For got to say that the shelf on the bench is eight feet long so it holds plenty of treasures.

All my best ....... Danny

I bet each thing on that shelf has a special memory associated with it.
Is the lumpy whitish rock, at the back of the shelf in picture 4, a snake skin agate? You have some nice turquoise rocks. I have been picking up rocks since I was a kid and have a rather large collection. whenever a friend goes on vacation, I ask for a special rock instead of a postcard. The beads that talk to me the most are the ancient stone beads. thanks Danny...........

the granite bead measures in length 59 mm and in diameter at the largest point 15 mm.

Judy,
That lumpy piece is an odd shaped piece of dolomite, if I soaked it in Tidy bowl as some do it would look like a nice piece of turquoise.

My favorite on the shelf is in the first image. Its the see no evil hear no evil say no evil monkey. This piece was inspired from an old Faberge jade carving. I carved this piece in Ivory in the early eighties and then saw the one on my shelf that a dear friend had carved. He was amazed that I too had done this carving, we talked and decided to make a trade. I traded him one of my best ever ivory carvings and I got this little treasure.

My friends name was Whittaker Freegard, Whit was one of the most amazing jade carvers I have even known. The most amazing thing about his carvings was most of them were tuned musical instruments. The piece on the bench is an Ocarina carved out of Jadeite. If I have time later today I will shoot some close ups of it for all of you to see.

All my best ......... Danny

Here are six images of my wonderful ocarina.

All my best............. Danny

What a special shelf,
and a lovely gesture from Judy.
I particularly loved the old Sucrets tin. :)

Here is an image of an Ojime by one of the most celebrated Japanese carvers of them all: "Kaigyokusai." It is a little larger than your thumbnail; please notice the detail.

Have also seen an image of the Faberge piece. If I recall correctly, the Faberge rendering is of blue/grey chalcedony and a little over two inches in diameter…Could it be in the Forbes Collection? But probably several were made.

Have actually turned down the opportunity to buy this Kaigyokusai Ojime several times because the crack bothers me….Never mind the high price…

Just Fred

From the Faberge book by A. Kenneth Snowman. Notice the "Kaigyokusai" netsuke that most likely inspired the stone carvings. The netsuke is 1 1/4 inches high.

All my best ..... Danny

Because of the distinguishing cracks, I feel certain this is the same ojime I have handled many times.

Believe that the photo from the book is an ojime and not a netsuke. We can see a subtle indication of a vertical hole at the top of the bead near the fingertips. Whereas, a netsuke would have a V-shaped piercing at the bottom or side.

I remember seeing it in the inventory of the late Luigi Bandini when he worked for Eskenazi, London. I turned it down at five thousand dollars. And then, over the years it has been offered twice at Sotheby's, London. Once more recently at auction in New York. And again privately.

For some reason this bead has changed hands many times. And, I have watched it become more and more yellow over the years. This is not the usual case with high end beads; they ordinarily remain in pristine condition and held privately in the same hands for several decades.

Maybe my sense of time passing is becoming distorted. After all, I have specialized in Ojime for over forty years.

Just Fred

Fred,
I just looked at both images and if you look very close to the eye area by the hand, in the one you posted there is very little of the circle showing. I the one from the image I posted you can see a circle showing above the hand. Also the crack on the lower leg area is longer in one.

I am not arguing here just pointing out my observations of the two images.

All my best ....... Danny

Hi Danny,

Inconsequentially, the crack may have become longer over time. Or, the two may be nearly identical but not the same piece.

In any case, I feel both are ojime because of the small size and because the holes appear to be from top to bottom -vertically.

Just Fred

Danny,
Please tell me about that piece at the back of your treasure shelf. It is a horse portrait.
Just Fred

Fred,
That piece with the horse portrait is a cab for a pendent. My friend that is an opal dealer gave it to me years ago and I came across it when unpacking all that was in storage.

It is made out of a piece of black stone that most likely had the horse image cut into it with ultrasonics, then opal was inlaid into the image and then a clear cap stone was put on top. It is really pretty amazing next time I am in the studio if I remember I will take a close up image of it and post it.

I plan on making a pendent for my horse freak of a daughter one of these days. We always say the first word out of Lela's mouth was horse. She is now in her early thirties and her and her husband have I think five horses.

One of my joke statements to people. "One of the saddest and happiest days in my life was when Lela moved out. Sad to see her go and very happy to see two horses going with her"

All my best ..... Danny

Danny,

Thank you for the interesting and funny story.
Imagine each item on your table top collection is worth a thousand words.
Looking forward to seeing a close up of the cab with opal horse image.

Just Fred

P.S.How many people are you trying to keep happy?

Thank you Danny.
Beautiful mosaic work.

Just Fred