First Tiger Mask Legend Coarse Mesh Private Model, Sayama Approved Wrestling Replica, Tenth Example Made
First Tiger Mask Legend Coarse Mesh Private Model, Sayama Approved Wrestling Replica, Tenth Example Made
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $312, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
With EMS, any charge is collected by your postal service on delivery. For pieces of significant value we can often arrange duties prepaid before dispatch.
How the estimate is reached · Ask for a figure on this piece
- Character
- Resplendent 8.5 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Mint
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
The face behind the headlines
For the collector who follows each pattern of 1982 by name.
Best for: Wrestling memorabilia and mask collections
Condition notes
Described as unused.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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A hand cut wrestling hood in the Legend pattern with coarse mesh eyes, presented as the tenth example made and approved by Satoru Sayama.
The Piece
Black leather flames run over a yellow ground, the eyes are backed with open mesh and a red stone sits on the brow above a ruff of white fur. The pattern is the one worn from March 1982, seen in a magazine visit to the wrestler at home and again when he greeted the crowd from the ring after giving up his junior heavyweight title through injury.
The First Tiger Mask
On 23 April 1981 a masked junior heavyweight stepped into the ring at Kuramae Kokugikan in Tokyo and changed Japanese wrestling overnight. Satoru Sayama, as the first Tiger Mask, brought the comic hero of Ikki Kajiwara and Naoki Tsuji to life with a speed nobody had seen. His masks changed often, and each pattern, from the fanged early type to the later legend designs, is now studied and named by collectors. Craftsmen in Japan still cut them by hand to the old patterns, in lamé cloth, leather and fur, to the standard worn in a real bout.
Details
- Model: Legend, coarse mesh private type
- Maker: Tiger Arts
- Example: Tenth made, as described
- Approval: Satoru Sayama, as described
- Closure: Laced back
Sizes are measured by hand; please allow a small margin.
Condition
- Described as unused.
- Every photograph is part of the description.
Condition grade S (unused) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Maker, model name, signature and papers are described as the previous keeper presents them and as the photographs show; the house has not had the signature examined by a third party. Examined and photographed in Japan before dispatch.
Delivery from Japan
Packed by hand in Japan with rigid protection and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally.
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