Do you collect swords as art or as artifact?

[cabowen]

The genesis of this question comes from the thread wherein a poster stated his plan to sell a blade independent of the gunto koshirae it came in.

 

Many people were quite steadfast in their opinion that by all means, don't separate the blade from the gunto koshirae as this was an important part of the sword's history. I am not speaking to those who expressed concern that the blade could be damaged by sending it without the koshirae-with that I agree. I take it this is the artifact view.

 

Personally, whenever I have bought a good sword in gunto koshirae, I can't get it into a shirasaya and get rid of the gunto koshirae fast enough. I see now that empty gunto koshirae are fetching sums that are beyond my belief. Makes me wish I would have held on to the dozens of them I gave away in the past.

 

I tend to take the art view. To me, gunto koshirae are simply mass produced and have nothing to do with the art of nihon-to. Koshirae have always been changed at the whim of the owner thoughout history and I find it hard to jump into the archeology mindset where everything is a valuable relic, especially when these mass produced, machine made koshirae are neither rare nor exceptional by any artistic standard.

 

I wonder how the artifact view would translate to other fields of art???...For example, if someone found a Monet at a garage sale that some prior owner had put a Walmart frame on, would they keep the frame as a valuable part of the painting's history?

 

Maybe I am missing something here (wouldn't be the first time....)????

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Chris,

I'm basically in agreement with you. If the Gunto koshirae were something special and/or unusual I understand why it should be kept with the blade, but if run of the mill Shin-Gunto koshirae I see nothing wrong with losing that koshirae when an older blade goes into shira-saya.

To pick up on your reference to the Monet oil in a Walmart frame, and to tie this thread to the one about the katakira-ba katana that started you down this path, no, I wouldn't keep the Walmart frame with the Monet, but I wouldn't roll up the Monet and store it in the closet, either.

Grey

[cabowen]

Hi Chris,

I'm basically in agreement with you. If the Gunto koshirae were something special and/or unusual I understand why it should be kept with the blade, but if run of the mill Shin-Gunto koshirae I see nothing wrong with losing that koshirae when an older blade goes into shira-saya.

To pick up on your reference to the Monet oil in a Walmart frame, and to tie this thread to the one about the katakira-ba katana that started you down this path, no, I wouldn't keep the Walmart frame with the Monet, but I wouldn't roll up the Monet and store it in the closet, either.

Grey

 

Yes, my question presupposed that the gunto koshirae was not something unusual or special, just the usual machine made, mass produced, garden variety....

 

And I agree that a Monet, like a good sword, deserves a first class "mounting"...

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Hi Chris.

 

IMHO traditionally made swords in Gunto Koshirae shouldn't be sold separately, because they are the meeting point of the two (often clashing) sides of Japanese sword collecting.

Both art and militaria (historical?) aspects are represented and this add value to the set. Each part will see his preferred aspect owerwelm the other.

Better to let the buyer decide which one belongs to him. But honestly I'm not so fond in these items to know if selling them seperately would mean a greater income.

I dislike to see sets of kodogu or even armor dismantled for profit. Might be this affects my feeling.

 

On a side note, to have the original Gunto Koshirae could help the ones that belongs to the "Art side" to gulp the alterations done to some Nakago of ancient swords.

Kyu Gunto comes to mind.

 

Either way, you need a Shirasaya for a newly polsihed sword, so you're forced to have a "proper frame" for your Monet. If you don't like the Walmart frame, you can simply put it in the closet,

just in case you have to part with the sword in the future.

 

My 2 eurocents.

[estcrh]

When a Japanese soldier took his families relic and put it onto ww2 fittings it changed to sword back to a weapon and all the fittings become part of the swords history...all fittings and related items that came with the sword should go with the sword when it is sold, but the sword does not necessarily need to be kept in the fittings.

 

A future owner of the sword ( we do not really own anything..we just get to take care of it for awhile) may appreciate having some of the swords history accompany the sword even if the current owner does not. Think about some future owners delight a hundred years from now when they can show people the swords history.

[xxlotus8xx]

A future owner of the sword ( we do not really own anything..we just get to take care of it for awhile) may appreciate having some of the swords history accompany the sword even if the current owner does not. Think about some future owners delight a hundred years from now when they can show people the swords history.

 

Very well said.

