So, here's my first blog, ever! You see, I'm a Virgin Blogger. Never have done this before, but, as they say....there is a first time for everything, right? Okay. Here goes. I'm not even sure why I am doing this, you know, or even who will want to read this, or, for that matter, will anybody actually find this blog? And further,do I have anything that I really want to say? Well, I certainly hope so, but only time will tell. I have been reading a few blogs and some of them I found quite extrordinary; people's honesty, or seeming honesty is incredibly admirable. (I hope I will be able to be as honest, after I get a little more comfortable at this....right now I'm pretty self-concious.....Hello?....like, who in hell do I think might read this and even would care enough to criticize anything I might spew forth! Good Lord....I almost hate to think about all this....and so far, I haven't said anything, have I???? Maybe I won't do this. Maybe I will just continue to read other people's blogs and comment occasionally.....I'm actually feeling more self-concious than I did seven or eight sentences ago. HELP!)
Okay. Here's something I have been thinking about. Ebay. I am so addicted to Ebay that it kind of worry's me. Buying stuff I don't need...telling myself, well, I'm buying Christmas presents for other people....And, possibly some of the things I have bought will be gifts. Actually I have already given something I bought on Ebay to a friend this week for her Birthday. She was thrilled! I felt good about that. But, how many more of these 'not needed' items will actually find there way into other people's hands? Something else time will tell.....But getting back to this addiction; I am on Ebay at least 6 times a day. My buying has slowed down a little bit, not much, but a tiny bit. I only bought 3 small items today, and they were all from the same seller which is a little better than I have been doing. They were Netsuke's and all Boxwood and each was absolutely adorable. In case you don't know what a Netsuke is..(And by the way, it's NOT pronounced Net-Sukee even though the spelling seems like it should be pronounced that way...it's actually pronounced Net-Skee...like there is no U in the middle there...) They are Japanese in origin,though many come from China, too, I believe, and were and are hand carved from Ivory; Mammoth Ivory; Hippo Ivory, etc., as well as hand carved Boxwood and some other woods that I can't remember the name of at the moment; and the subject matter can be just about anything in the Animal world or in the People world. They are usually quite small---one inch to no more than 3 inches at the most, and the height and width are not much bigger than 1 inch to 2 inches at the most. There are usually two holes in the Ivory or Wood which are there so that in the old days, centuries ago I am told, men could use these little art objects to close the small pouch they wore which would be attached to a sash or belt of some kind and there would be a cloth string or very tiny rope that was threaded through the holes in the Netsuke and then attached to the sash so the pouch, filled with coins, etc., could hang from their belt. These netsuke's can be incredibly detailed in the carving and expression and there is often a little story involved with the subject. 'Two Mice Hugging'; 'Three Rabbits Playing'; 'Monkey With Pumpkin'; 'Squid Wrapped Around Woman'....this, no doubt is an Erotic Netsuke of which there are thousands upon thousands...I've even seen some people-threesomes, foursomes, etc. And very graphic Erotica, too. In fact the Netsuke world is rather famous for the Erotic subjects, just like so much of Asian Art. Quite beautiful, I think. I have a small collection of Ivory Netsukes that I began collecting back in the late 70's, and early 80's. At that time, I did not know that there were wood Netsuke's, as well. My only exposure had been to the Ivory ones and the variation in cost was unbeievable. The bargaining of the sellers in whatever shop you went into was the same, weather on 42nd steet in New York or in the Antique Shop in The Helmsley Palace Hotel. In every shop I ever went into to look at Netsuke's and try to buy some, it was the same. If you liked a few pieces but felt you could not afford more than one, the seller always tried to entice you by offering to 'throw in that one if you buy this one'....it didn't matter that you weren't interested in 'that one'; it was offered anyway with no thought to offering you one of the one's you were interested in, and this happened in every store I ever went into. I don't know if all these dealers knew something I didn't know, but you could count on this happening in any and all stores you went into. I have always been very happy with my Netsuke collection and somewhere along the way in the 90's, I just stopped buying Netsuke's. I felt I couldn't afford them and that was okay. I loved what I had bought and really didn't think about it all that much.Then, this April, I began to get into the Ebay thing. And for some strange reason, one day I put in the word 'Netsuke' into the search place, and came up with zero!!! So, I just accepted that and went on my way looking for very hard to find old movies that I longed to own, and somewhere along the way I was looking at some store's wears(?) and all of a sudden I saw a lot of Netsuke's. Well, since that time I have discovered that there are thousands upon thousands of Netsuke's on Ebay....I don't know what I did wrong that first time round, but....no matter. It was like finding gold, you know? Truthfully, I need another Netsuke like I need The Plague, but...did that stop me? Noooooooo! And when I discovered the Boxwood ones which are very inexpensive compared to the Ivory ones, well.....I was off to the races. I must say I think I found the finding of things I like in the world of Netsuke's very very satisfying; and of course buying a lot o them is now becoming sickening, yet, I continue to do it. What the F--- is wrong with me???? (Can you use the F word when you blog???)
I really do believe that I've justified all this Netsuke buying on Ebay by saying to myself that some of these little treasures will be given as gifts...and they didn't cost all that much and they are truly works of art!!! That they are works of Art is really really true; that they will find their way into the hands of others...well, that's probably not going to happen, unless I get so sick-to-my-stomach from this buying mania that I finally have to let some of them go. I wish I had some pictures I could put on this blog so you could see the incredible beauty of these little treasures...but, since I don't and even if I did, I don't have a scanner and I don't know how to put pictures on any computer! So, if you are unfamiliar with these very wonderful treasures, go to Ebay; put in 'netsuke' (small N...very important; I think that's where I made my mistake the first time round...Ebay has strange 'search' problems....have you noticed?)...and take a look at these wonderful wonderful Ivory and Wood objects.
