CHRISTIE’S LONDON – July 2005
This is just a brief report on the sale held at Christie’s on 12th July 2005. There were a number of interesting tsuba and armours but I hope you will forgive me for restricting this report to swords only.
Generally, I heard it said that the price estimates were rather ambitious and indeed a number of Lots failed to reach their low estimates but also many were sold within their estimated price range. However, the first few Lots were modest in both price and quality.
Quite surprisingly, Lot 823, which was an authenticated katana by Naotane dated 1839 was knocked down at only £4,800 (est £4-6,000). Although the blade was not especially inspiring, this seemed to be a very cheap buy for someone in the room. Also at reasonable price was a Hizen blade with a Tadahiro mei at £8,500 against an estimate of £8,500-10,000.. Although the suguha blade was unauthenticated, it looked OK to me but I have been wrong before and there is always another just round the corner!
Several ornately mounted tanto were of merit. One of these was an aikuchi koshirae with a hira-zukuri blade with a hitatsura hamon, possibly Hasabe school I thought. Estimated at £12 – 18,000, this just made the low estimate. Better was another aikuchi with a superb koshirae and an unsigned blade that I thought stood a good chance of being Rai school, even though it was difficult to see the jigane clearly. This sold for £12,500, in the middle of its £10-15,000 estimate. A few lots later another aikuchi tanto, this time only a koshirae, enjoyed a £20-25,000 estimate. It was indeed magnificent with exceedingly rich metal fittings and was knocked down for an incredible £27,000. Possibly a “daimyo’s plaything” but I would have wanted it to have a blade for that kind of investment!
Lot 857 Aikuchi Tanto Koshirae
This was followed by a Hojoji school katana signed Tajima (no) Kami Hojoji Tachibana Sadakuni with a fine Mitsu-do cutting test in kinzogan. This Juyo To-ken exceeded the high estimate and sold for £36,000. Followed by a Yasutsugu school blade, also Juyo To-ken and also with a cutting test inscription, this sword was signed by Omi (no) Kami Tsuguhira. However, it only managed to reach £22,000 against an estimate of £30,35,000.
Another Hizen-to, this one by the first Tadakuni had an attractive gunome hamon and made a good price of £26,000 against what seemed an overly ambitious estimate of £30-35,000.
Certainly, the most speculative Lot in the sale was a daisho catalogued as “A Magnificent Shogunal Presentation Daisho with Soshu blades”. It comprised of a katana and tanto embellished with gold lacquered Aoi-mon. Both were contained in lacquer boxes, that of the tanto with the kao of Honami Kochu that he used between 1697 and 1725. The daisho was presented by Tokugawa Ieyoshi (1837-53) To Lord Inaba and there was some documentary evidence in support of this. The daito had an omote kinzogan mei of Masamune and on the ura, also in kinzogan – Inaba. The tanto was inscribed Yukimitsu. There were no modern authentication papers and I recall seeing these same swords being sold some 10-15 years ago. In the intervening years the past owner does not appear to have submitted the swords to shinsa with any positive results, so it would seem that neither blade is what they claim to be. . However, both were fine old blades and it will be interesting to see how the new owner proceeds with them. The Lot was bought for £35,000, well below the estimated £40-60,000.
Lot 838 Shogunal Presentation daisho
Further Juyo To-ken included a mumei katana attributed to Unji of the Unrui school which made the low estimate of £18,000 and a rare Ryumon Nobuyoshi, which may have sold for £12,000 against a low estimate of £15,000. Definitely unsold was a Juyo To-ken katana by Kiyondo (pupil of Kiyomaru) which failed to reach the low estimate of £30,000. (I wonder whether the relatively poor performance of these blades was a result of excessive estimates and the fact that they were all in suguha, not the most appreciated or commercial hamon).
Certainly a powerful and strong looking sword was a shinshinto from Satsuma piece by Motohira. This sword, made when he was 35 years old was also Juyo To-ken and justified its £35-40,000 estimate by selling for £35,000. Another fine blade was a mumei Bizen tachi, accompanied by ito-maki tachi koshirae.. This Juyo To-ken sword had a beautiful shape and was attributed to Sanenaga, younger brother of Nagamitsu and son of Mitsutada. I cannot help wondering that if this had been in the more “normal” choji-midare, whether this sword would have made double the £35,000 it made (est £35-40,000).
The most expensive Lot of the sale was a daisho with matching blades by Suishinshi Masahide, also accompanied by Juyo To-ken certification. Both blades were signed Suishinshi Masahide (kao) O Sat Sai Miya Fujiwara Nobuaki ju zo Kore and dated Kyowa 3 Nen 2 Gatsu Hi (1803). The koshirae was fine and subdued, as were the blades, but I have seen many more interesting blades by this smith. The interesting mei, however, was an important factor in it being estimated at £60-70,000. It failed to reach this level but did sell for £55,000.
This was followed by a rather flamboyantly mounted daisho. Containing two shinshinto Hizen blades, the daito by Munetsugu and the shoto by Yoshikane. I am sure that the koshirae helped greatly in it achieving £12,000, towards the middle of the estimate of £10-15,000.
Lot 861 Hizen Daisho
Altogether an interesting sale with several fine swords. Although not attended by vast hoards of hungry collectors and dealers, there was enough action in the room and several active telephone bidders. It seems that Christie’s estimates on the “top-end” Lots were rather too high although at the lower end there were reasonable estimates on reasonable swords. Personally, I was the under-bidder on two Lots and went home with both my wallet and “no recent buying history” record, in tact.
I would also point out that the prices quoted above are all “hammer prices” and do not include the buyer’s commission. In many cases this included an extra 5% as Lots were imports into Europe, presumably from Japan and the USA.
I was unable to attend Sotheby’s on the following day so I am afraid I cannot report on it.
Clive Sinclaire
London July 2005