Ford Hallam

I think that we might have a very long and vigorous debate regarding the possible age of this alleged Tachi tsuba, Dan. I'd suggest that Mr Markhasin raises more questions and problems to his attribution than his attempt to justify it actually achieves. It's simply not reliable enough to base any sort of theory or speculation on. But the problem is, as always, if you are only reliant on internet material and have no access to more solid and scholarly reference books to examine these sorts of claims you have no way of evaluating their validity. I don't imagine there are many copies of the Tokyo Museum catalogue of early koshirae on the shelves of our membership for example.

I think a pertinent question might be, under what circumstances, if any, would the Shogunate allow any members of the Imperial household to go running around wearing weapons that were any more then merely highly ceremonial and significantly less than battle ready. The warrior class could never attain the lofty heights of courtly refinement and the court certainly wouldn't lower them selves to boorish warrior affectations.

Seeing the close ups of the gold surface this morning I'd have to adjust my initial opinion. The peeling on the one set of ashi strongly suggests plating. On balance electro-plating rather than mercury fire gilding/kin-keshi. Although what looks like fine porosity on the other menuki back looks a bit like un-burnished kin-keshi. The positive bubble again looks like a casting artefact. There seems to be some wear of the gilding on the edges here, and it looks a bit like copper underneath. If it is copper it wouldn't have been cast, so perhaps brass? The flaking off gold is quite extreme but as the ashi are often attached by means of lead solder the gold adhesion would be weak in those areas. if it is lead solder there then it would be evidence in favour of the gold being electroplated, albeit very thickly. An in-hand examination would be so much more informative . Pure gold weighs twice what copper does so the feel is usually quite noticeable.

I don't see any reason to suspect they're plated. I very much doubt they're 24ct/pure gold. More like 20ct, gold with a little silver and a tiny bit of copper. To clarify, 18ct is 75% pure gold plus other non gold metals to alloy. With yellow gold that'd typically be silver and copper in equal parts, ie; 12.5% each. I don't think these are castings either, more like late Meiji (at the earliest) but properly raised and chased menuki. I wouldn't regard them as particularly fine examples of menuki sculpture though. Sources: My opinion as a goldsmith of over 40 years experience and a Japanese metalwork practitioner and specialist for 30 years.

I'd have to agree with Jean. Is it perhaps a modern Iaito tsuba?

I would suggest that first we'd need to agree on what criteria constitute a good forge. A 'perfect' forge weld in logical extreme definition might be one that is absolutely without any gaps or slag inclusions, and thus completely lacking on any definition regarding hada/grain. The microscopic slag inclusions do provide addition corrosion protection though. In the same vein schools are noted for very different degrees of refinement in terms of exactly the 'perfection' of the forge welds. The appreciation of these varying qualities is, of course, subjective.

My first thought was that this was a repurposed end of a broken blade. The polish looks to be an emery paper 'special'. The opening in the tip looks painful! 50 quid isn't a terrible investment on the learning path but I'd cut my losses at this point, pardon the unavoidable pun It'd just be more good money after bad. If you wanted to go the DIY restoration way I think you could do better in terms of blade

Not as annoying as the use of tsuba as decorative wall tiles Philistine behaviour!

If by qualified you mean someone who has completed a full apprenticeship in Japan and is duely recognised there as such then I'd not hesitate to recommend Andrew Ickeringill, based in Australia. Of course it would depend on whether the blade was worth his time.

If the influence of Japanese art on the West interests you then I could not recommend more highly Siegfried Wichmann's 1981 publication 'Japonisme.'

Hi Dan glad to offer what I can. As to how it was used. My understanding was that a suitable layer of fine damp clay was first prepared on a board. A fine dusting of soot was then applied to the intended model, the finished tsuba, menuki etc. The metalwork then pressed into the clay and it all allowed to dry out a little bit, perhaps over night. I'd assume this was all done before the very final polish and patination processes. Then, after the metal work was removed the imprint was filled with very hot/fluid matsu-yani allowed to cool to properly solidify and then removed. I've seem some models thus produced but with the addition while still very hot/fluid, of a backing of coarse cloth as reinforcement. Using hot pitch to create a mould directly from the metalwork is unlikely as one of its most useful features is precisely its tendency to stick to metal like the proverbial .... to a blanket! .