[Kevin]

A future owner of the sword ( we do not really own anything..we just get to take care of it for awhile) may appreciate having some of the swords history accompany the sword even if the current owner does not.

 

Completely agree.

 

And in the case of gendaito, they were intended to be in shin-gunto koshirae.

 

A thought - give it another hundred years of folks junking shin-gunto koshirae and they might be fetching silly money for their rarity value. :lol:

 

Kevin

[reinhard]

When a Japanese soldier took his families relic and put it onto ww2 fittings it changed to sword back to a weapon

 

First of all you are suggesting that every Japanese soldier descended from a samurai family and had some "family relic" at hand. This is sheer nonsense of course, but it is in perfect accordance with the militaristic doctrine of that time. Sons of peasants and kulis were told: "We are all samurai". This was just propaganda and it will probably take some more time to get this crap out all heads, especially the smaller ones.

Even many of the subaltern officers who had to carry swords were not of samurai origin. They had to get their swords and mountings from elsewhere.

Secondly, the use of swords as weapons plays a minor role during WWII (politely said).

Thirdly and most important: Japan's ideology during WWII was not a continuation of samurai-culture, but its perversion in the first degree.

 

reinhard

[cabowen]

A future owner of the sword ( we do not really own anything..we just get to take care of it for awhile) may appreciate having some of the swords history accompany the sword even if the current owner does not.

 

Completely agree.

 

And in the case of gendaito, they were intended to be in shin-gunto koshirae.

 

A thought - give it another hundred years of folks junking shin-gunto koshirae and they might be fetching silly money for their rarity value. :lol:

 

Kevin

 

I am always amazed at what people will spend money on and collect....I think shingunto koshirae are already fetching silly money....glad someone wants them.

[estcrh]

When a Japanese soldier took his families relic and put it onto ww2 fittings it changed to sword back to a weapon

 

First of all you are suggesting that every Japanese soldier descended from a samurai family and had some "family relic" at hand. This is sheer nonsense of course, but it is in perfect accordance with the militaristic doctrine of that time. Sons of peasants and kulis were told: "We are all samurai". This was just propaganda and it will probably take some more time to get this crap out all heads, especially the smaller ones.

Even many of the subaltern officers who had to carry swords were not of samurai origin. They had to get their swords and mountings from elsewhere.

Secondly, the use of swords as weapons plays a minor role during WWII (politely said).

Thirdly and most important: Japan's ideology during WWII was not a continuation of samurai-culture, but its perversion in the first degree.

 

reinhard

I said Japanese and not samurai for a reason..but regardless a Japanese sword being converted to a ww2 sword gives the sword to SOME people a certain amount of historical significance and is part of the swords history. When a sword which sat unused and stored away got refitted for war it again becomes a weapon instead of a memento even if the sword never actually got used as a weapon. Swords made during the was should also have the ww2 fittings kept with the sword even if the blade is refitted to suit the new owner. Just my personal belief...I acknowledge that there is still a considerable amount of hostility towards the Japanese by some collectors who admire the object but do not want to think about its origin...The Japanese ww2 ideology was sadly just a reflection of the American and European ideology that they had observed first in their part of the world..but thats another debate.

[sanjuro]

Gentlemen.

 

Chris's original question encompasses quite a wide range. We are at the moment discussing the gunto aspect of that range, but the question itself relates to the mindset of the individual collector and brings into the discussion all those potentially infinately variable factors. Do you view the sword as a weapon or as a work of art, or perhaps both, and in what measure? Do you collect nihonto or militaria? How do you as an individual view the sword? There are potentially as many answers as there are collectors.

There is a large number of collectors who favour the papered, polished and packaged trend that the market has provided. There are good reasons to do so if one wants some security in what is collected. Others, some would say rogue collectors, who collect whatever interests them for whatever reason. In all however, any sword that is separated from its koshirae has lost part of its identity. Where a koshirae is present I would be inclined to keep it, even though I may choose to keep the blade in shirasaya or even remount it. This is true also of even the gunto koshirae, which in itself has no personality and was essentially a 'uniform' item. For me, real nihonto have individual koshirae that cannot be easily replaced and are part of the personality/history of the sword itself. In that respect perhaps gunto koshirae dont qualify, but they are the fittings of the sword you acquired, regardless of it being an ancestral blade or factory made. So why not retain them and accord to them the regard which in your own estimation they deserve?

