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Hello, I am really interested in the "made in occupied japan" product. Please tell me, is there an auction soon in USA? I mean, not an Internet auction. I would like to see them and buy in the auction if there are nice one, because I would like to start collect them.
Since I don't know more about "Occupied Japan" than the average collector, I have forwarded your mail to a very knowledgeable specialist, Ms.Sam Armijo. Hopefully she will be able to help you.
Sincerely,
Jan-Erik Nilsson
I appreciate your interest in wanting to collect Made In Occupied Japan (OJ) items, as I've been collecting them for over 30 years and it is my passion. I appreciate Mr. Nilsson referring you to me. However, I don't know of any private or public "auctions" that are being held in the US for just OJ items. Most of mine have been collected from flea markets, yard sales, antique shops, antique fairs (such as are held annually in San Franciso, California and Atlantic City, New Jersey). But you have to browse through everything to find the elusive OJ! I have purchased several nice and unusual items from the internet auctions without any problems.
Are you looking for specific items or just anything that is marked OJ? During the Occupation (1947-1952) they manufactured practically everything - china, household items, appliances, knicknacks, jewelry, clothing, etc. I am currently in contact with a gentlemen that claims to have a full-sized, up-right piano marked OJ! So you see, the range is unlimited.
If you are just starting out collecting and are actually located in Japan, the best advice I can give you is to purchase the OJ Manuals/Price Guides that are currently available. Gene Florence has a series of 5 books which are excellent to identify and price OJ items. Florence Archambaul also has 2 very good reference books on OJ. They are currently for sale on the Ebay, Amazon and/or Yahoo websites and cover a wide variety of items. If you a partial to OJ toys, there is a book out by Tony Marsella that is limited to them.
There is also an OJ Collector's Club. I have belonged to the Club for over 20 years, even when it was run by Mr. Gee (now deceased) and have maintained all the newsletters. When Mr. Gee ran the Club, he actually traveled to Japan several times and gave a great deal of history about the items and the production.
I am sorry I could not answer your question about the public auctions, but they don't usually occur just for OJ items. Once a year, the Collector's Club meets and they have a sort of swap-meet among members of only OJ items.
I hope that this information is of some help.
Respectfully, Ms. Sam Armijo
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