THE BRITISH MUSEUM CUTTING EDGE EXHIBITION
COMMENTS:
Recently, I have been fortunate to make two trips to the British Museum’s Cutting
Edge exhibition. It was well worth the time to view these treasures, which
are all in an excellent newly polished state. It is a quite remarkable thing to
be able to see such swords outside of Japan.
Through a polisher’s eyes, some of these polishes are the best, or among the best, that I have ever seen and for me, it is not only inspiring, but an honour to see.
I think that all collectors and admirers of the Japanese sword owe a debt of gratitude to Victor for achieving this wonderful event.
Tony Norman
This is a truly magnificent exhibition, the like of which is very rare to find, even in Japan. The swords are well displayed and well lit so the minimum of neck twisting and acrobatics, are required. To me, having a passing acquaintance with most of those blades displayed, it was quite a surprise to see the magnificent quality of many of the accompanying koshirae. It is quite believable that these were mostly the everyday dress of samurai.
I recommend every collector of Japanese swords to make the effort to visit the museum and buy the catalogue.
Clive Sinclaire
It is indeed good to see that a British museum is able to find the sponsorship and funds to put on such an exhibition of Japanese swords. Of course the willingness to have all these swords professionally restored in Japan was also fundamental and owes much to Victor’s persuasive powers. I know that many of these swords were in a very poor state before and it is a revelation to see them now.
David Maynard