[rkg]

This is actually a very interesting question, because it strikes at the heart of our stewardship of this stuff...

 

In the final analysis, after you've bought it you can do whatever you want to the piece, but for me all the stuff that comes

with a piece is part of its "voice", hinting at what the piece has gone through in the past. when you discard those pieces or

do heinous things like strip a tsuba down to bare metal and remake the patina in your own image (why people who do this

don't just make a piece from scratch confuses me), you steal the piece's voice.

 

Looking at it another way, a future owner might be really happy you kept the stuff together - I bet a lot of us would

really like to have gotten that low ranking soldier's Nambokucho period tachi or sengoku period uchigatana koshirae that a sword had at one time or

another... At the time both of these were being cranked out in high volume for various reasons and (like gunto koshirae until quite recently) probably weren't considered to be of much value beyond their immediate utility (often the

bits got recycled in various ways, but that's another story). Now the few that are left are treasures...

 

Best,

 

rkg

(Richard George)

[Tokaido]

*I may choose to keep the blade in shirasaya or even remount it*

 

This gives another aspect of collecting Japanese swords, which maybe more relevant in the West than in Japan:

remounting to recreate a *samurai sword* from a *romantic viewpoint*.

 

This makes little sense from my point of view (collecting swords as art) because:

- the newly created mounting has no history besides the put together of old (often mismatched) fittings.

- the newly created mounting reflects the taste of the new owner and may be miles away from historical accurate assembly

- some may argue that old fittings were frequently re-used during sword history, but this is a blunt argument since

this re-using (up to haitorei) was made with the intention of mounting AND USING/ WEARING the sword as a weapon,

which is obsolet today

 

Greetings

Andreas

 

PS: My arguments do apply to the collecting of *artswords*where shirasaya is a must on newly polished sowrds. The *martial arts corner* is a totally different approach and need not be discussed in NMB (just my oppinion).

[sanjuro]

Andreas.

 

Your reply to my observation about remounting a sword is exactly what I would expect from a collector who thinks of a sword only as art. Thats fine...... You are entitled to your elitist viewpoint. There are however, viewpoints other than yours, neither more nor less valid than yours. I have seen as I am sure others have, Nanbokucho blades packaged in shirasaya, polished in a garish hadori style that is totally inappropriate to the period and nature of the blade. Where is the art in that? Where is the spirit of preservation in that?

 

 

What gives any one of us the right to judge whether or not I or any other collector, knows in what style to mount a sword? When I do remount a sword, I do it with the greatest respect to the period of the blade and also to the quality and match of the mounts. The excercise can be very expensive if done correctly. The decision to remount a blade has nothing to do with 'creating a samurai sword' from a romantic viewpoint. Be that as it may, I have a preference for mounted blades or rather a blade that has an appropriate koshirae to accompany it. Part of the splendour of a sword (for me at least) is to see it as it was intended to be seen. Though all my blades are kept in shirasaya, so that they may be appreciated for the art they represent, they can also be appreciated in a complete form.

This is just my way of appreciating the sword, and is possibly due to the fact that I am from the 'Unclean" martial arts fraternity you seem so derisive of. Are martial artists children of a lesser God, or inferior beings in the nihonto world because we also perhaps know something of how to use a sword?

[Tokaido]

Hello Keith,

I'm upset about your harsh comment. I clearly pointed out *my point of view'* im my post. You need not agree.

 

Where did I presume a lack of knowledge in *everyone*? Did I use *everyone* anywhere? I did not.

I pronounced *may be* and *often*.

 

Your are right, remounting may be a very expensive and painstaiking process where a lot of money and undoubtly

a lot of great knowledge and fantastic labor by the people performing the manufacture may be included.

But some members may agree that there are a lot of lesser outcome, too.

 

The need of an martial artist to own/use a sword lays beyond my scope and beyond my response.

Therefore I tryed to empazise that those field of collecting and use of swords is a completely different

thing out of the scope of NMB.

 

I did not intend to make any harsh comments, but if my comments sound harsh because of my command

of english language or the lack of it, I do appologize and stay away from further comments.

 

Greetings

Andreas

[sanjuro]

Andreas.

