No 107


Dear Customers & Friends
Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No. 107.Here in Osaka, it is very hot just like we are in the lukewarm water bath. How is it in your place? We are going to take summer holidays from 13 Saturday to 21 Sunday. The 15th of August is 'obon', when most people take summer holidays. Antique kimono market also takes holidays - almost all auctions in the middle of August are not held, or held later in the end of August. If we could, we want to take holidays not in this obon season. But I can not pass on the auctions, so there is not other alternatives. We are going to Hokkaido for the holidays. I wanted to go southern island ( like Okinawa ) again, but all family members resisted to go to the hottest places. So we can not send items or reply to your mails during this holidays. We are very sorry but if you want to close and send your items, please let us know before that days. Very sorry for your inconveniece! And we wish you also have nice summer holidays!(I was always wondering if there are holidays -winter holidays during August in Australia)
These days I attend antique goods auctions several times a month. Yesterday I attended antique goods ( 'dougu' - tool ) auction in Tanba ( rural district of Hyogo prefecture ). Scenes of dougu auctions are way different from kimono auctions. Dougu auctions have prominent grades, and at the highest auctions extremely expensive items are dealt ( from thousand USD to a million USD !). I hear that bidders at highest auctions are very rich, and they always sell and buy very expensive items at several hundred thousand dollars, so they don't mind several hundred dollar's loss. They have very long career, and most of them were born in the antique dealers family. And I heard that they made incredible money during the asset-inflated bubble economy. Such type of auction is limited to membership, and dealers pay by credit.The auction I attended yesterday is different from such highest auctions. It is held in the tinplate shack, and before the shack, lots of old furnitures and other items are stacked. Of course sometimes very expensive items are offered, but most items are from ten dollars to several hundred USD. There offered various kinds of items - tansu, door of old stock house, ranma, lampshade, old book, old post card, samurai sword, sake bottle, china, urushi items, toys, shouji and so on.Its variety is very wide and interesting! Unfortunately some items are too big for sending abroad by postal service, but tansu are not as expensive as I imagined before. ( But low price tansu always have some flaws, and they must be repaired to use.) Items are often in the original boxes or the in the very old boxes, which are covered with thick dust. Every attendants put sheet or wood plates on the floor of their cars' loading spaces. In the old boxes there sometimes are ratshits, bug shells and othe!rs, and after we put the boxes to the cars, our hands become black with dust. Papers in such boxes are often old news papers, and we can know the dates from it. Sometimes they are from Meiji priod(1868-1912), and often they are from early Showa period(Showa:1926-1989). I often check the ads and articles of such papers, and it is very interesting to feel the atmosphere of the olden times. Urushi and china are often in the wooden boxes, and they have owners' name and the purchased date. So we can learn many things not from items but from boxes and wrappings.
At such auctions, items are not checked enough before offered. So some items are too damaged to sell. Some items are not so old one, and no one can find value for them. Some items are nearly waste, and there is only a fine line between them.If the price don't bid up enough, the auctioneer ( very funny and tough man !) ask the bidders higher prices as they bid. He is very tough and lovable man, and most attendants can not refuse his request.
Dealers are speedily closed, sold items are got out fo there from one minute to the next. Yesterday I got lots of interesting items, and my car items are stacked around my car was buried in with items. Before ending the auction I had to worry if I can put them all into my car.
Ordinarily said, dougu auctions are risky compared to kimono auctions. There are many fakes, and many people seems to have no hesitation about deceiving other sellers. Dougu dealers say 'All dougu dealers are professionals. If you are deceived, the one at fault is you. You must have eyes to tell the real from the false, if you are a professional.'
At these dougu auction, some vintage kimono are also offered ( not so many ). And there are not enough kimono dealers there, so the prices of kimono are not expensive like kimono auctions. Yesterday I also bought some bunches of kimono, and fortunately I found a vintage obi made of valuable chirimen silk in them! It has elegant cherry blossom pattern, and embroidery is also added partly.If other kimono dealers noticed it, its price had to be more expensive. At dougu auctions sometimes we come across such fortunes, so dougu dealers sometimes bid too expensive prices for expecting the bunches may include very expensive antique fabrics. As I feel before, many dougu sellers have gamble feeling in their business. We got many interesting items at the auction, and we will list them this week. We are very happy because kimono auctions are very slow, and we don't have so many interesting kimono items now. Tomorrow we will list some wooden items ( small tansu ), china bowls and others. We got very unique antique wood block prints from Meiji priod(1868-1912), which are the design of uchiwa ( round fan ). We will list them tomorrow. Its design is very sophisticated and artistic. Please check its fantastic designs. *WE wish you a nice Sunday and a joyful new week.
Ichiro & Yuka WadaKimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"http://www.ichiroya.com
e-mail: info@ichiroya.comaddress: Asia-shoji Bldg.301 1841-1 Nishi 1 chome Wakamatsu cho Tondabayashi city Osaka 584-0025 JAPANTEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446