Ford Hallam

The increasing threat of fakes to our field of art is something that has occupied my thoughts a lot in recent months. Where I can I will continue to offer my own technical observations, as a craftsman, to provide ammunition to our community with which to protect our wallets and pride But it seems to me that the most reliable defence against fakers is to develop a finer eye. I'm still not absolutely sure as to how this 'education' might be best achieved though. The development of a reliable critical aesthetic eye has been a long standing philosophical conundrum but perhaps we might at least begin to more carefully define the issue and thereby find our way to a semblance of reliable connoisseurship.

A careful examination of the enlarged images shows quite clearly that this is a modern cast copy. Steel casting with electroplated details in silver and gold on an initial copper flash plating. The copper base plating is typical of industrial processes, it adheres well to the steel so that the silver and gold has an easier bond to the copper rather directly onto the steel.

Tiger looks quite Mito, perhaps some Nara flavour too...but Mito would be my first call.

Seki-gane in iron can't be patinated in a rokusho or any copper salt solution because of the galvanic action that is created between the copper and the iron. What you get instead is a seriously problematic copper flash plating on the iron. Best bet is to just leave it alone, time will do a better job than most amature fussing.

Kyle, I'm not really convinced by this use, by the NBTHK et al, of 'den' to denote some sort of affiliation. It seems disingenuous and meaningless, perhaps only useful as a marketing tool? I can admit it's usefulness in the context of bladesmithing though. My discomfort with the design is down to the utter lack of imagination it reveals. Edo period crafts-people operated in a world where the principles of elegant design and aesthetics were the very air they breathed. Everything from kimono to wrapping papers bore the images of brilliant composition. And design books for craft production abounded. Weak design awareness would be a business failing and in a society remarkably attuned to refined artistic expression, the whole point of buying a tsuba after all...., a singularly dull offering like this would simply not be feasible. The snowflakes are too large for the available space, they look cramped and stuffed onto the plate...they lack any suggestion of rhythm and delicacy. Snowflakes scatter, they drift, they are random...they do not line up like sardines in a tin can 🙂. As a supposed product of the late Edo period it fails to communicate to me anything of the authentic aesthetic milieu of that time and place. I'm impressed by your diligence in compiling those examples of similar snowflakes. Using modern technology scanning those and then using that precise data would allow for very accurate dies to be created. We use a processes like that in the Jewellery trade quite routinely today. And Kyle, I'm really not trying to convince anyone of anything. My comments are merely my own musings and are offered to any interested reader for consideration. That is, to my mind anyway, the whole purpose of this forum after all.

Sebastien I'm happy to hear my post was useful to you. Working backwards Suaka is simply the Japanese word for copper. Just as shinchu is brass. Your's is copper/suaka, or aka-gane, red metal. All the same. And I'd agree, not Ichijo 'school' but clearly copying their popular style. The maple leaves and blossoms are done rather expressively I think, not really trying too hard to be Ichijo, and more it's own thing. The ground is also more expressive/powerful. I think it's a perfectly honest piece, not extremely refined but a pretty decent example of its type.

A few observations I'd like to offer... Firstly, unless it's signed, and speaking here about Edo period work, it cannot be regarded as of a school. This is because 'schools' operated as guilds or effectively a franchise arrangement, or Iemoto system, you paid your dues, for instruction, in time in the studio training and working for the master. And then in subs once you were considered suitably skilled enough to carry the name of the school forward independently. Secondly I am suspicious of those snowflakes. The arrangement seems, to my eyes, dull and predictable so I doubt an Edo period date. If you imagine the design as a flower arrangement then this is the equivalent of 5 flowers in a neat row.🤣 As for the stamps, well in a way I've been expecting them. I've carved a couple of similar stamps for various restoration projects in the past so have some experience of the practicalities of making and using them. These however, strike me (pun unavoidable) as being machine made. I suspect we may see more soon. Oh, and it's brass, or shinchu not sentoku. Sentoku is a very different alloy, quite brittle and very unsuitable for stamping work. It's a lovely patina colour, the cleanness of the recesses of the stampings would concern me though. And finally, looking at the kogai hitsu, the edges are nicely and gently rounded out. An acceptable finishing touch and one we do see on period work. What we don't see it that chamfering continuing around where the opening touches or runs through the seppa-dai. This reveals to me that whoever shaped the kogai hitsu wasn't familiar with mounting tosogu in a koshirae because it doesn't make sense when mounted..

I think Nara would be a fair call. Of Joi, Yasuchika and Toshinaga something suggests mostly Nara Toshinaga as an influence, but without a mei I personally don't believe it should be called 'school work'. If there is/was any legitimate school association or connection then a mei would allow for that connection to be confirmed. It's absence therefore suggests no legitimate claim.

thanks Jean, yes, sorry...typo. At least I located it correctly on the map in my film

Here's my 10 yens worth... If, as some have suggested this is a genuine piece of late Samurai history with all of its supposed associated integrity etc. then perhaps whatever price is paid is it's current 'value'. However, it strikes me as suspicious, particularly given the overt political expressions in Japan in recent years of 'virile nationalism' that this rare treasure wasn't snapped up long before it became necessary to offer it to all and sundry on the internet. Even if we ignore that unsavoury aspect of our present political climate any serious and credible piece of Japan's history is unlikely to be hawked on an internet web-site so frivolously.

