The Sixth Annual Tosai* Auction - June 14, 2008

Chair: Bry Bateman

*What is a Tosai? It's a one-year-old Koi.

The purpose of this auction is to buy quality baby fish in bulk from their breeders, then make them available to our club members at an affordable price. Their new owners then get to grow them up big and beautiful and bring them to the Koi and Goldfish Show. As a matter of fact, we give a prize each year to the best fish from that year's tosai auction.

This is a Members - Only event, but you can join up right there at the auction if you wish.

IT'S A SHINEY AND OCHIBA KIND OF A TOSAI AUCTION!!

After much anticipation and emailing back and forth to Japan, we have finally received word (and pictures!) of our very special batch of baby koi which have safely arrived and are resting in quarantine up in Minnesota, at Mike Swanson's Koi Acres facility. His son Devin has been apprenticing under the tutelage of Marudo-san, one of the best-known breeders in Niigata, Japan. Devin has hand picked these koi from several different facilities in the Niigata area, which as most know is the mecca for great koi in Japan. In the past several years we have brought mostly gosanke koi (kohaku, sanke, and showa) as well as shiro utsuri, so we thought it might be fun to have some new and unusual types available this year. Devin has selected a variety of metallic koi as well as several much sought-after Ochiba Shigure, from Kase, Hiroi, and others, for our members to choose from.

As in the past we have purchased 15 very special show-quality tosai for pre-sale only. The varieties included in this group include Doitsu Metallic Ochiba Shigure (yes, we did manage to get one of these beauties!), both doitsu and scaled Ochiba Shigure, Kikusui, Heisei Nishiki (doitsu metallic sanke - you'll love these guys!), and Kin Kikokuryu (in the pictures these are the stunning metallic red, black, and silver ones). The price for these fish will be $175 each, and will be sold on a first-come first-served basis. As in the past, each participant will draw a number, which will determine the order in which the fish are selected at the Tosai auction. Bay and I have already reserved one each, so that leaves thirteen - don't wait too long! You can email us at Bryzkoi@aol.com to reserve your fish.

There will also be many beautiful little tosai to be auctioned off by Bob Passovoy, with bidding starting at $20. Steve Childers, editor of Koi USA, will again be on hand to answer questions, help with identification of auction koi, and generally just talk koi with our members. His gracious on effervescent wife Cheryl, who cooked up some killer brats, dogs, and polish sausage last year, will return for an encore engagement at the grill.

A new attraction this year, due to a growing number of goldfish enthusiasts in our club, will be a fancy goldfish auction. Peter Ponzio has arranged for us to have a selection of Lemon Shebunkins and Bay Bateman is working on some other varieties, all of which will be auctioned at starting bids of $10 each.

We hope you will all be able to stop by on June 14th at the Batemans' house for this annual fun event (all proceeds, as usual, support the MPKS general fund) Even if you don't plan to bid, come on over and enjoy the ambiance, eat a dog or two, and mingle with your fellow club members. It's a great time to be koi (and goldfish) kichi!

When: 10 AM - Noon- Previewing of Fish. The special fish drawings will be at 11:00 or when everyone involved is present and accounted for. The regular auction will begin at noon. Steve Childers, editor of Koi USA, will be our special guest, and he will be available to answer questions, talk koi and filtration or any other topics with folks.

We will be serving hotdogs with the trimmings and refreshments.

Where: The Batemans'
245 Middaugh Rd.
Clarendon Hills, Il 60514
phone: 630-325-6351 email: bryan@mpks.org

How: From I-294, exit west on Ogden Ave (Rt. 34). Continue west through 5 stop-lights (approximately 1-1/2 miles) to Stonegate. Turn left (South) on Stonegate and go two blocks to the end. Turn left on Naperville Road and go to the first stop sign (Middaugh Rd.). Turn right on Middaugh and go two blocks. Our house is on the south-east corner of Middaugh and Walnut. NO PARKING ON THE WEST SIDE OF MIDDAUGH OR ON THE NORTH SIDE OF WALNUT.



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