Marius

Offer runs until Sunday midnight. After that tsuba returns to the drawer

AVAILABLE AGAIN... Measurements are: 8.4 x 8.5 x 0.5 cm at rim, 0.5 cm at seppa dai. Plate is convex, so is thinner closer to rim.

39.5 x 39.5 cm - a wonderful plate with two dragons, male and female. Absolutely lovely, an great decoration of any Japanese room or man cave or even a living room. Made of cast iron... Wait, no! This plate is made of something ceramic. I didn't dare examine it further (I wouldn't like to drill through, mind you). Anyway, it is made to look like cast iron, and you can really be deceived, until you take it in your hands (it is lighter than cast iron). Scratch on the backside where you can see the white material this was made of. Gypsum, I over a wood base, I suppose. Comes in a battered old box, with some inscription inside, part obscured by black ink (most likely owner's name). $400 (EUR 370) this time shipping is extra. Bank transfer only, please. I presume shipping would be around $30-35 Please note - I'd rather ship without box, as I cannot ship it in the box - there is no possibility to wrap it and put in the box, which is to small for that. And I want it to arrive safely, so I would have to wrap box and plate separately.

Tentatively on hold. Might be released again.

Gentlemen, I believe this is the real thing in terms of simple iron tsuba mounted on samurai swords during the long Sengoku period. I have seen a few old swords in simple field koshirae, with very similar - albeit smaller - tsuba and with saya wrapped in thin leader and (alongside all kodogu) covered in a matt black coating. Poor man's urushi someone called it, Richard Turner I believe. This kind of coating differs dramatically from the urushi you have on some more ornate tsuba. It must have been cheap and quick to apply. This example is big (like 8+cm big), is convex and thick and massive in hand. With such a fat body no tsuba expert will call this guard a ko-katchushi as ko-katchushi must be anorectic Never mind, I don't take those 'schools' seriously, though they may be useful as neat names for cataloguing stuff. Anyway, a workhorse tsuba and the lacquer (as I believe it is lacquer) is cool. Some corrosion at rim, as you ca see in the third picture. As to the measurements - the last pic shows it next to a 7.3 x 7.1 tsuba. $250 (EUR 230) incl. shipping to US and EU

Brian, I am looking forward to this sale

I declare that I will do the same. I may not have as many books, but I trust enough to raise some funds for Brian. I will be able to take pics of the books on Friday... Brain, will you kindly email me with instructions?

Old and corroded, but still usable and cheap. Momoyama to early Edo. A little bit of cleaning and it can be mounted on a long wakizashi or even short katana. Wabi sabi aesthetics. 7.3 x 7.1 x 0.4cm at rim, 0.25 at seppa dai $60 (€55) incl. shipping to EU/US

SOLD, thank you Alex 😊

Thanks Alex I agree on the price, that is why the offer ends Sunday - I just like this tsuba As to how it was mounted, I have some thoughts... Given the size of the sekigane, one can imagine that the nakago ana is pretty big. My take is that was first mounted on a wakizashi, and after that (with the sekigane) on a tanto. Was it a yoroi doshi? Perhaps, but it must have been long, as a tsuba of this size would look disproportionately large on a blade of 20-24cm. Anyway, I guarantee that the buyer will be satisfied

Two photos that reflect the iron quality well (I hope). This is really an old and nice tsuba. i will be equally happy selling or keeping it

An interesting thing - I have just now realised that the sukashi motif is a stylised dragonfly. I must have been blind This offer runs until Sunday 24:00 GMT+1. After that this tsuba returns to my collection. Feel free to make me an offer in the meantime. Thanks for looking

This one is a small guard, 6.7 x 6.7 x 0.2 cm. Again, I failed at photographing it, it looks much better in hand. Muromachi period, possibly worn on a short uchigatana (today called wakizashi) or sunnobi tanto. One flaw: the hitsu ana wall (which I think was added later) has a hairline crack in the lower part, where it is thinnest and meets the seppa dai. The price should offset this, however. Very nice iron, there are tiny little protruding spots of iron (the largest has the size of a pinhead) where the patina is off and bare iron shines through. I would leave it alone, just saying, so there are no surprises. These are visible in the last two pics. $250 (EUR230) incl. shipping to EU and US.

PM re 1 sent

SOLD, thank you.

on HOLD

I am reducing the price on this one to $250 incl. shipping The catch: valid until 3rd May, 24:00 GMT. after that the tsuba will be withdrawn and thread deleted.

And all three tsuba are now SOLD.

#2 and 3 are on HOLD

Tsuba #1 is on HOLD

Measurements will come later for all of these tsuba, but they are wakizashi size. #1 Tsuba wakizashi sized tsuba, iron, some carving. inome and a folding flaw which adds to its charme. Edo. $80 incl. shipping to US/EU #2 Tsuba Katchushi. Simple and charming. Only kozuka hitsu ana. Corrosion evidence on rim in places (see picture) $90 incl. shipping to US/EU #3 Tsuba Katchushi. Simple and charming. $100 incl. shipping to US/EU

And thanks to Alex, I have a box for my new kokinko menuki. Thanks Alex

Hello, If you have one lying around, let me know. I can also trade for a nice tsuba box. Thanks Marius

All tsuba are SOLD, thank you

A brass tsuba, 19th c. Qing dynasty with a rare provenance. The front has a carved twin dragons (so-ryu) motif among a background of vines (karakusa) in a motif that dates to antiquity in China. The carved design on the reverse side is of a hidden dragon in clouds. I was told it was brought to Japan by the end of the Edo period, but cannot verify it. It could have been brought to Japan during one of the Sino-Japanese wars. Anyway, the previous owner bought it from one of the top Ginza sword dealers, with the assurance that it was a Momoyama namban tsuba. This assessment was utterly wrong, of course, but it is still a nice tsuba with some Chinese and Japanese history. Along the way from owner to owner, it was fitted with a high class custom box. I have had it in my collection for some years now, and it was always a conversation starter and I had great fun with it. Size: 6.9 cm X 7.7 cm, 5.4 mm at rim, 2.6 at center. $310 (€280) incl tracked priority shipping to EU and US.