Toji temple flea market!!!

[blairswhitaker]

So yesterday I went to a monthly flea market/ swap meet at the toji temple grounds. Wow!!! I could have easily spent a fortune on tea dogu. I will post a few highlight pics.

Here is my best score
A nice chaire, with a shifuku in great shape.
I ended up paying a mere 2000¥ for this piece. In my opinion the shifuku alone is worth that.





Yes the lid is "real".

[JBaymore]

Every time I am in Kyoto I try to time it so that I can hit that Toji market. It is FANTASTIC. I got a great condition Edo Jidai uma-no-me plate there on my last visit. I've been searching for one of those that I could actually afford for a LONG time. Wasn;t "cheap" but was less than a fortune.... and way cheaper than I had found elsewhere in antique stores.

Nice score on the chaire.......... depending on the date of the making.... watch bringing that lid back into the states.

best,

.................john

[William]

This lid is made of plastic or bone?

[JBaymore]

Ivory.

[William]

Ivory.

Nice.

[MarshalN]

Nice find nice find. Never made it to Toji market because everytime I get to go to Kyoto I am going at the wrong time of the month.

[William]

I never understood how to distinguish plastic lid, from bone lid and ivory lid.
Any suggestions?

[ethan]

William, Heat a needle; then stick it into the lid. Bone & ivory will not be penetrated, but plastic will. However, if you paid a fortune for the object being tested only to find it is plastic, not authentic.... there is a danger you will be tempted to stick the needle into yourself next. Better do go shopping w/ a lighter & needle.

[MarshalN]

Plastic at the end of the day looks and feels different, if you've handled enough bone and ivory you'd know

[Teaism]

Ivory will turn darker yellowish over some period of time. Plastic don't have this tendency. The veins and also weight is a tell tale sign, as bone, plastic and ivory feel quite differently. On ebay, some of them are really ivory but they state it as bone because of international law banning ivory of questionable source.

Cheers!

[blairswhitaker]

Yes if you see it in person it should be rather obvious as to what is what. Here is a photo the real thing is on the left,
plastic on the right.

[blairswhitaker]

Bone is much more open an porous, not nearly as smooth.

[kyarazen]

Ivory will turn darker yellowish over some period of time. Plastic don't have this tendency. The veins and also weight is a tell tale sign, as bone, plastic and ivory feel quite differently. On ebay, some of them are really ivory but they state it as bone because of international law banning ivory of questionable source.

Cheers!

i still like your beads.. the one made from ivory heart... possible to still find?

[William]

Thanks guys. Your suggestions are, as always, extremely helpful.

Have a nice day my friends!

[blairswhitaker]

This set of bizen was another nice buy, nothing rare or expensive but don't you think sake tastes better out of a nice tokuri and guinomi.