London Saleroom Report – Clive Sinclaire

Bonhams  – 13^TH May 2008

This was the second sale at which Bonhams in Bond Street have taken over from Sotheby’s Japanese department, and the catalogue looked as though, in terms of swords at least, it was providing a more modest alternative to the heady heights and estimates in St James’s.

The rooms were poorly attended but there was a reasonable amount of bidding  on the telephones. The majority of swords were tanto of no great quality but seemed more or less to be priced accordingly and many were authenticated with NBTHK Hozon or Tokubetsu Hozon origami.

I particularly enjoyed Lot 33 which was catalogued as “a fine pair of koshirae for a daisho” Apparently after Ichinomiya Nagatsune  all metal mounts, including kojiri featured yama-inu (wild dogs) amongst the grasses of Musashi. It was rather ambitiously estimated at £10-15,000 but remained unsold at a mere £5,500.

Yama-inu tsuba after Ichinomiya Nagatsune

Lot 40 was the only Juyo Token blade in the sale and it was a good blade attributed to Rai Kunitoshi. Unfortunately it had been cut down, although it was catalogued as having ubu nakago, it was only 54 cm and accompanied by a decorative koshirae. However, it was coaxed to the bottom end of its £15-18,000 estimate.

A kinzogan cutting test enhanced the suriage and machji-okuri nakago of Lot 42 which was also accompanied by a good koshirae. An NBTHK Hozon paper confirmed the Izumi (no) Kami Kuni(sada) mei and it also fetched the low end of the estimate of £12-15,000 after a bidding duel between a telephone bidder and the “book”.

I believe that I am correct in saying that the only time the top estimate was significantly exceeded, was with Lot 44, the last of the swords. This was another daisho but this one at least had a pair of Shinto blades to justify its more reasonable  £8-9,000 estimate. Both blades were by Etchu Kami Fujiwara Takehira (with NBTHK Hozon origami) and the saya were tastefully black lacquered and had iron Kinai tsuba. They sold at £13,000 to a telephone bidder.

Of the 44 Lots of swords, by my reckoning, 21 were unsold, failing to reach thir low estimate, even with auctioneer’s discretion.

Christies – 14^th May 2008

I think it may be said with a degree of certainty, that since our President, Victor Harris, has been on the Christies payroll, that the sword cataloguing has become far more interesting and informative. The “notes” on many of the Lots mean that the catalogues themselves, have become far more informative and interesting. They have even become useful references material for information other than simply price estimates and hammer prices. This is especially true now that they are attracting high quality swords, often of Juyo To-ken status or even higher.

Unfortunately, such things do not have seemed to stop the increasing problem of actually selling swords and it would seem that those with the high estimates are increasingly likely to be unsold. It would appear that many of the lower end swords sold reasonably well, but maybe it is the global economic downturn that means many of these swords failed to excite the buyers. I also believe that the quality of some of these Juyo To-ken that are now appearing in London salerooms, might not be as high as it should.

In the latest sale, a number of swords were offered that had previously been owned by members of To-ken Society of Great Britain, in particular they included the collection of the late David Tudor-Williams. An old picture of a meeting at the Princess Louis pub in Holborn and a page of “editorial” were included (reproduced at the end of this report).

One of these Lots was a daisho from David Tudor-Williams of which the daito had the mei of the nidai Hizen Tadahiro. Unfortunately the blade was completely out of polish and the nakago was suriage and machi-okuri. It is unfortunate that so much work was required on a sword such as this, but often these older collectors did not see the necessity of polishing and shinsa, often to the detriment of the sword, I feel. bearing in mind the extra money needing to be spent on the Lot, the high estimate of £8,000 seemed rather ambitious to me but it made it and was bought by the only Japanese dealer that I could see in the room.

Another piece apparently previously owned by a member, purported to be a tanto by the nidai Hizen Masahiro. I was unhappy with the mei and although it was modestly estimated at £1800-£2500, it attracted no interest and remained unsold.

