rkg

its not copper, but since we're on the subject of yasuchika pieces.... are ya feelin' lucky? https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b315376824 Best, rkg (Richard George)

Stephen, Welll,,,, that mei is different from any of the Yasuchika generations - at least in what reference books I've got laying around, fwiw.... So I guess you got to ask yourself how much you want to pay for an utushi - that one went for Y71000.... Best, rkg (Richard George)

You noticed the Tomei daisho a couple of links down, right? http://iidakoendo.com/2492/ rkg (Richard George)

FWIW, I actually ended up talking to Haynes about this one - he didn't think it was related to Norisuke either - his guess was Sano school work. Maybe a bad day Natsuo, right? (my joke, not his...) Best, rkg (Richard George)

Um, that's kind of a big "oops", as that's supposed to be a major security feature... Did you ping the NBTHK and see if what they have on record for the piece matches your piece? I don't mean to make that sound easy (as I have no clue how to go about it myself), but in the past there were a bunch 'o cases of papers not matching the NB's records apparently due to some kind of nefarious activity. I'm having CRS on what the exact scam was - maybe somebody else who still has a memory of the er, problem would like to take the time to recount it? Best, rkg (Richard George)

Get yourself another agent... I use sendico: https://www.sendico.com/ Good Luck, rkg (Richard George)

Well... https://www.facebook.com/266005023454853/photos/a.266009073454448.82484.266005023454853/1428357853886225/?type=3&theater :-) rkg (Richard George)

Steve, When I read this I got out of it that Darcy was talking about a more specific situation - specifically swords attributed to big names/groups, often with dodgy papers. I'd posit they're actually more of a special case - almost by default swords in Japan get looked at by lots of eyes - if you find one in the wall, you're supposed to take it to the cops and get it registered at the very least (or you panic and hand it off to somebody who is probably going to be knowledgeable 'cause you -know- they're illegal to just own w/o doing -something-) Even if they're hated, the general public has an inkling that they might be worth something so they get shown, etc etc. The odds of getting a "treasure" though that network at a steal price is really really low... Fittings are nearly as bad (the dealer industrial complex seems to be good at sweeping up anything special before it escapes into the wild), though sometimes they miss things that incorrectly described/really badly imaged... On the other hand, for other less known items/items that don't have to be registered... you might be surprised - I mean, the whole shtick of Antiques roadshow is finding people who have a family heirloom or something they bought at a garage sale/thrift store cheep, shocking the sh*t out of them with the value and filming their reactions - and they have -no shortage- of people to shock... And, FWIW, I've been there on shoveling out relatives' houses, where you just don't care anymore that something -might- be valuable, you just start sending it to the goodwill or throw it out at a garage sale cheep (or put it on ebay w/no research and with bad pictures) because you need it gone, -now-... That said, I think Darcy is correct in stretching the special case of swords to the general case that its still not the way to bet - unless you study and either know or have a fair guess at what you are looking at (and even then bidding with your grocery money is probably a bad idea). rkg (Richard George)

