Spartancrest

https://tsubaka.ru/7_en.htm one extreme to another https://www.ebay.com/itm/326302731381 Onin Muromachi - to - Papered to Meiji period. Grey Doffin had one listed as Tosho - https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-kodogu/t250-tosho-tsuba-with-amida-yasuri/ a little more complex sukashi. I think it is a mid Edo piece possibly in a "revivalist" pattern - You will notice the rays extend right through the seppa-dai not like Justins piece that has the seppa-dai un-carved which I think makes his late Edo? Very hard to date a style that persisted for 400 years.

Kogai can be very small - but you are right there is a big size difference with the hitsu. The small one has some features of very early guards, the square edges and thin narrow profile. Perhaps the guard is very old and was decorated later? Under that thin layer of rust is a pretty guard waiting to show off again!

I think these are called "Tama" or flaming jewels. Top row second from the left on the takarabune design image. These "jewels" are often seen on guards where dragons are either holding or reaching for the jewel/pearl of wisdom. $150 is not too bad a price! Heck fakes are often more than that!

Welcome Justin. Love it! The condition is a little rough [just the way I like them] the rat is sitting on Daikoku-ten's mallet/hammer. Daikoku is the god of wealth and one of the Seven Lucky Gods (Shichi-fuku-jin). His companions are rats or mice. No doubt in my mind the guard is genuine but dating is difficult to be precise - Mid to late Edo? Grab yourself a piece of bone or ivory/antler if you can get it and you can remove any active rust - stay clear of the inlay. I see it was an ebay purchase? I hope you got it at a good price Your guard has two symbols from the Takarabune - Treasure ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarabune How is the other side?

From Cornell University - Quadrifoil Ken tsuba ca. 17th century ------ Oh if we could only prove it! Also from Cornell University - Tsuba with deer and maple leaves Unidentified artist The two cast guards show a little time displacement - between "crap" and "rusty crap" but they still take up space in a museum!

This one has even been mounted by the look of the nakago-ana and the opening price is "more realistic" even for a paperweight. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/306292562072 it is pretty crude.

My two cents worth = Hizen. The shape of the seppa-dai and the fact the hitsu were made as part of the design suggests to me it was made in Japan but with the Chinese/Namban influence. ie. Hizen style. Have a look at the Yagami school. I can't help with the mei.

Giordy a set here made into candle holders. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1800s-export-tsuba-ishiguro-masaaki-415584528 https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/exceptional-Japanese-bronze-tsuba-3885860381 The cast in signature is Masaaki Ishiguro but that means nothing in this case. Have fun. Kind regards

Mass produced "reproduction" ie. cast fake. The biggest give away is the nakago-ana [tang hole] but in reality for most of us with years of seeing these, it is just how commonly they turn up. They can come either with applied colour or just a darkened metal and there are others in the "set" - same sort of nakago-ana. You can buy the "set" https://www.supeinnihonto.com/product/aorigata-daisho-set-tsuba/ but please don't! Not at this price 950 € Over a thousand dollars US. It Comes with certificate of SupeinNihonto. ! Well the certificate is not worth the ink it was printed with and the description of "gold inlays" is also a joke - if any gold was used it is overlay!!! There is even a more modern copy of a copy - the nakago-ana is better but still it is a copy of the same design. https://teraasekeskus.com/tuote/ryumon-raijin-tsuba/?lang=en https://teraasekeskus.com/tuote/ryumon-raijin-tsuba/?lang=en https://www.ebay.com/itm/315774157914 https://www.ebay.com/itm/356441228047 These are paperweights at best

https://www.jauce.com/auction/p1182666197 A rather "primitive" form of 'hot stamp' decoration likely to do with Tempo type guards? The fukurin added much later to dress the design up. There tends to be a lot with this Chrysanthemum or star punch design - very irregular and there is not a lot of consistency with the punch depths. Gives you the impression of somewhat hurried manufacture. Early Edo ? Another https://www.ebay.com/itm/405453746331 Close design but without the added fukurin [asking price is a little high in my opinion ] Similar attached to a Wakizashi here. https://www.paulbert-serpette.com/en/catalog/categories/ancient-weapons/Japanese-sword-wakisashi-Japan-edo-period-1603-1868-0 Reddit has some orientation problem! Hope this gives you something as a reference.

Image from Curren's comment in this old thread - https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32234-opinions-on-tsuba/ I believe any guard design found in published works is wide open to be copied for modern forgeries. They even fake brand new designs!

Hello Dave. Not exactly on topic - but ... Check this Metropolitan Museum of Art image an almost identical guard minus the slot. - https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/28458 Copy right image - why? A number of similar images over on this thread

Just did an English translation of FRANÇOIS PONCETTON's book "LES GARDES DE SABRE JAPONAISES." Published in Paris by Albert Morance, 1924. With a few more modern images and a lot more descriptions and provenance. Around a hundred pages - images alongside the descriptions unlike the original book that had a series of plates at the back of the book. You can find the original French PDF here - https://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/PDF/library-books/9000AB4950.pdf It is a very large 178 MB.

