1860 Very Rare Historical Japanese Embassy Sheet Music with Image of ... Lot 193
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1860 Very Rare Historical Japanese Embassy Sheet Music with Image of ... Lot 193:
$375.00
LOT 193
Seller\'s Estimate: USD 600 - 800
1860 Very Rare First Edition Historical Sheet Music Titled: \"Tommy Polka. Dedicated to TATEISH ONOGERO (or Tommy) of the Japanese Embassy\"
1860-Dated, First Edition, Historic Commemorative Printed Sheet Music titled, \"Tommy Polka. Dedicated to TATEISH ONOGERO (or Tommy) of the Japanese Embassy,\" with Central Cover Image of a Samurai in his kimono with two swords, by Lee & Walker, Philadelphia, Very Fine.
Original 1860 Commemorative and Celebratory Sheet Music, 12.75\" x 9.75\", with 4 pages of music, disbound, plus its full front cover. The front cover displays an impressive, quite wonderful oval printed Central image is surrounded by a floral pattern with \"Tommy\" dressed as his Samurai style kimono with two swords, seated next to a table with a vase of flowers and Japanese hat. Minor edge toning. The first Japanese embassy to the United States took place in 1860. The ambassadors traveled to San Francisco by steamship from Yokohama, stopping for supplies in Honolulu; they then traveled to Washington DC, and spent two weeks in New York City before returning to Japan. The chief nominal purpose of this mission was to exchange the Japanese- and English-language versions of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce signed two years earlier. Tateishi \"Tommy\" Onojir, aide to the ambassadors, was 17 or 18 years old, and a favorite of the US media. Very rare, excellent for display and the first we have offered.
The Japanese embassy arrived at New York\'s Pier I on 4/23 (June 16), aboard a steamship called Alida. They appeared in a procession up Broadway to Union Square, and then back down to the Metropolitan Hotel on the corner of Broadway & Prince Street. They would stay at the Metropolitan for the duration of their two-week stay in New York; a total of 300 Flags were flown at the hotel during their stay. Over the course of their time in New York, the ambassadors met numerous figures of note, and were entertained at a number of events. The total cost of the festivities is said to have been roughly US$82,000. Two days after their arrival, they received several distinguished guests at the hotel, and paid a visit to a photo studio, a rather new experience for many of the samurai. This was followed by a parade ending at City Hall, where NY Mayor Fernando Wood held a reception for them with Gov. Edwin Morgan in attendance as well. Formal activities were canceled the following day (5/1; Jun 19) on account of rain, but resumed the day after that, with formal visits to various sites in Brooklyn, including the Navy Yards and Green-Wood Cemetery. The lead ambassadors met with a committee from the local Chamber of Commerce while other members of the embassy went shopping, and attended concerts. The samurai traveled to the newly completed Central Park the following day (5/3; Jun 21), where they met with the park\'s designer, Frederick Law Olmstead, and had a Japanese tree transplanted their in honor of the event. Later that day, they attended a garden party held by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett at his estate in Washington Heights. June 22nd (5/4) saw the samurai enjoying shopping, and visiting schools, prisons, Trinity Church, Barnum\'s Museum, printing presses, the city\'s Customs House, and other sights around the city. They met with friends of Townsend Harris at the Metropolitan Hotel on June 25th (5/7), and enjoyed a ball at the hotel that evening hosted by August Belmont. The following day, the lead ambassadors paid a visit to Jane Perry, widow of Commodore Matthew Perry. Members of the embassy spent the following day (5/9; June 27) shopping, and visiting sites including harbor fortifications and a rubber factory. A set of sword blades forged in 1859 specifically for this purpose by swordsmith Kawai Hisayuki were formally presented the following day to three military captains in recognition of their \"unceasing kind services\" in organizing the reception of the embassy. Captain Samuel Francis DuPont (1803-1865) was accompanied by two men by the names of Capts. Lee and Porter in receiving this gift. The embassy boarded the USS Niagara on 5/12 (Jun 30), and departed the following day, sailing across the Atlantic, and stopping in Angola, Batavia (Dutch East Indies), and Hong Kong, before arriving in Edo in the 9th or 10th lunar month (Nov 1860), becoming the first Japanese mission to circumnavigate the globe.
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Historic Autographs - Coins - Currency - Americana offered by Early AmericanSaturday, August 26, 2017 | 09:00AM GMT-07:00
Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA
1860 Very Rare Historical Japanese Embassy Sheet Music with Image of ... Lot 193:
$375.00