The ones that got away

[Gabriel L]

Do you have any stories or pictures of items you wish you had picked up but didn't? They don't have to be fancy or expensive, just speak to you. For instance, Fred Weissberg once sold the attached tsuba and I always thought it had one of the most unique, beautiful, sensitive designs - almost art nouveau.

[reinhard]

Discovery of Japanese art during later 19th century made a strong impact on western art and design. Quite a few "art nouveau"-designs were directly influenced by Japanese objects reaching the West at that time and were not invented "out of the blue". This goes for "decorative arts" as well as "real" art. Vincent van Gogh admired Japanese woodblock prints deeply.

 

reinhard

[Gabriel L]

Of course late 19th c. "Japonisme" and 19th/20th c. Art Nouveau are closely related, but I was referring more specifically to the interwoven "whiplash" curves in many art nouveau works (especially those of Victor Horta, as well as some by Alphonse Mucha). Although organic, graphic curves are certainly a common Japanese artistic and decorative motif (e.g. hair, waves, kimono, etc.), this particular style seems more specifically art nouveau to me and I do not recall seeing many Japanese examples that so closely match it as that tsuba.

 

I recognize the irony in saying that something Japanese looks like Art Nouveau but in this case I actually did mean it in that order. On a related note, if anyone has any examples of Japanese art that do in fact display this design trait, I would be very interested to see them.

 

Cheers,

-GLL

[Marius]

Do you have any stories or pictures of items you wish you had picked up but didn't? They don't have to be fancy or expensive, just speak to you.

 

I missed a nice suaka wakizashi tsuba with Shoki and Oni. I like suaka kodogu and I love Shoki, so I was very disappointed not to win the auction. I am still looking for a tsuba of this kind, with Shoki and Oni on it. The Oni here is particularly funny, he is scratching his head, rather puzzled than frightened while Shoki casts a spell...

[Gabriel L]

Very expressive! I also like suaka, especially as it seems to come at a discount. :D

[Marius]

Very expressive! I also like suaka, especially as it seems to come at a discount. :D

 

This one went up to nearly $400... Actually, I think this is a chrming idea with "the ones that got away" :-)

[Brian]

Ones that got away? Hmm..

The one that haunts me....

Militaria website, knowing nothing about swords. Guy has a Shin Gunto with an interesting hamon that is definitely an older blade in mounts, at a good price.

Koichi helps me to translate the mei, and it is Koyama Munetsugu. No idea at the point if it is gimei, but it was priced at Gunto price.

Guy doesn't want to ship internationally....doesn't want to take Paypal.

So I convince him to do both with lots of assurances, and make the paypal payment. He seems reluctant to ship it outside the USA, but with payment, he decides he will.

Then he comes back to me, and says it is too long to send via USPS..just over their length limit, and he wants to refund me.

So I make it easier and tell him to ship to a friend in the USA, but the more I try and make it easier for him, the more he wants to just refund my PP payment.

So after a week of trying to make it as easy as possible for him..he just sends the Paypal payment back (I lose $100 in the differing exchange rate) and tell me the deal is off...and he sells it to someone else.

If I ever saw him in the street anywhere......

 

Anyways..I tell myself it was probably gimei...but....?

 

Brian

[jrs]

The one that really annoys me is a tanto I bought off ebay many 6-8 years ago. It was pretty tired but had I really old suguta and signature and it was in my price range at the time (very cheap). The mei read "Rai Tomotsugu". I could never find out any information on this smith and no one seemed very impressed by it. I literally gave the blade away later, when I sold 2 other blades, just to "sweeten the deal" so to speak.

I was told about a year ago that the blade had been seen at one of the shows by someone from Japan who took it back with him for further study because the mei was in fact authentic. Made by Uda Tomotsugu while he was studying with the Rai. Either an unknown signature or exceedingly rare.

Again...I GAVE it away...

 

James

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Do you have any stories or pictures of items you wish you had picked up but didn't?

 

Yes, Gabriel, I have and it's still a pain to remember even after so many years. Not owner's fault nor mine, long history to

be maintained private.

 

Here they are (katanakake was included) :

 

[Grey Doffin]

A couple monts back I was searching ebay and the 1st listing in my search was a real Nihonto, katana with a buy-it-now price of one sixty. I was a second or so too slow to be the one to get it.

That was $1.60. Love to know the story behind it.

Grey

[Amon]

Very interesting daisho Carlo and with that beautiful kake I

understand that you are still in pain.

 

Regards // John Amon