Hello, I'm the owner of the tsuba netsuke.
Thank you for having transferred the photos here, we have a serious server bug in the netsuke forum and the photos keep vanishing.
I AM NOT tsuba or even a metal expert. When I bought this netsuke through Yahoo Japan it was because I thought that the quality was much better then the Meiji copies normally seen. When I received it, I realized that the tsuba was of high quality while the netsuke mountings had been done by an amateur.
I showed the tsuba to London expert and he told me orally: 'Very early Higo school'.
I researched the Higo school on the net and mostly found what 'Bugyotsuji' did: "as far as I can gather several artists and styles (Hayashi Seibei, Hirata Shippo-ha) were brought together in the 1580s and 1590s by Hosokawa Sansai from Kyoto, Edo and Korea, etc., but what we know officially as Higo work does not seem to come together fully until early Edo". I personally assumed that very early meant meant in this case 1600.
I showed the tsuba to a Swiss expert two days ago and he also confirmed early Higo school.
Ford, if you agree not to dismantle (or put it back together) I can give the tsuba-netsuke to your brother Clive tomorrow in London and he could forward it to you for examination. Your verdict final.
My friend's Piers question about the wavy outline was never fully answered. It is a 'seppa-dai of unusual kiku outline' already in use in Momoyama. This time I did my research a bit better and I join photographic proof even though it is of a Ko-Goto tsuba.
Curran, do you agree to let Ford decide, if he agrees, whether it's early Edo or '19th century Edo Higo'?