 

My apologies also. I neither took nor intended to give offense. The comments I made were diametrically opposed to yours and true to my own view, but mainly for the sake of the discussion and also to illustrate the many and varied views that can be taken when answering Chris's original question. I refer here to my first post in this thread where that specific comment was made. I have edited one of my comments accordingly to be not so personal. I trust this is agreeable to you. Perhaps I am being a little 'overtrained' in my response to the martial arts reference.

Incidentally, theres nothing wrong with your English.... It seems to be working very well. :D

[Brian]

We have to remember that tone is not easily conveyed online, and sometimes we go into a post with a pre-conceived notion of what that person is saying, and therefore hear it that way in our heads. Let's not make controversy where there is none, and if possible, keep this thread polite and friendly. Any signs of it going downhill, and consider it locked. Hopefully we are big enough to make this unneccessary

 

Brian

 

PS - General comments...not directed any anyone.

[Stephen]

Well it really comes back to personal taste, there is no iron clad rule as what to do. I know that my gunto signed Shichi sai Hokoku (seven lives for my country) with Kijimomo nakago, in made to order mounts with top end fittings and same covered saya with hard lacquer on top will stay that way for as long as I own it. Shudder to think where it is going after I pass.

On the other hand with a blade as Chris points out that is a older blade and has been thru many mounts it its life, like Dicks, id not hesitate if I had the resources to find period fittings and mount it as such. Funny lot we are, are we not when we get so passionate about our swords and how they should look.

[IanB]

Oh dear! We are back to the 'art sword' versus 'weapon' theme again. I always have a small secret smile when people start talking about their 'sword in shirasaya'. What they have isn't a sword it is only part of one (albeit the important part) - a blade. A sword comprises a blade and a koshirae - that is how they were intended and that is how they were worn and used. Admittedly Japanese swords are unique in that they are designed to be removable from their mounts, but that does't alter the argument. And yes, a few blades were made specifically as lavish gifts or for dedication (you might just call these 'art blades') and may have never been mounted. In those exceptional cases a shirasaya is correct and valid. Also valid is to keep a blade in shirasaya alongside its koshirae when it is in storage.

The analogy to a painting has a modicum of validity, but look at it the other way around. Here is a Holbein in its original 16th century frame; Do you chuck that away because the heavy gilt doesn't match your decor? That same painting may well have been re-framed in the early 1800's - do you chuck that frame away because it wasn't made when the painting was done. At what point does the date of the frame dictate it is of no value? Would you break up a Scottish basket-hilted sword because the blade was German and made 50 or a 100 years earlier? I suspect not.

Having spent a considerable time working in a museum I have perhaps a somewhat different perspective on the passage of time to many. I also realise the importance of 'original condition'. What I am trying to say is that what seems commonplace now will certainly not be in the future. Many objects, deemed as treasures by our museums, were once commonplace and considered of little or no value. Many in fact were excavated from rubbish heaps. Such items as armours that have not had new plates made, or the etching re-worked by well meaning Victorian restorers and collectors are great rarities.

I'm saddened by the sale of koshirae on such places as eBay. Once a blade has been polished and put in shirasaya, its koshirae is still a part of that sword and they belong together. Split the up and much of the information the sword once held when complete is lost. What that information is we only partially know now. Who knows what future technologies will reveal.

Ian Bottomley

[David Flynn]

I'm going to play a bit of the devils advocate here, . When one, "does up a blade," there are many things to be factored in. First the cost. Second preference of taste. third, for what reason. I have known some swords done up by people who were not happy how they looked when obtained. The money, the time and the effort put in may be quite substantial. An old sword, taken from a gunto and put into Samurai mounts, more often than enough, ends up with money lost. Most who do up a sword do so with good intentions of keeping the sword for life. However, one never knows what is around the corner. If for some reason, this done up sword must now be sold, chances are, the money spent and not including the effort, will not be repaid.

Most serious collectors, are able to tell, a sword that has been done up. The main thing, the serious collector is interested in is the blade. I bet quite a few here, have seen a good blade done up, has liked the blade, but not the fittings? Whether one does not agree with this point or not, how many have sold a blade in shira saya and been asked, where is the koshirae? The original Koshirae (unless ruined) even gunto, constitutes a package. Whether one likes it or not, most I believe, would prefer the package. The price difference between a sword in a shirasaya and package, can be quite dramatic.

I am looking at this from a monetary view. Whether one doesn't want to be mercenary, at the end of the day, it's still money.

