Record Prices at Christie's For Japanese Swords

Buyers -- most of them Japanese -- paid record prices yesterday at Christie's in New York for swords and fittings collected by an Indiana physician and businessman. The first day's sale of the Japanese sword collection of Dr. Walter Ames Compton, described by the auction house as the most important ever held in the West, totaled $8 million, a record figure for a sale of Japanese works and within the auction house's expectations of $7 million to $10 million.

"It's the best private collection in the world," the president of the Japanese Sword Company of Tokyo, Tomihiko Inami, said before the sale. "The quality and the quantity is extraordinary. A Japanese cannot keep such a collection."

Mr. Inami outbid all competitors to acquire a 19th-century magnolia-decorated sword guard, called a tsuba, for $88,000 and a 17th-century small auxiliary sword, called a kozuka, embellished with an image of Mount Fuji, for $104,500. Both prices were records. He also bought some of the most important larger swords in the sale, including a 13th-century Kamakura long sword, or tachi, for $340,000; a 14th-century dagger, or tanto, for $154,000, and a 15th-century long sword for $132,000. Interest Began in His Youth

The most expensive sword at yesterday's sale was a 13th-century Kamakura blade that was sold for $418,000 to a European collector who was not identified.

Dr. Compton's interest in Japanese swords began when he read about them in a boy's magazine when he was 14 years old. While a student at Princeton University in the early 1930's he bought his first samurai blade for $6 in a Chinatown laundry in New York. He collected Japanese swords for 50 years while he worked at and eventually headed, as president and later chairman, Miles Laboratories of Elkhart, Ind. He continued to buy swords until shortly before his death in 1990 at the age of 79.

The cream of Dr. Compton's collection was exhibited in 1976 at the Japan House Galleries in New York. The show included the first registered National Treasure lent by Japan for exhibition abroad: a 13th-century sword Dr. Compton had acquired in the United States and identified as a registered missing rarity, which had been taken from a shrine in Kagoshima Prefecture by a member of the United States armed forces after World War II. In 1963, he returned it as a gift to Japan and in later years made six other such gifts. The Compton family gave two important daggers to Japan last month when Christie's exhibited the swords in Tokyo. The Previous Record

Although most of the buying was by Japanese bidders, European and American collectors and dealers were present at the sale or bid by telephone.

The previous record at auction for a Japanese sword was $132,000, a sum paid in 1986 at Christie's in New York for a signed 13th-century weapon once owned by the Duke of Windsor.

Yesterday's sale was the first in a three-part auction the Compton collection of 1,100 swords and fittings that continues in October and ends in December. The collection was originally estimated to bring $15 million to $20 million, but Sebastian Izzard, who heads Christie's Japanese art sales, said he now expects the collection to total about $15 million.

Source: nytimes.com

E-Cigarettes: Can They Help You Quit?

Many are skeptical about the look-alikes' claims.

by Dr. Ranit Mishori, PARADE

The look-alikes, which are less expensive than cigarettes, are made to re-create the real experience. They're marketed in fancy packages with gold inscriptions and photos of good-looking people "smoking." They produce a vapor that looks like smoke, and the tip glows red as you puff on it. When you inhale, your lungs get a dose of chemicals that typically include nicotine, which gives smoking its kick and makes it addictive. But their biggest advantage, one saleswoman told me, is that electronic cigarettes--or "cigars," "cigarillos," or "pipes" designed on the same principles--help smokers kick the habit.I recently was surprised to see cigarettes for sale at several kiosks at my local mall. At least, I thought they were cigarettes. Then I discovered that they actually were "electronic cigarettes"--battery-powered puffables that produce no smoke and contain no known carcinogens or tar.

That caught my attention. I know how hard it is for many of my patients to quit smoking. If there's something new out there to help them, I want to know about it.

Back home, an Internet search turned up thousands of hits and promises: "A great aid for those struggling to stop smoking." "No risk of cancer." "Use anywhere: indoors, airports, hospitals." But I could find no scientific research at all.

Dr. Jack Henningfield, an expert on addiction who serves as a scientific adviser on tobacco to the World Health Organization (WHO), calls e-cigarettes "renegade products" for which "we have no scientific information." The electronic cigarette, he says, is a vehicle to deliver nicotine to the body. Its effects, he says, "are not benign," especially when breathed into the lungs.

While there is a "data void," scientists worldwide question the claim that e-cigarettes help stop smoking. If anything, they worry that these aggressively marketed products could introduce more people to an addiction they never had. Indeed, the WHO has stated that e-cigarettes are not "a legitimate therapy for smokers trying to quit." Dr. Henningfield notes that some manufacturers "blatantly go after young people," advertising e-cigarettes with flavors "like chocolate and candy."

Other nicotine substitutes--the "patch," or gum, for example--are licensed as drugs and require Food and Drug Administration approval. But e-cigarettes, nearly all of them manufactured in China, have not been licensed as drugs or regulated.

Recently, however, the FDA initiated a ban on imports of e-cigarettes on the ground that they constitute unapproved drug-delivery devices (an action being challenged in court). It may take additional measures to restrict their sale.

