Alex A

Nice tsuba, To me, the lines remind me of Horimono, Bo-hi etc So in that respect, would expect them to be done the same way. But what do i know.

WD40 can stain steel, spots Cant see any machine oil causing white spots.

It can be surprising what can be missed, to me it does appear like it has been there a good while, as stated. It isn't the end of the world as pointed out. Some folks can live with such issues whilst others cant. To me, well, at least its on the mune.

Never seen so many odd looking blades in one place before, its like someone accumulated every one of the oddballs discussed on here over the years. Good luck sifting

I saw that thread, the tsuba reminded me of the "basic and pleasing" tsuba thread Basic and pleasing tsuba - Tosogu - Nihonto Message Board (militaria.co.za) Ps, yes i think 24 petals. That means only the Shogun owned them.

Very nice Piers, never seen a Sukekane Kozuka before. Out of curiosity, the other Sukekane you have, Choji or suguha ?

Nice displays. I take a more simplistic approach. Those little cheap Perspex stands, not so many. Top of a shelf next to a lamp, like to see the silhouette of an evening, Sukashi especially. Change them about for others for a change of scenery when the time comes.

Don't forget the tsuba that have no Hitsu-ana, Dan. Not so common but you do see them.

Remind me of those biscuits from 70s

One thing that i find a bit irritating is when folks start going on about CAST tsuba and how to avoid them. My philosophy is pretty straight forward in that respect. STOP looking at S*** tsuba With S**** looking carving and a lack of fine detail Had to say that

You just have to ask yourself Out of the 300, what could you definitely not ever be able to sell ? You may be surprised at the number you have left.

Doubt it, thanks to his website and good will likely saved a lot of folks from buying something they shouldn't of done.

Good points, though feel i should explain a little further as don't want to sound like some kind of elitists asshole lol. Having collected various items for many years and many ups and downs, i cant help but butt in if i think it will do some good for some folks, An analogy. Some say that when your learning the guitar you should buy the best guitar you can afford. Why?, because no matter how good you get, with a bad guitar you are always going to sound bad. In that respect I'm in the same place as Dan, never had the spare money for the expensive £1500 Martin that i only ever tried out in guitar shops., all my money went into Nihonto. Instead, i bought lots of cheap guitars along the way that sound ok, but they are never going to sound like the Martin. Just one big waste of money. Owing the Martin would have prompted me to play more, learn more. A wow every time i picked it up, rather than i cant be assed with this lark. Im years behind what i should be. You don't have to keep buying cheap tsuba just for the sake of adding more and having a "collection". Save up and learn a long the way. For what you paid for all the tsuba above you are not far off owning probably the best value excellent carved tsuba i have ever owned, an ABSOLUTE beauty in hand. I had to sell when the job went bad and theres never a week where i don't regret it. You dont need to be an expert to know its a great tsuba, in hand, you couldnt help but say wow. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23939-black-wave-deeply-carved-kinko-tsuba/ Beginners can ask for help, that's what folks here like to do. Don't go out spending your money on something lacklustre when for a bit more you can buy really good tsuba, i agree you don't have to spend a lot. Even i buy cheap tsuba because the ones i like just happen to be cheap, lucky there. Some folks might know of good cheap tsuba that are great examples of their type and p.oint you in the right direction. A very good example of its type here, if still for sale. I bought it from the well known Shibui swords website for quite a bit more than what John is selling it for. Edo Amida Tosho with Mon, a great example of its type at a very good price, cant believe its still for sale. I need to point out that i am assuming its the same tsuba i sold John, as it was Tosho with Amida Yasuri. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/46292-birmingham-antique-arms-fair-sunday-17th-september-2023/ All personal taste though, i suppose Anyways, no matter what, enjoy the journey. We all go about it in different directions but some can take short cuts. PS, as mentioned recently. You can learn a lot just by reading through old threads. Jeez, didnt realise this thread was so old, where is time going????????????? https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/18592-show-us-your-high-class-tosogu/

Ok Dan. Happy collecting!

What i would mention about keep buying tsuba for 200 With 3 or more x 200 you could get something really special What im saying is, would rather have one exceptional tsuba than a drawer full of mediocre Same goes for swords or anything else collectable. Those 200s mount up. Sooner or later you will want to trade for better and have all the hassle of selling those 200s.

You guys have obviously never heard of Meicheck.jp Or avoidagimei,com

Nice, unusual. Nakago looks long

Nice site, but don't see any prices ?

Recently listened to The book of 5 rings and Hagakure, again via youtube. Musashi talks quite a bit about sword length. The other book, he mentions folks buying swords from pawn shops Worth a listen. info direct from the Samurai.

Its a good point on our behalf but when you look at the various issues over the years, i just see shipping expensive antique swords as an headache they can do without. Even im now thinking shipping expensive swords with such couriers is a disaster waiting to happen. Just feels crazy putting a sword worth thousands in their hands and hoping for the best. Expensive, but there are more secure ways. That means the buyer has to travel to the airport to pick it up and sort out customs. sounds a pain but your cutting out the dodgy shipping firms, some of which dont even offer insurance for antiques. Thats now an hassle i would be willng to take as a safer option Most folks are lazy though, so doubt it would be a popular option, one day maybe the only option. For an extra fee, an handler will do the running about for you

Think with one thing and another folks are eventually going to get pushed into using specialist handlers.

The Chicken Kake is very nice Yves. Sure you will find something suitable, Not looked around for these for a long time but good ones used to turn up quite regularly. Very hard to date Ps, was looking over these 3 MODERN on Aoi. Condition is obviously one thing to consider. The other things that may differentiate from real old Kake is the elaborate designs, but what do i know. https://www.aoijapan...m/sword-stand-ittei/ https://www.aoijapan...m/sword-stand-oukyo/ https://www.aoijapan...d-furodo-ryuya-saku/

As for lacquered Kake, you would need to be educated on the artwork "style" to try and date them. Was curious and think you could learn a lot more from books and studying other Japanese items of the era. Anyways "Most Japanese lacquerware shares similar styles, motifs and forms regardless of its date of manufacture. This can make date attribution difficult. Edo and Meiji era (pre-1912) Japanese lacquerware designs often have a slightly stiffer and more formal appearance, even when portraying naturalistic scenes. However, by the time of the Taisho and Showa eras (1912 onwards), decoration becomes very subtlety looser and freer in execution due to Western artistic influence. Another dating hint is when a distinctly non-Japanese artistic style is employed. For example, Art Deco design elements would suggest an early 20th century origin. Japanese lacquerware was also produced in different forms over the decades. For example, incense boxes and Inro (a Japanese wallet for use with kimonos) are indicative of Edo or Meiji era 19th century lacquer-work. While still notoriously tough to date, all of these clues used together can help to properly attribute Japanese lacquerware." https://www.antiques...apanese-lacquerware/

Not studied this smith or hit the books but cant help but wonder if Tom D had a point about the boshi needing to be Ko-maru But then i think, surely with the exceptions the rules rule, this might have been a rare exception. Got be some reason they didn't pass it. Piers, bet your sick of this thread , no wonder its turned to motors

Also, If your interested in the sword, contact him outside of Ebay and maybe a chance you will get a better price