Dale, I think it was probably a number of factors at play. Matsuyani was readily at hand, so it got used, we see evidence of this sort of adaptation of materials in patination too. Half the kitchen cupboard seems to have been tried at various times Matsuyani is capable of delivering a very fine imprint in the first instance and while it does break down over time I reckon for the needs of the people making and using them back then it was more than adequate. As Darrel pointed out clay is prone to distortion but I'd add that the fineness it may have been capable of reproducing might not have been quite good enough to capture tosogu detail. My own feeling is that they were records for the studio and most likely used to train apprentices in the finer points of metal sculpting and the style and technique of a particular studio. A bit like the plaster models used by the classical drawing and painting schools beginning in the Renaissance. The faithful adherence to and absorption of the school or studio style was at the heart of traditional training after all.

To clarify, the pitch in question here is called matsu-yani (pine pitch) in Japanese workshops, as it was in the Edo period also. It's mentioned in the Soken Kishō for example. The typical recipe is: 750g Pine rosin ( that's the sticky resin sap with the terpentine etc. removed) , 1000g filler material, traditionally a finely ground fire clay, nowadays plaster of Paris of more frequently used, 50ml of vegetable oil and a teaspoon of carbon powder. I don't think a chemist would characterise matsu-yani or yani/rosin alone for that matter, as a type of plastic. Here's a link to a film I made some years ago showing how to make the stuff. As can be seen it is really quite runny when hot and remains quite pliable while warm. Once cold it can be broken almost like pottery. Worth noting that over time the material breaks down, probably due to a gradual loss of oils etc. leaving the yani more friable and grainy in appearance.

Thanks Mark, kind offer but not really the sort of 'feel' I'm aiming for. And thank you Manuel, those are indeed a good possibility. I'll follow the auction and see where it takes me. Thanks again. edit to add, missed it! Pity, not bad hammer price.

Found these on-line.

Gold foiled wrapped ni-ju habaki I once worked on. Curiously enough the mon, when examined under a microscope was revealed to have been cnc machined. The three segments of the mon design are each identical even with a couple of minute 'errors'.

Gold foil on copper, from an aikuchi koshirae I once owned. Plum blossom on cracking/thawing ice.

I would have thought my implication was obvious. Here we have two tsuba purporting to from the hands of the father of the machi-bori and his son. A pretty big deal. Yet they have no papers and have evidently been completely repatinated, or the patina is relatively fresh, hence the very clear nashiji. This ought to give cause for hesitation. This is a beautiful illustration of very clear nashiji. The appearance of a fine silver network surrounding the copper matrix. And while, yes, I do on occasion have to resort to a complete repolish and repatination it's really important to try and achieve a suitably aged and mellow appearance in the final result so that while the work is 'restored' it never the less retains a sense of its age. As for trying to understand the qualities of kata-kiri perhaps that's only truly possible if one practices it oneself. This is a little utsushi I did about 30 years ago, it's the same size as the original version, ie; much smaller than this image. The composition may be familiar to some, a bit ambitious for a first attempt perhaps. 😜 But in any case, I was asked for my opinion. I took the time to offer some very carefully considered observations. Do with it what you will. I honestly have no interest in what anyone choses to believe in these matters. After all, as the saying goes; "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". 😎

I've hesitated to comment as I'm feeling a bit uneasy about these two pieces. There's a great deal to say that can be argued indefinitely but what I will say at this stage and that I feel is objectively correct is ; Given the apparent age of the works, referencing the lives of the alleged makers, the shibuichi is perfectly clean, with not even a trace of aged patina or other dirt, grime old oxidised wax etc. The 'nashiji' grain appears as clear as though it was patinated yesterday. There's a lighter halo around the seppa-dai. What this tells me is those lighter patches had suffered heavier oxidation/corrosion than the rest of the plate. The whole plate was then subsequently completely re-polished to redo the patina. Any area that had suffered excessive oxidation etc. and had not been adequately prepared will now patinate lighter because the alloy on the surface at those areas is now silver rich and copper depleted. It's always the less 'noble' metal that is sacrificed in these sort of corrosion effects. So in my opinion this is a new patina and the whole tsuba have been lightly re-surfaced/polished. It is possible that they have merely been a little heavy handidly over-cleaned but I see a few other blemishes that all point towards more towards a, less than expert, refinish rather then over-clean. I'm a little bothered by the excessive encroachment of the chiselling onto the seppa-dai areas. On the whole the designs are all fairly convincing and essentially straight out of the Yokoya design book, so to speak. You can easily find identical examples in the existing documented works. Looking closely at the actual cutting though I can't silence a niggling hesitation in my mind. Kata-kiri work is by it's very nature meant to be bold and expressive. A strained attention to super accuracy is not to be expected nor probably desired. But what we would expect is a degree of fluency and compositional integrity. It's a bit like a fine drawing by a noted artist compared to a careful traced copy of the same. Like a good drawing good kata-kiri ought to exhibit a sensitive and dynamic relationship and interplay between every single cut or mark. And in that vein each and every cut ought to be alive and expressive in terms of its shape. How does it being there add to the work? There's so much to say and discuss but it's late here so I'll leave it at that for now. It

