Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2010

The bidding was intense in New Bond Street, London earlier this month at an auction of offbeat Japanese goods. Up for sale: items from “one of Europe’s most important and comprehensive private collections of Japanese gentleman’s accessories.” The pieces were from the estate of Edward Wrangham (1928-2009), an English mountaineer, environmentalist and scholar who amassed more than 1,000 sword fittings, inro (cases that hang from kimono) and wood carvings known as netsuke. The biggest splash came when a 19th-century inro fetched £162,000—the highest price ever paid for such an item. The four-case box (pictured) was crafted out of roiro lacquer by the esteemed Meiji Era painter and lacquerer Shibata Zeshin. Conducted by celebrated Japanese art and antiques purveyor Bonhams, the auction attracted major international collectors and netted over £2 million in total.

Source: Bonhams (www.bonhams.com/asianjapanese)