The last member’s sword I will report on, Lot 212 , was a late copy of a  Hyogo Kusari tachi (chain slung tachi). I remember this well as I had it at home for some while 20 years ago, as it was photographed for the front cover of our 1989 To-ken Taikai catalogue. I was also pleased to reacquaint myself with the owner. The origin of the ancient style of this mounting, was fully explained in Victor’s notes. Estimated at £10 – 15,000 I am afraid the original owner is still the owner.

Lot 212 Hyogo Kusari tachi

The real stars of the show, however, were all imported and in some cases, rather exceptional sword some of which had been seen in London before. Lot 221, for instance was “the Property of an American Collector” an impressive and no less than a Tokubetsu Juyo attributed to Go Yoshihiro. This failed to achieve its estimated price of £100-150,000 and was unsold at £75,000

Several swords were offered that were previously sold in the USA as part of the Dr Walter Compton collection. Many will recall the sales a few years ago from which the British Museum acquired the Shintogo Kunimitsu tanto and the ko-Bizen Yoshikane tachi. One of these swords purported to be a Kiku-gyusaku (sword made by the Emperor Go-toba) having simply a Kiku engraved at the end of the nakago. It was accompanied by a presentation Tokugawa Box and some paperwork. The estimate of £20-25,000 would suggest that it is not totally accepted as being genuine and it failed to sell.

Lot 229 was a Juyo Token, Fukuoka Ichimonji in an Ito-maki Tachi koshirae that looked pretty modern and I suppose it is somewhat churlish of me to say that I was rather disappointed with it. It had a slender sugata and I expected to see a much more robust shape and thought that the hamon might be more flamboyant in the style of the Yoshifusa at the Sword Museum in Tokyo. Also the utsuri was far more difficult to see than I had anticipated. At an estimate of £60-80,000, I guess it stood a chance but continued the unsold trend of the sale.

For a stronger and more imposing sugata, Lot 234 fitted the bill. This was a mumei blade and had the typical sugata of the late Kamakura period and was an o-suriage tachi that had a Juyo Token attribution to Rai Kunimitsu. The complex hamon was clear and a pleasure to see but I had difficulty in seeing the nie-utsuri, as catalogued. Whilst it was estimated at £30,-40,000 it remained unsold at £19,000.

Staying with Yamashiro-den, Lot 235 was my favourite of the sale, being a Tokubetsu Juyo attributed to Awataguchi Kuniyasu. It fully displayed the elegance of these Kyoto blades and the attribution was quite believable. It was actually attributed to Awataguchi on the nakago in gold lacquer by the Honami and there was a strange sliver of metal coming away from the nakago and so it was quite delicate. Whilst \i suppose it did not help that the NBTHK paperwork had gone astray, I still expected this to come close to the estimated of £40-50,000, but it too failed to sell.

The highest price paid was for a Yososaemon Sukesada katana which was bought by the same Japanese dealer mentioned before. This was a fine sword and strangely during the sale, the top estimate was increased from £35,0000 to £40,000 whilst the bottom estimate, for which it sold, remained at £30,000.

I am unsure about Lot 219 which was a Miochin kabuto by Nobuie. This, together with its catalogue notes is fully described below. I believe it was unsold at £10k against an estimate of £12-18,000, but nonetheless, a most interesting thing with a fascinating provenance.

The saleroom was poorly attended but there was some successful telephone bidding. By my reckoning, of the 45 Lots of swords, 21 failed to sell almost all the higher priced Lots. I understand Christies reluctance to publish lower estimates, but I fail to see how Lots not selling, can benefit either them or their clients. More realistic estimates would enable the market to determine the selling price, customers to buy, Christies to sell and vendors to trade. However, I am sure that Japanese swords are a relatively small part of the Japanese sales overall and that the rest of the sale makes a profit for the department – but then I may be mistaken here too!

David Tudor-Williams, John Harding and Sydney Divers at Princes Louis in Holborn, London

The helmet of a distinguished military commander and retainer of the shogun

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