We are developing a small-sized high temperature superconducting magnetic energy storage (HTS-SMES) magnet with the nominal storage capacity of 600 kJ, which provides electric power with high quality to sensitive electric loads. Critical current and N-value of a high temperature superconductor with large current, which was selected for the development of the 600 kJ HTS-SMES magnet, were investigated in various oblique external magnetic fields. Based on the critical current and N-value measured for the short sample conductor, we discussed the DC V - I characteristic of a model coil fabricated with the same conductor of 500 m. The results show that the measured critical current and N-value of the conductor for parallel field are constant in external magnetic fields less than about 0.2 T. However, for oblique fields, its critical current and N -value abruptly decrease in all external magnetic fields. Moreover, the measured critical current of the model coil well agrees with the numerically calculated one based on the DC V - I characteristic measured for the short sample conductor. This suggest that losses and critical currents for an HTS-SMES magnet made up of a high temperature superconductor with anisotropic characteristic are predictable from the data of a short sample conductor.