[Aloof Pegasus]

Surely the point here is that it is unlikely any future war will see swords. Art or not they were also weapons. Swords are not like painting, tea bowls or carpets. They have a dual nature.

 

The last time these swords went to war was in gunto and we might consider that places an obligation on us to keep them in their 'found state'. I think we have a further obligation to consider that in a couple of hundred years the 1940's will seem as distant as Edo to us. In Edo they chopped and changed things around because they still carried swords, so updating koshirae was a fashion statement, or they were tired of looking at the same old boar menuki, or whatever. But we don't need to make out swords fashionable or new looking. And also we should consider that the standard gunto mounts will 'speak' to future collectors. Instead of a swordcut on the mune of a koto blade being thought desirable because it was part of a real sword fight or battle, the same damage to a sword of whatever age in gunto will create the same sort of magic for some future collector.

 

Most of the forum probably has heard the story about a group of historians arguing about something or other and one of them mentioned 1815 in support of his point. The retort was; '1815! That's current affairs!' It all depends on your point of view.

[paulb]

I am sure there are as many views on this as there are members here. However taking note of Ian's points I started to try and define what I think I am doing in pursuit of this subject.

I do not believe swords (blades) are high art. I think they represent an outstanding example of form following function where the smiths have perfected their choice of material and manufacturing technique to make a supreme cutting weapon. As a result of this and as a bi-product of it they have created something that can be incredibly beautful.

Interestingly and this purely a personal taste issue I think as manufacturing moved away from this ideal and smiths in the shinto period started producing showy hamons anf generally more loud forms, much of that original beauty was lost.

 

As suggested by Ian's definition above I do not collect swords, I collect blades. This is not a deliberate choice it just happens that the blades I want tend to be in shirasaya. where a koshirae or part koshirae have come with the blade I have gratefully taken them and where necessary had them, I hope, sympathetically restored. I have only once assembled a koshirae from scratch . While using contemporary components it was not an attempt to recreate something that might have been it was completing a sword for a very specific reason. I have one other blade which I may also do this with but have yet to decide.

Wheter we collect swords as art or artefact (unlike Keith I have absolutely no idea or desire to know how to use a sword so I must definitely fall in to the art side!) surely the important thing is that we use our best endeavours to preserve what is there. I am sure this is what the victorians in Ians story thought they were doing too, but we can only take decisions based on what is known to us today not what might be in the future. therefore we should minimise the impact of whatever action we decide to take concentrating on maintaining the piece rather than "enhancing" which will likely prove wrong in years to come

[cabowen]

Here is a Holbein in its original 16th century frame; Do you chuck that away because the heavy gilt doesn't match your decor? That same painting may well have been re-framed in the early 1800's - do you chuck that frame away because it wasn't made when the painting was done. At what point does the date of the frame dictate it is of no value? Would you break up a Scottish basket-hilted sword because the blade was German and made 50 or a 100 years earlier? I suspect not.

 

 

I was implying by my analogy of a Monet in a Walmart frame that the frame had no artistic value, was mass produced, and basically made not as some kind of heirloom, but as a cheap frame for Auntie's paint by numbers masterpiece. The date of manufacture is not the point-the craftsmanship and artistic value are.....

 

Art is not valued by age, but artifacts are to a large degree (mostly because it is age that takes the common and through the entropy of time decreases the quantity until it changes from commonplace to uncommon).

 

The key to my point is not whether or not the mass produced gunto koshirae might have value at some point in the future as artifacts, but as art. Surely in the year 101010, if there are still humans on the planet and there happens to be a few gunto koshirae remaining, they undoubtedly will have some kind of value simply because of their rarity (something I am perhaps contributing to by not valuing them in the present). This value will have more to do with rarity than intrinsic artistic value. I know someone will pipe up and mention Korean tea bowls, now highly valued as art, originally every day ware in Korea....Well, they were at least hand made. I doubt the same will ever happen with something as manufactured as a gunto koshirae.....

 

Collecting blades and koshirae independently has a long history in the culture of Japan. Witness all the unmounted kodogu. I have seen swords with no mekugi ana as well that were never meant for use. The fact that blades and kodogu can be given kantei-sho independently supports the view that they are in fact not only separable but independent art work. Furthermore, when they are exhibited in any museum, the blades and kodogu are displayed separately and independently....

