Lewis B Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 Some top quality pieces going under the hammer in 2 months. https://www.sothebys...-davidson-collection 1 Quote
Stephen Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 So Louie you have to register to view the sword I don't see how to look at them Quote
Lewis B Posted February 5 Author Report Posted February 5 I'm sure the catalog will be released in due course. Here are a few images from Facebook. Niji Kunitoshi Chu Aoe School Rai Kunitoshi Tanto 2 1 Quote
Gakusee Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 Out of the above three, the tanto is the best. Mind you, the Yoshioka Ichimonji is also gorgeous but the price estimate is extremely ambitious. Dare I say, unrealistic. Quote
Lewis B Posted February 5 Author Report Posted February 5 Yes the Yoshioka Ichimonji is a beaut. Whats the estimate? 3 Quote
Gakusee Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 1 hour ago, Lewis B said: Yes the Yoshioka Ichimonji is a beaut. Whats the estimate? look up the auction sale poster and you are in for a surprise…. Quote
Stephen Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 29 minutes ago, Gakusee said: look up the auction sale poster and you are in for a surprise…. What I tried to find Quote
Gakusee Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 Just now, Stephen said: What I tried to find Ok Stephen, grand old royalty like you deserve to be given the info. This is said not in jest but with my best sentiments. This is from the NBTHK magazine. 3 2 Quote
Lewis B Posted February 5 Author Report Posted February 5 $300k? Its not even ChinChin ChoCho Seriously though $300K for a TJ is not crazy if it was a big name. Mumei Yoshioka Ichimonji not so much. Quote
Gakusee Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 1 hour ago, Lewis B said: $300k? Its not even ChinChin ChoCho Seriously though $300K for a TJ is not crazy if it was a big name. Mumei Yoshioka Ichimonji not so much. Talk of someone who wants to play in the big boys’ playground Frankly, the prices of top pieces have nothing to do with chin chin or not. 1 Quote
PNSSHOGUN Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 Is the auction catalogue available to those who have registered to bid, or is it still being finalised? Quote
Lewis B Posted February 5 Author Report Posted February 5 17 minutes ago, Gakusee said: Frankly, the prices of top pieces have nothing to do with chin chin or not. I think you missed the laughing emoji. Quote
Stephen Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 Thank you Michael it's not like I could afford them anyway so why give a link to Facebook Quote
Stephen Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 26 minutes ago, PNSSHOGUN said: Is the auction catalogue available to those who have registered to bid, or is it still being finalised? What I asked guess I'm just a bit slow Quote
Gakusee Posted February 6 Report Posted February 6 7 hours ago, Lewis B said: I think you missed the laughing emoji. Your are right. But it is OK. I am also having a laugh. Joking aside, it is a great blade but I am not sure what their pricing thinking has been lately. There has not been a wider benchmarking of the global market, which they ought to do…. Quote
Matsunoki Posted February 6 Report Posted February 6 With Sothebys, their pricing has absolutely nothing to do with any perceived “market value”. Their target market is not sword collectors. Their target market is rich investors with no knowledge who are prepared to buy whatever their Sothebys “personal shopper” tells them is “really good” 6 3 Quote
Gakusee Posted February 6 Report Posted February 6 Well, good luck with the sale in any case. For those in NY, please go and see the swords. It is a great visual treat. Quote
Lewis B Posted February 6 Author Report Posted February 6 I'm curious to see where the market lands for these highend TJ blades. I often hear dealers quote past sales at Bonhams et al as the benchmark for a particular smith eg Norishige. But as Colin says the hammer prices bare only a passing semblance to the real world Nihonto market and I believe a correction is due after the craziness of the Covid years. That said anyone care to guess the consigners asking price for this TJ Norishige Tanto? 1 Quote
nihon Posted February 6 Report Posted February 6 23 minutes ago, Lewis B said: I'm curious to see where the market lands for these highend TJ blades. I often hear dealers quote past sales at Bonhams et al as the benchmark for a particular smith eg Norishige. But as Colin says the hammer prices bare only a passing semblance to the real world Nihonto market and I believe a correction is due after the craziness of the Covid years. That said anyone care to guess the consigners asking price for this TJ Norishige Tanto? Seen this on a website called katanahanbai https://katanahanbai.com/en/katana/ My guess is around 150-200k usd Quote
Hoshi Posted February 9 Report Posted February 9 It's one of the top 3 Norishige tanto in existence. For items at this level, price = n/a. It's whatever a whale is willing to pay for. This is the sort of item that doesn't make it to the internet, so I can only presume that the whales made offers, offers got rejected by consignor, and now it hit the broader internet. It's very rare to see such a piece being sold openly. Quote I'm curious to see where the market lands for these highend TJ blades. I often hear dealers quote past sales at Bonhams et al as the benchmark for a particular smith eg Norishige. But as Colin says the hammer prices bare only a passing semblance to the real world Nihonto market and I believe a correction is due after the craziness of the Covid years. At the end of the day it's not far away IF you eliminate the irrational outliers (anyone remember the octopus tsuba?), account for auction house fees, and apply the appropriate forex correction. If you do it, then it's a pretty good correlation. But what is often forgotten is that these objects are not commodities, a TJ norishige's value is not the same as another TJ norishige's value. Each item needs to be examined in the context of the smith's corpus, and appraised for its strength and weaknesses in its specific category. Ladder theory exerts a "Pull" - low TJs and TJs+ tend to cluster together on price. Don't fall for the pull. 1 Quote
Curran Posted February 12 Report Posted February 12 On 2/6/2025 at 3:35 AM, Matsunoki said: With Sothebys, their pricing has absolutely nothing to do with any perceived “market value”. Their target market is not sword collectors. Their target market is rich investors with no knowledge who are prepared to buy whatever their Sothebys “personal shopper” tells them is “really good” Pretty much. Referencing some Christies Auctions, I've seen tsuba go for $80,000+ when I would have hesitated to pay $800 for them. Sometimes just for something that happened to photograph nicely. I once was consulted on a koshirae at Bonhams. I thought it worth $35k-$40k, with opening bid somewhere in the $20k range. The wealthy foreign buyer seeking the consultation went on to pay over $200,000 for it. These are amounts that make us go "whoa", but the billionaires don't care. 3 Quote
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