Chicago show

[Adrian S]

G'day Matt and all,

 

Excellent work Matt and I would agree 100% The problem is that the treasure hunt is almost over . But I would also add that the attendance is falling because of a switch in the market trading medium. Many more swords are now bought and sold on the internet than in sword shows. Of course show sales and attendance will drop in this new environment. Personally I am happy to see the new generation of sword collectors being more studious and with more knowledge available to them. Too many good swords have been ruined in the past because of lack of knowledge from profit motivated dealers/collectors. Interesting times indeed.

 

Adrian S

[Link]

Wow, I just started collecting/studying and really disagree with the "treasure hunt" is over and now nihonto collecting is going to die with some generation. From the posts here the shows & prices have taken a hit, that's a real shocker ! Were in the worst economic downturn since the depression it's no mystery why the shows are slow. Have some faith because when the next dot.com or re-fi boom hits the people will be collecting again. I do agree that there simply isn't enough product to keep a large group interested a big problem for me (the new collector) is the only place to buy seems to be the internet and it would be foolish for me to do that since it takes years to gain enough experience to know what your really buying and I think most people with enough money to collect are smart enough to figure that out pretty quick. I almost went to the Chicago show but decided to wait for the SF show I do hope there are more than a few "rusty old blades" for sale there. All in all there are many reasons interest is falling off in the US but it may be better in the long run. It seems that in Japan they collect to collect not to treasure hunt they have brick & mortar stores that are in it for a profit but it has to be passion behind it or they would be out of buss. rather quickly. There may never be such shops in the U.S. but the next generations of U.S. collectors might take care of the young (educate,help and sometimes take a loss to keep someone involved) a tight knit community of honest passionate people can create a profitable (at least enough to keep it alive) rewarding hobby. I come from a racing background which is much more expensive than nihonto and the young blood helped keep us older guys in it. We trained em, encouraged them and never burned em or laughed at them for there lack of skill/money or equipment. We sold em are used stuff at huge losses so we could pay or at least supplement are addiction. The racing industry has no shortage of new product for sale. When I was coming up guys gave me a lot & in turn I ended giving it all back plus more. If you only collect to gain money then your right the end is here.

Larry

[nihonto1001]

OK, we know it was slow. But there must have been some highlights. Any Pics???

 

Jon

[chi fan wong]

And since I'm thinking about it...

 

Friends joke with me about the amount of time I spend trying to write stuff on forums where few dare to tread. I got some good natured ribbing about that at Chicago as a matter of fact. "Why bother" or "Pearls before swine" is what I hear... I understand that. Lord knows I've walked away many times. I'm hardly posting myself anymore. And we tend to scurry to find a quiet corner like this forum so we can focus on what we do and what we all love. We then quietly hope the "unwashed masses" won't find it and flood the forums with questions about anime swords and silly mythology. And it is a very good thing *for us* to have this place.

 

But... Each year the attendance at these things gets lower. Each year the room gets grayer (or more balding or both). And every year we seem to lose someone else. So while the signal to noise ratio is almost unbearable on some of these other forums, where are the next generation of collectors going to come from? Ted Tenold and I have done presentations (Mike Yamasaki helped out the last time too) on behalf of the NBTHK at Japanese sword art tai kai to try to get the martial artists more interested in the collecting side. I periodically gather up the courage to wade onto the larger sword forums. And a few guys I'd spoken to on-line did make it to the show. One bought a few books and went home with a tsuba and a gunto. It's a start.

 

But most have written it all off. And fewer and fewer appear at the shows. So where will the next generation come from?

 

And no, I don't have any answers either. Just observations. My plea on SFI was to hopefully get some of them off their butts. I *know* many of them are close to San Francisco. Maybe we can convince more to attend there. And maybe one, just one person, will catch the bug and continue coming.

 

And hopefully that person won't get bent over a table by any number of people.

 

maybe a coordinated effort can be made to introduce nihonto to the college crowd through history professors or asian studies professors, or even martial arts clubs.