Sothebys Yoroi

[jelda44]

What do you think of her ?
Classic armor from Yahoo in my opinion 

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/the-samurai-Japanese-arms-and-armour/a-yokohagi-nimai-do-gusoku-armour-edo-period-18th?locale=en

 

Jiri

[jelda44]

The other pieces are great as always 

[Arthur G]

Looks a little bit Showa to my eye....

[Iekatsu]

Agreed, Showa period. It's not the only questionable item either.

 

[Miura]

My god. We use one from that same company to show the way to the restroom in the yoroi cafe. Who advises england sothebys? 

[Matsunoki]

Is anyone going to tell them before some poor guy gets toasted? In the UK I always email auctioneers when I see them misdescribing something that is within my knowledge sphere. Sometimes they thank me, sometimes not! 
I have no armour expertise or cred so don’t feel I can but if you guys are certain this is not “right” then why not ask them to “have another look”? They are not Gods.
Sothebys will not want to get a rep for selling copies.

[IBot]

My dog is older than this. 

Ian Bottomley

[YOJIMBO]

nobody write anything to them. On the contrary, everyone needs to see what kind of amateurs are working there. There are probably the same crazy people as on catawiki. "experts" 

[Luc T]

I told them several times, Christies too.   No action.  (Not this set)

[Iekatsu]

Looks like they made a correction, it is now listed as Meiji period, late 19th - early 20th century, still not accurate, but an improvement I guess.

[uwe]

Indeed Thomas…a step!

But it seems they don’t change the estimate….😏

[Matsunoki]

49 minutes ago, uwe said:

Indeed Thomas…a step!

But it seems they don’t change the estimate….😏

That will kill it stone dead……let’s see. Such a pity that Sothebys get it so wrong. Bonhams aren’t much better sadly.

[Alex A]

Lets face it, if auctions and dealers were as honest as we want them to be then profits would plummet. 

 

Still amazes me when i see vague write-ups and low res images on some dealers websites. No excuse in this day and age, they do it for one reason, deceive. 

 

Then on the other hand overly bull**** eager exaggerated write-ups

 

You ask for better images and its like you have asked them to climb mount Everest 

 

Got reminded this week that sometimes they buy items in and then realise they have made a mistake, but the price don't change to customers, and neither does their dishonest write-up.

 

Armour appears to have so many nuances, definitely not beginner friendly.

 

 

[Luc T]

Alex buying armor is not different from buying nihonto I suppose.   

or you buy cheap and hope you are the only one who saw it on the market:    90% you bought something bad

you buy expensive without a lot of pictures or guarantees (auction houses):   50% you bought something bad

you buy from  a trustworthy  known dealer:  90% you bought something good, but maybe expensive.

After all, the last case is the best.  If the armor is good, you will forget the price and enjoy the item.

 

according to Dr Robert Burawoy, there are 3 options to collect:

you spend a lot of  money and buy on trustwothy exclusive  dealers.

you study a lot and pick up the fine things among the crap.

or something inbetween.   

Best way is to learn and to join the Japanese Armor Society .

 

and we don't mention shinsa papers yet..

 

 

 

[Matsunoki]

This armour of dubious date made £22,860.00

The rest of the sale was a mixed bag.  I think they sold about 50 of the 82 Lots.

You have to sign in to see results so if you don’t want to do that I’ll happily look up any Lot for you.Just reply to this thread….as long as I don’t get 82 replies!

All the best. Colin

 

[YOJIMBO]

either the buyer is a complete idiot or they are laundering money there. but given that description, that means their expert is also an idiot.