went on. More over the weekend...

 

Brian

dti1.jpg

dti2.jpg

dti3.jpg

dti4.jpg

dti5.jpg

sencho Mentor

sencho

Posted
Posted

:steamed:

 

Why they have to hold the DTI during my busiest week of the year, beats me!!!

 

With at least 3 or 4 months per year in Japan, I will never get to go to this event!!! :(

 

Great pics Bri... thanks for sharing! :evil:

 

Cheers!

Ted Tenold Mentor

Ted Tenold

Posted
Posted
:steamed:

 

Why they have to hold the DTI during my busiest week of the year, beats me!!!

 

With at least 3 or 4 months per year in Japan, I will never get to go to this event!!! :(

 

Great pics Bri... thanks for sharing! :evil:

 

Cheers!

 

Give us your money and we'll buy stuff for you! Hey, remember, we're here to help you! :rotfl:

Brian

Brian

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just to prove it wasn't all work and no play, here are a few pics of the NMB/NBTHK USA/Gaijin dinner in Tokyo. Not too many embarassing stories this time, but everyone had a great evening and there was sufficient liquid flowing to make sure that the journey home was "interesting" for most :D

I hope no-one minds their photo posted, I will leave any identifications to the guilty..umm..er...I mean participants :glee:

dinner1.jpg

dinner2.jpg

dinner3.jpg

dinner4.jpg

dinner5.jpg

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...