There are earlier examples in published collections such as a rather common "Shachihoko" found in Michael Tomkinson's collection of Japanese art published in 1898 item 378. The sticking point is once again, when he acquired it? Before 1868 or closer to the date of publication 1898 some 30 years after the Edo period? Regardless it was made well before the twentieth century. Like this one with the 'pearl' above the lips [there is a version with the pearl in the mouth] https://www.aoijapan.net/tsuba-mumei-shachihoko/

The museum [Saint Louis Art Museum] was a little reluctant to "invest" in buying many tsuba, they did purchase 19 out of their collection of 385. The rest were made up of two bequests one of 24 and the bulk 342. The "tsuba" in question had to have been made well prior to 1929 - the date when the original owner/donator died [Mr. John M. Wulfing]. What we don't have is the date he purchased it in the first place. The museum acquired it in 1949 after it had been on loan since 1937. I guess if there is anything to take away from this, it is to keep good records of when and if possible from whom you have bought your collection - someday someone might want to know where it came from! The museum could have replaced their broken guard for a more "intact" version [but still cast!] https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1181766034 https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/Japan/en/auction/yahoo/input/x1122817965/ https://jp.mercari.com/item/m24767039534 https://jp.mercari.com/item/m89900590068 https://www.reddit.com/r/SWORDS/comments/1hilt73/mystery_tanto/?rdt=42410 This one mounted on a tanto with some gold applied. if you want to see what the guard should look more like see https://collections.mfa.org/objects/11570

It does add to their history - I don't think most people would mark their collections anymore, but then we have the ability to photograph and take detailed digital records. I just traced some more information from some old references, which can show how some information can get lost and now brought back together. These two images are two years apart and neither source had both sides published - goes to show that sometimes displaying the incorrect side can come in handy otherwise you would need to guess what the other side looked like. The Poncetton image has a paper tag attached to the nakago-ana & hitsu so it didn't have to have a number painted on - these little paper tags are a less intrusive way to catalogue a collection, pity we can't read the information on it. It would appear Poncetton didn't like stickers on his tsuba in all cases? fickle

I was doing some work on the Poncetton collection [1924] and noticed an Onin tsuba that twigged a memory back to the Hayashi Tadamasa collection of 1902. [yes I do live in the past! ] I found the images and tried to do a visual comparison. Both collections only showed one side view and of course they were not the same view! However the older Hayashi collection had a brief description which included its catalogue number from that time [1902] - The Poncetton image had even less by way of descriptions except for a tiny number at the top of the nakago-ana no. 49 - - the same collection number as the Hayashi description. Bingo!! That allows me to push the provenance of the piece back beyond what the Poncetton collection knew. The Poncetton collection cites H. Vever. as the previous owner and Henri Vever has an interesting Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Vever Which in part states "By the 1880s, Vever became one of the earliest Europeans to formally collect Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, purchasing extensively from dealers such as Hayashi Tadamasa." He must also have collected tsuba, at least the one that was still in Hayashi's collection in 1902 (Tsuba are not mentioned in the article but other collectors of the same, such as Gonse & Migeon are listed) I guess the point is if you have any old collection numbers on your tsuba, please, please leave them in place - they may come in handy!

Hi David, it has also one of mine [one and only 'Hot stamp' Hamidashi!] Blink and you will miss it. It is really great of Mat [Mecox] to organise all the elements of his research into a single document - and on various subjects. Top rate stuff!

Popped another one out, just sent to the printers. - A bit bigger book of some 390 pages, single side view images with limited information. It will take some time to be released after I get to proof check the print quality. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tsuba-in-the-national-museum-of-norway-spartancrest/1147268270?ean=9798349985782 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-national-museum-in-warsaw-tsuba-collection-spartancrest/1147268269 https://www.thriftbooks.com/browse/?b.search=tsuba#b.s=mostPopular-desc&b.p=1&b.pp=50&b.oos&b.tile Cheaper than Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com.au/National-Museum-Warsaw-Tsuba-Collection/dp/B0F4K8RYFL/ref=sr_1_1 https://www.amazon.com.au/Tsuba-National-Museum-Norway-Spartancrest/dp/B0F4K6551P/ref=sr_1_1 Nine days to get listed - usually takes up to six weeks!

It has gone very quiet with responses - it must be Easter. I found these two sukashi tsuba with something close to the design on the tanto. Totally different technique of course but I think the B&W Kiri drawing was getting there. Happy Easter all!

https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/37977/ An oval iris sukashi - the dimensions don't add up. From time to time in the collection measurements change orientation from Height x Width x Thickness - to H. x T. x W. Weight is never given accurately in grams Dimensions 3 1/16 x 2 1/4 x 3 1/16 in. (7.8 x 5.7 x 7.8 cm) weight: 3.2 oz. (0.1 kg)

Hamidashi tsuba both hitsu are open. It is for a smaller sized tanto, nice raised rim. Wisteria decoration (?). The ura side looks recessed to fit over the Habaki closer into the saya. There is some information in this thread about similar types. An odd one here https://soldiersmuseum.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=97 It says it was fitted with a thick wooden seppa but the one you have has the recess better made.

Twice the mistake as the cm are wrong as well - they slipped a decimal point. The museum has a few badly out of whack dimensions and shows far too many images ura side only. It is a relatively big collection and mistakes are bound to happen but shouldn't a conscientious museum take corrections onboard?