By Ben Marks — The recent exhibition at the Asian Art Museum titled “Looking East: How Japan Inspired Monet, Van Gogh, and Other Western Artists” shines a light on how the opening of Japan to the West in the 1850s spurred the late 19th-century European preoccupation for all things Japanese. But inspiration also traveled in the other direction, as seen in these turn-of-the-20th-century Japanese postcards from the collection of U.S. postcard collector Ken Reed. According to Reed, who cautions that he’s “not...

Blood, Sweat, and Steel: My Afternoon with the Ace of Swords

By Ben Marks — “When I got this sword, it was completely covered in blood rust.” Sword maker Francis Boyd is showing me yet another weapon pulled from yet another safe in the heavily fortified workshop behind his northern California home. “You can tell it’s blood,” he says matter-of-factly, “because ordinary rust turns the grinding water brown. If it's blood rust it bleeds, it looks like blood in the water. Even 2,000 years old, it bleeds. And it smells like a steak cooking, like cooked meat. I've...

Unraveling the Ancient Riddles of Chinese Jewelry

By Ben Marks — Chinese jewelry and objects of adornment are exquisite puzzles: Why does a delicate, wafer-thin pendant feature a pair of catfish twisting upon each other to create a yin-yang? What’s the meaning of the kingfisher feathers that have been inlaid, cloisonné-like, on a gilt-metal hairpin? And could someone please explain the story behind all those lotus blossoms, which can be found on everything from earrings to belt hooks? "One dealer went to China in the 1970s and brought back buckets of...

How Collecting Opium Antiques Turned Me Into an Opium Addict

By Lisa Hix — You really have to work hard to get hooked on smoking opium. The Victorian-era form of the drug, known as chandu, is rare, and the people who know how to use it aren't exactly forthcoming. But leave it to an obsessive antiques collector to figure out how to get to addicted to a 19th-century drug. Recently, Steven Martin—no relation to the actor—came by the Collectors Weekly office and told me all about his harrowing journey from collecting to substance abuse. He started out collecting...

Rhino Horn Poachers Hit World Museums

By Ben Marks — Today the "New York Times" reports that as many as 30 museums in Europe have experienced thefts of rhinoceros horns in 2011. A recent example occurred on July 28, when the horn of a stuffed rhino that had been on display since 1907 at the Ipswich Museum was unceremoniously snapped off. Two other rhino horns, including one still attached to its skull, were also grabbed. Ignored was a gold-leaf Egyptian death mask on loan from the British Museum. Turns out a lot of misinformed people...

'Roadshow' Trumpets $1 Million Rhino Horn Cups, Despite Role in Species' Decline

By Ben Marks — The Internet is abuzz with news that during a recent taping in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an appraiser for "Antiques Roadshow" was asked to place a value on five 17th- or 18th-century Chinese cups made out of rhinoceros horn. According to Tulsa's NBC affiliate, KJRH, the cups were valued by Asian art expert Lark Mason at somewhere between $1 and $1.5 million, making them the most highly valued objects in the show's history. The Tulsa episodes of "Antiques Roadshow" will air sometime in the first half...