Remember Chris Shewen?

[Guest Simon R]

Not sure if this is the correct thread for this enquiry but does anyone know whatever happened to the UK sellers Chris and Roberta Shewen?

 

I visited them at their gorgeous home in Somerset and met them at various arms shows in the 1980s and they always had some very special swords in stock. (I particularly deeply regret not snapping up a beautiful Koto Sukesada in shirasaya and a third generation Muramasa in gunto mounts.)

 

Nowadays, I can find no reference to them so I assume they simply retired out of the game?

 

Below is their advertisement from the 1989 London Token Taikai booklet and the cover of the same.

[Geraint]

Hi Simon.

 

Memories indeed!  The last time I heard from Chris was a few yers ago now and he had indeed stopped this part of his business life, I managed to but some of his books.    I understand that he became a war correspondent but when we lst spoke he remembered the swords I had bought from him many years before, I still have two of them.  I don't know if you were ever on his mailing list, pre internet of course.  I still have some of the typed lists and they were quite a delight when they arrived.

 

More memories to come I'm sure.

 

All the best.

 

 

[Matsunoki]

Blimey……this thread takes me back a bit! I knew Chris and Roberta quite well and likewise visited them and bought several swords together with other Japanese works of art. We would also meet at motorway service stations on the M25. Once bought a whole collection of cloisonne from him and three wonderful large Miyao bronze samurai which I believe he bought in South America. He just seemed to disappear from the scene. Someone told me they had gone into the property market but I never heard from them again. I used to love his lists. Really miss that old fashioned way of dealing…….the days when you could buy nice things sensibly…..before the internet made it possible to find everything everywhere! That must be 40 odd years ago? Great times. 
All the best. Colin.