In terms of painting style it reminds me of Taisho and Showa period work. As an artefact it looks to me to be a print from a book, the back cover perhaps. The kanji reads 'Sō', meaning to dwell or the Sung Dynasty. I doubt that's an artists seal, possibly a publishers mark?

Thanks Bob, it's been a pleasure and a great ride. Long may it continue!

Actually Dan, you were ignorant, as are most people, of the full range of my relevant 'qualifications' because I haven't previously published details on them. So claiming you knew because you read my bio is not accurate. I might add 18 and more years specialising in the restoration of some of the finest Japanese metalwork to pass through London and New York sale rooms. This including a significant amount of the celebrated Khallili collection (including some of the very important Islamic collection), the Johnson collection in Boston and even items now in the Sannenzaka Museum in Kyoto. My partner, Bella, and I have also created and made freely available on-line over 100 hours of detailed film instruction on the technical and aesthetic aspects of the tradition. Can I ask what you've added to our collective understanding?, seeing as how you're so quick to try and dismiss my efforts. Like when you try to diminish me in this ongoing discussion by describing me as "... a “jeweler” by trade (who now makes tsuba ..." , note again the use of scare quotation marks around the word, jeweller , source: https://www.grammarl...round-a-single-word/ Yet you present yourself as the victim here whenever your ideas are challenged. You inevitably resort to attacking the person of those who disagree with you rather than simply dealing with the ideas and questions raised. Yes Dan, it's my over-inflated ego that's driven me for over 40 years to improve my craft and understanding of the field. Everything I've toiled at over the past 40 years was just to feed my ego and to annoy an anonymous bloke somewhere in the USA. And obviously your observation that (I) "probably need a chainsaw to get your overinflated "big ego head" through a doorway!" wasn't in any way meant as a put down... . To be blunt this does unfortunately make you look a bit like an on-line troll in that you are effectively anonymous, you can and do say and act however you please here with no consequence to your real world person. I present myself in front of anyone on-line who cares, in the full light of day, flaws, failings and all. If you Dan, wanted to confront me face to face you can. Our business is easily accessible on Instagram and Facebook and the address is on Google Maps. Who and what I am is a matter of public record. But you remain safe and comfortable in the shadows taking pot shots when ever and at whomever you please. Perhaps, if you want to "matter" it's time to be honest and open and stand by your claims and theories. I mean, how can anyone take you seriously if no-one even knows who you are, quite literally?

And to clarify, assuming reasonably that I'm the "jeweller who also makes tsuba" in the dock, not sure why Jeweller is in quotes though. I've been a practicing goldsmith for over 43 years, 30 of those as a master goldsmith. 25 years additionally specialising in classical Japanese metal work. Advising The British museum, The V&A, The Ashmolean museum, The Boston Museum of Fine arts on matters pertaining to Japanese metalwork conservation and interpretation. Presently refining a paper I delivered in Turin in July at the behest of the Getty Foundation on the technical aspects of the 2000 year old Mensa Iasica and advising/guiding a program of analytical research on tosogu in Oxford to investigate specific issues with traditional metallurgy etc. (The Fitzwilliam Museum) Also the recipient of 7 gold prizes in the annual sword making competitions in Japan. There's obviously some more but this ought to be enough, Dan, to let you know that, despite your complete ignorance of my qualifications or academic standing in this field, I take my work seriously and apparently so do serious people, who matter.

Hitchin's razor "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."[1][2][3] The razor was created by and named after author and journalist Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011). It implies that the burden of proof regarding the truthfulness of a claim lies with the one who makes the claim; if this burden is not met, then the claim is unfounded, and its opponents need not argue further in order to dismiss it.