Not bad :-) On the color, I think the newer scanners with LEDs as the illumination source may not be all that bad out of the box. If you color manage you'll probably see issues, but for internet postings where nobody has piece in hand to compare the color to or color manages their monitor/system... eh... I think I tended to use the open scanner to get the black background back in the day because it saved editing (I wasn't so good at masking work back then) - plus (to me at least), the edge details fading to black looked less bad than those big black shadows you get against a white background. In addition, if you're not tweaking the dynamic range of the image, the black background makes the object appear lighter.... Of course with those two restraints gone, even with a quick (bad) mask job you can get better results (as the edges aren't fading to black for the most part) - here's another scan I just did of a new (to me) piece scanned against a white background (to preserve the edges) and masked off (sorry for the hack job on it ). I actually don't like the way the iron looks, the weird hot spots on the brass, etc, but hey.... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, In the distant past I've played with using a scanner to "shoot" tosogu - even wrote up something on it: http://rkgphotos.com//articles/scanning_final.pdf Back in the day of early (read cr*p) digital cameras, it was about the only way to get a high resolution image, though it had problems (the dynamic range sucks, darks block up, color is off, reflection issues, funky perspective, etc etc etc), you could generally get an image that consistently showed most everything (even if they weren't very flattering), particularly if you didn't know jack sh*t about lighting (like me at the time :-/) The trouble is that time marches on and between the decently large sensors, FAR superior dynamic range the newer cameras have, having studied light control, etc etc. Its not something I've done in a LOONG time. However, somebody pinged me on the kodogu no sekai facebook page recently about using a scanner for shooting fittings, and since I don't think I'd tried it in the better part of a decade (and I'm kinda under the weather so studying was hopeless anyway), just for grins I plopped that kyo-shoami (or is it Iyo shoami? :-) ) piece I had posted earlier on the scanner and gave it a go. First off, I found that that I hadn't ever created a profile for the scanner using the particular combination of color depth and resolution I wanted to use (and if I had one it would have been dodgy anyway (since I haven't bothered to calibrate the beast since, what, 2010), and my scanner calibration software no longer functioned (gotta love windows 10 as well as companies that get bought a few times so they no longer support their products ), so I did a quick and dirty color correction by scanning a white balance card and getting the color/tint settings to apply to the images using photoshop. Here's the result: On the left is a version of the image shot with a camera, the center is the "final" scanned image, and the one on the right is the image out of the scanner. Note that I ended up using a levels tweak to pull the dynamic range so it was actually across 5 stops, as well a little saturation adjustment. I actually don't like the way scans look for a lot reasons, but as can be seen, it does let you produce a reasonably detailed image that is often better than can be gotten with a phone camera if no attention (if done without working with the lighting/care in camera placement/etc) - so... Give it a shot the next time all you can't seem to get an image that looks very good with your phone.... rkg (Richard George)

Looks like the real deal to me (its unlikely a faker-er, utushi artisan would use a folded plate, etc), though as you point out maybe its been er, helped" in the past... rkg (Richard George)

Hi, Since I haven't contributed anything in a while and I'm a bit bleary eyed from studyin', I thought I would take a break and put up some images of another piece I got not too long ago. This piece is measures 83.8mm(H) X 83.7mm (W) X 4.83mm(T, seppa dai), 4.45mm(T, mimi). It appears to me that it would be binned as Kyo-Shoami work, probably from the early to mid Edo period, though its been suggested it might might possibly also be binned as umetada work. The theme appears to be drawer pulls and some kind of leaf.from the ol' auction pics it didn't look like much, but it is much better in hand. Here are a couple of pictures from the auction - note that I DO NOT OWN these images and are posting them for informational purposes only When I received the piece, I found that it was coated with a nasty layer of choji oil (yuk). after getting the worst of it off, I reshot it (again, not my best work, but...). Unfortunately, also after removing the oily mess, it became obvious that somebody had er, over-enthusiastically fussed the mimi on the piece this differential is actually much more visible in the 360 image sets I shot (below) - compare them to the side shots in the auction image. http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/leaf_pull_kyo_shoami/leaf_pull_kyo_shoami_front/leaf_pull_kyo_shoami_front.html http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/leaf_pull_kyo_shoami/leaf_pull_kyo_shoami_back/leaf_pull_kyo_shoami_back.html In hand, it is still a pretty nice piece, but it could have been nicer if somebody knew when to stop maybe it'll be all better after a few years of handling... Best, rkg (Richard George)

