LITCHFIELD, CONN. – Two Japanese woodblock prints, one a Ukiyo-e, the other by Hasui Kawase (1883-195) from the Chestnut Hill, Mass., estate of Richard I. Johnson (1925-2020), was the top lot of two days of sales with Litchfield Auctions on December 8-9. Johnson, a professor of conchology (shells) at Harvard University, had amassed a sizeable library on the subject that featured many of the sale’s top lots, but it was a lot of two prints that were discovered in a manila envelope and nearly overlooked that brought the highest price of them all: $29,900. Estimated at just $150/250, the lot saw extensive competition, finally selling to a private collector in the United States. A future issue will feature a more extensive sale recap.