Van Ham - The handling session

[neilholton]

A Masanao Dutchman made 250K USD before...

This was a marvellous figure, full of life.

Though given a choice of any Netsuke today....I'd pick the Tortoise.

[borat]

I assume this is the particular Dutchman Neil is referring to ...

Actually, I've handled this piece from the Dr Joe Kurstin collection

[neilholton]

Sorry Gopi, its the one that Sagemonoya has in their French Connection catalogue, probably the oldest of the examples Joe has. That Greenfield one is marvellous too, though my personal favourite of Joe's is the girly one.

[borat]

Thanks Neil, here we go again ....

[Operafan]

Re-diverting to 'the handling session' in Cologne, which I utterly enjoyed, here are my three favourites:

[jbjtennyo]

You've got great taste, Operafan! The turtle was my favorite as well. Do you know what it sold for? I love the other two that you show as well, but they are out of our reach here in the good ol USofA! Thanks for sharing the nice images!

[Operafan]

All three were out of my reach, for another reason, Judy

But, as Martyn put it not so long ago, the experience of handling all these beautiful pieces is invaluable...

The hammer prices (to which one has to add 28%) were:

- The horse: EUR 15,000
- The Kaygyokusai boar: EUR 14,000
- The Goho turtle: EUR 50,000

[lohrberg]

Van Ham - yawning - what else can be said?

Dutch with Rabbit for 165.000 hammer

Please Netsuke friends pull Volume 8 No 4 (March 1981) of the old Hurtig Journal from your books:

"What's New at the Auctions" by Bernard Hurtig and Gabor Wilhelm, page 14.

Christies London November 25, 1980 offered lot 94, the netsuke identical to Van Ham's lot 2251. I would like to quote the text:

Lot 94 was an interesting ivory figure of a Dutchman holding a rabbit by its ears and hind legs. It was a nice eighteenth-century netsuke, but not supersensational. The selling price of GBP 18,955 ($ 45,492) is indicative of the great emphasis placed apon unsigned eighteenth-century pieces and testifies to their desirability

This was Gabor's judgement 36 years ago and how right he was!

Reinhard

[AFNetsuke]

Perspective for netsuke "investors": the Dutchmen with Hares are a lot prettier to look at than numbers on paper and feel better perhaps than gold in the hand. The Dow Jones Industrial Averages broke above 1000 for the first time about a year after the Christies sale. Parking that $45k in the Dow in a tax deferred account (except the first Dow ETF would come a decade later) would have resulted in a balance over one million dollars with the Dow now at 25,803. Plus dividends.
So what are we collectors investing in? Our sanity, our joy in the appreciation of art and the preservation of cultural, historical and artistic works for future generations. Every time you handle your netsuke think of your smile as a little divend.

[Clive]

Parking that $45k in the Dow in a tax deferred account (except the first Dow ETF would come a decade later) would have resulted in a balance over one million dollars with the Dow now at 25,803. Plus dividends.
So what are we collectors investing in? Our sanity, our joy in the appreciation of art and the preservation of cultural, historical and artistic works for future generations. Every time you handle your netsuke think of your smile as a little divend.

I was thinking of going over to the Van Ham sale in Dec but decided to buy some more Ether instead..
Every time I see this thread it gives me a huge smile..