OY, my shoulder hurts like hell from typing so I'll stop now.....Why did I want to talk about this? Who knows? I lost the thread somewhere along the way, and I'm too tired now to try to fihure it out. So....till next time. Maybe.
Okay. Here's something I have been thinking about. Ebay. I am so addicted to Ebay that it kind of worry's me. Buying stuff I don't need...telling myself, well, I'm buying Christmas presents for other people....And, possibly some of the things I have bought will be gifts. Actually I have already given something I bought on Ebay to a friend this week for her Birthday. She was thrilled! I felt good about that. But, how many more of these 'not needed' items will actually find there way into other people's hands? Something else time will tell.....But getting back to this addiction; I am on Ebay at least 6 times a day. My buying has slowed down a little bit, not much, but a tiny bit. I only bought 3 small items today, and they were all from the same seller which is a little better than I have been doing. They were Netsuke's and all Boxwood and each was absolutely adorable. In case you don't know what a Netsuke is..(And by the way, it's NOT pronounced Net-Sukee even though the spelling seems like it should be pronounced that way...it's actually pronounced Net-Skee...like there is no U in the middle there...) They are Japanese in origin,though many come from China, too, I believe, and were and are hand carved from Ivory; Mammoth Ivory; Hippo Ivory, etc., as well as hand carved Boxwood and some other woods that I can't remember the name of at the moment; and the subject matter can be just about anything in the Animal world or in the People world. They are usually quite small---one inch to no more than 3 inches at the most, and the height and width are not much bigger than 1 inch to 2 inches at the most. There are usually two holes in the Ivory or Wood which are there so that in the old days, centuries ago I am told, men could use these little art objects to close the small pouch they wore which would be attached to a sash or belt of some kind and there would be a cloth string or very tiny rope that was threaded through the holes in the Netsuke and then attached to the sash so the pouch, filled with coins, etc., could hang from their belt. These netsuke's can be incredibly detailed in the carving and expression and there is often a little story involved with the subject. 'Two Mice Hugging'; 'Three Rabbits Playing'; 'Monkey With Pumpkin'; 'Squid Wrapped Around Woman'....this, no doubt is an Erotic Netsuke of which there are thousands upon thousands...I've even seen some people-threesomes, foursomes, etc. And very graphic Erotica, too. In fact the Netsuke world is rather famous for the Erotic subjects, just like so much of Asian Art. Quite beautiful, I think. I have a small collection of Ivory Netsukes that I began collecting back in the late 70's, and early 80's. At that time, I did not know that there were wood Netsuke's, as well. My only exposure had been to the Ivory ones and the variation in cost was unbeievable. The bargaining of the sellers in whatever shop you went into was the same, weather on 42nd steet in New York or in the Antique Shop in The Helmsley Palace Hotel. In every shop I ever went into to look at Netsuke's and try to buy some, it was the same. If you liked a few pieces but felt you could not afford more than one, the seller always tried to entice you by offering to 'throw in that one if you buy this one'....it didn't matter that you weren't interested in 'that one'; it was offered anyway with no thought to offering you one of the one's you were interested in, and this happened in every store I ever went into. I don't know if all these dealers knew something I didn't know, but you could count on this happening in any and all stores you went into. I have always been very happy with my Netsuke collection and somewhere along the way in the 90's, I just stopped buying Netsuke's. I felt I couldn't afford them and that was okay. I loved what I had bought and really didn't think about it all that much.Then, this April, I began to get into the Ebay thing. And for some strange reason, one day I put in the word 'Netsuke' into the search place, and came up with zero!!! So, I just accepted that and went on my way looking for very hard to find old movies that I longed to own, and somewhere along the way I was looking at some store's wears(?) and all of a sudden I saw a lot of Netsuke's. Well, since that time I have discovered that there are thousands upon thousands of Netsuke's on Ebay....I don't know what I did wrong that first time round, but....no matter. It was like finding gold, you know? Truthfully, I need another Netsuke like I need The Plague, but...did that stop me? Noooooooo! And when I discovered the Boxwood ones which are very inexpensive compared to the Ivory ones, well.....I was off to the races. I must say I think I found the finding of things I like in the world of Netsuke's very very satisfying; and of course buying a lot o them is now becoming sickening, yet, I continue to do it. What the F--- is wrong with me???? (Can you use the F word when you blog???)
I really do believe that I've justified all this Netsuke buying on Ebay by saying to myself that some of these little treasures will be given as gifts...and they didn't cost all that much and they are truly works of art!!! That they are works of Art is really really true; that they will find their way into the hands of others...well, that's probably not going to happen, unless I get so sick-to-my-stomach from this buying mania that I finally have to let some of them go. I wish I had some pictures I could put on this blog so you could see the incredible beauty of these little treasures...but, since I don't and even if I did, I don't have a scanner and I don't know how to put pictures on any computer! So, if you are unfamiliar with these very wonderful treasures, go to Ebay; put in 'netsuke' (small N...very important; I think that's where I made my mistake the first time round...Ebay has strange 'search' problems....have you noticed?)...and take a look at these wonderful wonderful Ivory and Wood objects.
OY, my shoulder hurts like hell from typing so I'll stop now.....Why did I want to talk about this? Who knows? I lost the thread somewhere along the way, and I'm too tired now to try to fihure it out. So....till next time. Maybe.
posted by OldLady Of The Hills | 12:11 AM
1 Comments:
Finally I get to read an entry -- I can't do anything I haven't done before on a comp[uter without my husband being in the same room to talk me thru it -- and now I'm addicted to your blog! I can't wait for the next entry. And, luckily, it's already waiting for me!
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