I should be remembered that cast iron can be rendered a little less brittle by an annealing process, to produce malleable cast iron. This was a procedure being carried out in China at least 1000 years ago. But that aside I still maintain that iron cast tsuba are a modern phenomenon.

Dale, don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely in agreement with the assessment that these are crap cast fakes. I was just pointing out that the photo posted showing an apparent break seemed to be a photoshop job, based on the exact shadow positioning. This particular tsuba and it's many cast copies has been thoroughly discussed on this forum previously. There's a link above to a pretty definitive thread on it from 2011.

I'm hugely impressed by how the person who apparently dropped and broke their tsuba managed to arrange the lighting in the second image to perfectly match the image of the tsuba from the auction site. That's almost unbelievable! 🤣

Hi Bruno Soten tsuba, made in Hakone, were very popular as gifts and tourist mementos during the Edo period. I discuss this story in a film I made a little while ago, I posted a link to it in this forum a couple of weeks ago. As objects of a particular group if you bought one you would naturally want it to be clearly understood to be 'the real thing' and not a copy... or fake! We know that the metalworking guilds were in operation from the Ashikaga period already so such matters among the metalworking community would be a serious matter too. After all, your reputation and the name on your products was your livelihood. So, why then would a tsuba that appears to be Soten not bare a mei? To my way of thinking, in this case, it suggests that is is not Soten. And I'd suggest that the style, while a little similar, isnt really classic Soten but more 'in the style of..' To your second question, if indeed these figure are some of the 8 immortals then it would be a reasonable assumption to say that the missing tsuba to the pair has the other fellows on it to make up the gang.

As David wrote, Kinai, left side reads Kinai saku (made), right side Echizen (no) Ju or 'living in Echizen (province)'

The fact that the backs of these are flat, as evidenced by the diagonal file marks across the backs, suggests whoever finished these off didn't understand the correct shaping of menuki. To my eyes these look like gilded and silvered brass castings, cast from wax models that came from a rubber mould of original pieces and are almost certainly not old enough to be called antique.

I don't think there's any advantage to having any cleaning done before shinsa. It's in pretty good nick and looks spot on in my opinion. Good luck.

Hi Tony The patterns are stamped into the tsuba ground. Not sure what the story might be but there was in the little woodblock book published in 1832 that illustrated the varieties of snowflake patterns. Sekkazusetsu or 'Illustrations of snow flowers' was a record made by a Daimyo (Doi Toshitsura, Daimyo of Hitachi Province), he'd imported a microscope from Holland and spent 20 years sitting in the snow in winter studying snowflakes and recording their shapes. Snowflakes had not been seen so clearly before and their beauty and novelty made them and immediate hit with designers and the culturally trendy of the urban centres.

I'd say yes, definitely shakudo. The mei appears to suggest that it's by a certain Goto Ichijo....whoever he was 😉. Judging by the work style, formal, use of nanako and mon, etc. and the obvious similarity to the classical Goto school style Kao it would appear to be/ or emulating an early Ichijo work.

he he, well I'm quite proud of my friend and student, Marcus, calling it spot on. Obviously his eye has benefitted from superior tosogu appreciation training. 😂

The addition of the court caps to the monkeys is unusual, yes, and it's hard to ignore the probable political criticism implied. These sorts of 'not so subtle' coded messages seem to have been a regular feature of Edo period tosogu and art but I suspect that their popularity was mostly confined to the more wealthy merchant class, who had many legitimate gripes with 'the management', the Shogunate. With respect to the referenced article by Robert Burawoy, I actually bought a full set of the Bushido journals for that article and one on Ezo koshirae to familiarise myself with both. Disappointingly neither article holds up to any considered scrutiny. In his article Mr Burohow claims to be able to distinguish the first and second generation Mitsuhiro work from each other, ( the third is essentially irrelevant here.) And while he tells us he can't illustrate these identifying difference in the images very well the expert, trained eye, can see the qualitative differences in hand. So far so good and I'd be happy to go along thus far... however, at no point is it made clear how exactly we are to know which is which. We are advised that the finer work is the second generation but not how we know that. Why not claim that the finer work is the first generation? In the absence of signed and dated work there is no evidence either way! All we might say is that there appears to be a difference in quality that might indicate the separate makes, and that's all. The same issue bedevils the study of Nobuie tsuba. If we accept that there were two initial great masters, 1st and second generations so to speak (and on no evidence other than speculation and ignore the 7 or so early makers previously 'identified' by Akiyama et al. ) we still have no way of reasonably identifying which came first, thin signature or fat signature. We don't even know Nobuie's real name, or any dates...🤔

As Bob's points out, and he should know, it's his tsuba ;-), it's signed and, more significantly, dated too. Is this the earliest version of the design perhaps? And as an added point of speculation this may actually be a depiction of a Korean device rather than a new fangled European import. Quoting the all knowing Wikipedia:

A very popular design it seems. Navigation would appear to be the unifying thread. That and perhaps the infatuation with new scientific ideas and technologies.

Cheers Gents, Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Voice AND face for radio...some, less kind, people might say

This is a link to a little film we just finished up. It features a fairly typical Soten tsuba that I gave a bit of TLC to. It may be a little basic for the specialist audience here but you may enjoy the images anyway, and they're really big and you're all getting on a bit now so eyesight is no doubt not what it once was 😆😉