 

If you collect blades, kodogu, and swords as art, then gunto koshirae have no relevance. If you view these items as artifacts and wish to preserve them in situ, as it were, then I can understand the motivation to keep them together. Clearly it all depends on your perspective, art or artifact.....

[mdiddy]

What about ko-tosho tsuba? Today, they are held in fairly high regard as art yet were initially intended for low ranking soldiers 500 years ago. Their simple design and crude manufacture suggest to me some degree of mass production. I can’t see these items being as distinguished 50 years after their initial manufacture as they are 500 years later today. I agree with Richard and Ian’s point of view and find Ian’s thought of gunto koshirae as information particularly salient. I can easily imagine 500 years from now when everything is made of plastic or corn derivative that people will stop by the Met to ogle at the last 10 gunto tsuba made by the ancients with their crude metal working machines, instead of nano-organisms or quantum technology, as high art given the amount of manual interface required.

 

Going back to earlier statements, I don’t see how this particular one is grounded in fact:

 

Thirdly and most important: Japan's ideology during WWII was not a continuation of samurai-culture, but its perversion in the first degree.

 

Approaching this topic with utmost respect, but how is 1930s Japanese ideology of expansion any different from Hideyoshi’s expansion into Korea, Nobunaga’s expansion into Mino, or Naran emperors’ expansion against the Ainu/Emishi to begin with. The country has a history of samurai culture that included several hundred years of conflict and conquering in the name of the emperor. WWII may have differed on scale but the ideology was not new or different than before. If by samurai culture you mean the pleasantries and formality developed in Edo’s 200yr peace then I concede the point but I think that is rather short-sighted.

[mdiddy]

As well:

 

Secondly, the use of swords as weapons plays a minor role during WWII (politely said).

 

The use of swords as weapons plays a minor role from at least Nagashino onwards, but probably more given the emphasis on Samurai as mostly mounted archers.

[cabowen]

Going back to earlier statements, I don’t see how this particular one is grounded in fact:

 

Thirdly and most important: Japan's ideology during WWII was not a continuation of samurai-culture, but its perversion in the first degree.

 

Grounded in fact or not, and as interesting a discussion that it would engender, I don't think it is relevant to this discussion and pursuit of it will certainly end, well, you know how it will end.....

[sanjuro]

Paul B.

If I may, I would like to clear something up here. Perhaps a misapprehension on the part of many collectors that a martial artists' primary interest in nihonto is purely practical. Yes, I am a martial artist, and though I only ever studied the sword and its use, I am also a collector. I do not use a valuable antique nihonto in my practice of Iaijutsu or Iaido or even kenjutsu kata. I would not! I use a shinsakuto that was especially made for me for use in martial arts. The blade is sized and weighted for my build and height. It is the only one of my swords I think of as being my own. The others that I have purchased are merely in my care. The blades I collect are never subjected to use at all, even though they may be mounted for use and more than capable of being used as a weapon.

Being a martial artist does not preclude one from appreciating nihonto as an art form or wishing to preserve nihonto, nor does it intimate that our primary enjoyment comes from the use of nihonto. Quite the contrary. Throughout history the greatest appreciators of swords and indeed the elevation of swords to an art form was the samurai. Whilst I am not and can never be a samurai, their appreciation of nihonto in all its forms and aspects was still a part of my training.

[paulb]

Keith,

I am not sure what in my mail suggested you were only interested in martial arts or used your antique blades fro practice. All I said is that unlike you I have no idea how to use a sword. I would regard that on a comment on my inability rather than anything about you.

Unfortunately I cannot use langauge as a reason for misunderstanding but please be assured there was no negative comment on you, your actions, practices or otherwise was intended.

[mdiddy]

Chris - I agree, and I know how it will end. So, back on topic: gunto tomorrow = ko-tosho today?

[sanjuro]

Paul B.

 

Your post was not taken personally at all. I did however wish to dispell a common misapprehension among many collectors about the motives of martial arts types. Its a theme that shows faintly through many posts when this subject is raised.

Really..... I'm not overtrained to that degree ....... Honestly. I agreed with the spirit of your post as a matter of fact. I merely used it with the best of motives, as a catalyst. (I hope you dont mind).

 

Oh dear.......It seems that today I am destined to be misunderstood.

 

It seems I suffer with a bad case of foot-in-mouth.