In case anybody's interested, here are a couple of 360 image sets of this piece - there's still a little gunk at about 7 o'clock on the front, but still... http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/koto_bridge_saotome2/koto_bridge_saotome2_front/koto_bridge_saotome2_front.html http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/koto_bridge_saotome2/koto_bridge_saotome2_back/koto_bridge_saotome2_back.html Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, I got this not too long ago, and its still confusing me. The piece was papered to Norisuke, and I'm still trying to figure out how they got to that. I did a bit of searching through what little I have on hand by this tsuba maker, and it doesn't really seem to look like their "usual" work. First up, here's a couple of images of the piece: The piece measures 82.6mm (H) X 76.7mm (W) X 3.30mm (T, web), 4.32mm (t, max, mimi), 4.83mm (t, max). Oh, and a couple of 360 image sets - as an aside, after I shot these I realized the surface would appear to "shimmer" in direct light as it moved - cool... http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/crane_norisuke/crane_norisuke_front/crane_norisuke_front.html http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/crane_norisuke/crane_norisuke_back/crane_norisuke_back.html When I first saw the auction, I thought it might be toryusai school work, as I think I've seen them do this surface treatment (and actually bori) like this before. In hand though the bird definitely isn't done they way those guys would, so its a head scratcher. My next guess would have been mito work or something (as they seemed to copy -everything-). Paper (since I scanned it - just in case anybody's interested): Comments appreciated. Thanks, rkg (Richard George)

it took me long enough, but here are some 360 image sets showing this piece - you can see how the patina is er, thin on the raised fans: http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/shoami_shigenobu_fan/shoami_shigenobu_group_front/shoami_shigenobu_group_front.html http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/shoami_shigenobu_fan/shoami_shigenobu_group_back/shoami_shigenobu_group_back.html Best, rkg (Richard George)

In case there's any interest, I finally had the chance to run some 360 image sets of this piece - sorry about the mediocre images, but i'm kinda under the weather, and...: http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/mokko_iron_nobuiye/mokko_iron_nobuiye_front/mokko_iron_nobuiye_front.html http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/mokko_iron_nobuiye/mokko_iron_nobuiye_back/mokko_iron_nobuiye_back.html Best, rkg (Richard George)

yeah guys, stop horsing around :-) rkg (RIchard George)

since the auction's closed, here's another questionable one: https://www.sendico.com/yahoo/lot_e268192556.html Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, I've been really busy with other stuff, but in the midst of updating the system I use to control the cameras in the studio I made some time to shoot some more new (to me) tsuba. Here's some images of a tsuba signed Nobuiye the piece measures 81.7mm (H) X 76.7mm (W) X ~4,32mm (T, nakago ana), 5.97mm (T, max, mimi) : As you can see the piece is signed Nobuiye and has a very nice yakite shitate surface, (which was apparently applied over the mei, like you see on many early pieces signed Yamakichibei). Whoever did this understood that often the surface bori on the big guy Nobuiye work was low key/almost appearing as part of the surface texture initially, and he seems to be trying to emulate that. In the mimi, you can see tekkotsu as well as tortise shell bori (though again its fairly subtle) - here's a shot showing one of them (note that the lighting makes the surface look not-so-good - its much better in hand) - you actually can see some all around the tsuba, though its either very worn or has been made to appear nearly worn away (with tekkotsu visible here and there where its gone): and finally, here's a couple more images showing the surface texture/mei/etc better: I have no idea which guy this might be - I came across this piece that seems to be similar, but... http://www.shibuiswords.com/Nobuie%20Tsuba.htm Anyway, enjoy - when I get the turntable up and running again I'll post a VR image set as well if there's interest. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey, its still cheep right now for what it is - though I'm sure Pete's right and the final price will be in orbit with Musk's tesla when the dust has settled.... rkg (Richard George)

Here's a couple of close-ups of the little guy on both the front and back: Best, rkg (Richard George)

Looks like a tosho to me... Swapped box? Best, rkg (Richard George)

Chris, Both sides are shown - the figures are pretty much identical - I did enlargements of the back side because the figures are in better shape. here's an enlargement of the lower part of the front side: Best, rkg (Richard George)

John, Thanks for the reply! I think you're right - Koto bridges it is Best, rkg (Richard George)