Without more evidence, we won't know whether e-cigarettes have the potential to do any good or if they really do pose health risks. For now, if you're a smoker trying to quit, talk to your doctor about other, proven methods.

Famous Things Said By Famous People

"Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying, but when God talks to us we're schizophrenic?" --Lily Tomlin

"Every time a baseball player grabs his crotch, it makes him spit. That's why you should never date a baseball player." --Marsha Warfield

"What do people mean when they say the computer went down on me?" --Marilyn Pittman

"When you look at Prince Charles, don't you think that someone in the Royal family knew someone in the Royal family?" --Robin Williams

"A woman broke up with me and sent me pictures of her and her new boyfriend in bed together. Solution? I sent them to her dad." --Christopher Case

"Relationships are hard. It's like a full-time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay, and before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp." --Bob Ettinger

"I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. The always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her." --Ellen DeGeneres

"I've been doing the Fonda workout: the Peter Fonda workout. That's where I wake up, take a hit of acid, smoke a joint, and go to my sister's house and ask her for money." --Kevin Meaney

"A lady came up to me on the street and pointed at my suede jacket. 'You know a cow was murdered for that jacket?' she sneered. I replied in a psychotic tone, 'I didn't know there were any witnesses. Now I'll have kill you too." --Jake Johansen

"If your parents never had children, chances are you won't either." --Dick Cavett

"I have such poor vision I can date anybody." --Garry Shandling

"I was a vegetarian until I started leaning towards sunlight." --Rita Rudner

"If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera and come help me." --Bobcat Goldthwait

"Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Kuwait." --A. Whitney Brown

"I'm a psychic amnesiac. I know in advance what I'll forget." --Michael McShane

"Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Don't eat pork. I'm sorry, what was that last one?? Don't eat pork. God has spoken. Is that the word of God or is that pigs trying to outsmart everybody?" --Jon Stewart

"My mom said she learned how to swim. Someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. That's how she learned how to swim. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.' " --Paula Poundstone

"In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?" --Warren Hutcherson

"I voted for the Democrats because I didn't like the way the Republicans were running the country. Which is turning out to be like shooting yourself in the head to stop your headache." --Jack Mayberry

"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three." --Elayne Boosler

"Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabetsoup?" --John Mendoza

"Today I met with a subliminal advertising executive for just a second." --Steven Wright

"A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: Duh." --Conan O'Brien

"When I was a kid, I had two friends, and they were imaginary and they would only play with each other." --Rita Rudner

"I haven't taken my Christmas lights down. They look so nice on the pumpkin." --Winston Spear

"I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a congressman." --Bruce Baum

"I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language that makes him the dominant species on the planet.That may be. But I think there's one other thing that separates us from animals. We aren't afraid of vaccuum cleaners." --Jeff Stilson

"Did you ever walk in a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how dogs spend their lives." --Sue Murphy

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they are okay, then it's you." --Rita Mae Brown

"My grandfather's a little forgetful, but he likes to give me advice. One day, he took me aside and left me there." --Ron Richards

"I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else." --Lily Tomlin

"Some women hold up dresses that are so ugly and they always say the same thing: 'This looks much better on.' On what? On fire?" --Rita Rudner

"I was raised by just my mom. See, my father died when I was eight years old. At least, that's what he told us in the letter.." --Drew Carey

"The ad in the paper said 'Big Sale. Last Week.' Why advertise? I already missed it. They're just rubbing it in." --Yakov Smirnoff

"Everything that used to be a sin is now a disease." --Bill Maher

"Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash." --Jerry Seinfeld

"USA Today has come out with a new survey: Apparently three out of four people make up 75 percent of the population." --David Letterman

"If God doesn't destroy Hollywood Boulevard, he owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology." --Jay Leno

"I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said to me was, 'You'll never find anyone like me again!' I'm thinking, 'I should hope not! If I don't want you, why would I want someone like you?' " --Larry Miller

"I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." --Lily Tomlin

"The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews. Bottle openers. 'Come on, buddy, let's go. You get past me, the guy in back of me, he's got a spoon. Back off. I've got the toe clippers right here.' " --Jerry Seinfeld

"Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God....I could be eating a slow learner." --Lynda Montgomery

"I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it." --Steven Wright

"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead." --Johnny Carson

"If you're cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you see okay?" --John Mendoza

"I don't kill flies but I like to mess with their minds. I hold them above globes. They freak out and yell, 'Whoa, I'm way too high!' " --Bruce Baum

"Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography." --Paul Rodriguez

"I don't do drugs anymore 'cause I find I get the same effect just by standing up really fast." --Johnathan Katz

"Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to accept God's final word on where your lips end." --Jerry Seinfeld

"I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.' " --Richard Jeni

"I have a microwave fireplace in my house. The other night I laid down in front of the fire for the evening in two minutes." --Steven Wright

"And always remember the last words of my grandfather, who said, 'Shit! A truck!' " --Emo Phillips