HAGGLING IN NH

This is a pot that I bought a long while back at a flea market in NH, it isn't necessarily a great pot but there were and still are things about it that I liked so I have kept it all these years. The story behind it though is kind of fun and hard to forget which makes the pot just a bit more enjoyable. I saw this on a table of absolute chaotic clutter at a flea market in southern New Hampshire and asked the Charlie Daniel's stand-in what was the price and he quoted me $5 and I said I would take it. I got this disappointed look and he asked me if I was going to haggle on the price and I said that wasn't my intention and he said, go ahead so I offered him $4 which he accepted. Thinking that was out of the way he quoted one of those famous lines, "but wait there's more" and pulled out the signed wood box. I asked if that went with it and he said, "no way" and said he wanted $100 for it, so I offered him $1 which he accepted. Turned out all he wanted from the beginning was $5 for the vase and box but was apparently just looking to have a bit of fun while killing some time on a Sunday baking in the sun at the local flea market.       

 As for this Bizen vase it is a simple bud vase with a variety of colors and some goma here and there, some sparkly ash crystals on the neck and mouth and well made enso like marks combed on either side with two very delicate lugs to complete the form. This is an early piece by Masamune Satoru and is a pleasant enough piece that could have made out just a bit better somewhere else in the kiln than where it was placed though I suspect vases like this are studio staples as opposed to his more individualistic and creative endeavors and are relegated to the rear of the kiln but given the cost and memorable story behind it will have a home here for the foreseeable future.