Spartancrest

http://thumb1.zeppy.io/d/l400/pict/144416322943/antique-1700-Japanese-Japan-samurai-sword-tsuba-iron-openwork-noren-guard-vtg Yours I presume. One in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford. http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10237/10365 EAX.10776 A variant found here. -- https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/tsuba-doorway-curtain-design/36454/ Another - https://www.earmi.it/armi/tsuba/tsuba.htm [picture quality not so great.] One up for auction now with papers - https://www.jauce.com/auction/r1039267825 Perhaps someone can translate them?

We can't see the ura view very well but there are no obvious signs that it has been mounted. No tagane-ato marks. Perhaps a presentation gift?

What about a 'Hit list' - like notches on a gun - I don't care how crazy you look, no one needs a tsuba THAT BIG!

The two squares remind me of a Kabuki actors woodblock.

Colour in your own fake! I can't see a lot of skill in the paint job of this numerous copy. https://www.jauce.com/auction/o1044108364

Chris, I just had a thought - [I try to limit them to one a day!] - Even though I was bidding through Jauce, the tsuba may have been listed on Buyee or Yahoo or even some other linked site that follow different rules, so perhaps not the great mystery I was thinking it was? Even though I got it by default I am looking forward to seeing just how it was constructed, struck me yesterday that if you were putting parrying bars on a guard why put them next to the weakened area near the hitsu? Why have hitsu to start with and as Eric pointed out, why round hitsu?

I can't track down who may have that specific guard now, some sites here with other Funada Ikkin tsuba. https://yuhindo.com/funada-ikkin-tsuba/ https://www.aoijapan.com/tsubafunada-ikkinkao/ https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19295/lot/5/ good luck in your search.

Chris you are right, I think ebay has something similar. However in order for me to even put in a bid on Jauce, I need to have the money already in my Jauce account. Unlike ebay who take the risk if you won't pay - Jauce takes no risk, they want your money up front. They have just started 'giving credit' to long term clients, setting a limit depending on your buyer history. The credit is only good for 24 hrs whereby you must deposit the funds - also the 'credit' only works if your account has some funds still in it, even if only a few dollars/yen. Perhaps the other buyer was working on credit and had second thoughts or couldn't get to his bank? I don't know but there may be different rules for Japanese buyers?

Back to being STRANGE - The person who 'won' the original pronged guard apparently forfeited the bid and as the second highest bidder I got it! Strange because the auction house doesn't let you pull out of a bid once it is made - so how did the 'winner' manage it?

If that one was strange what is this? https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1043733464

This auction - https://www.jauce.com/auction/g1043772704 "Stimulated the little grey cells" as Hercule Poirot would say - I had seen this guard in a little 1945 Japanese book only just recently. Has anyone seen it published after that date? [1/4/1945] Does the mere fact that it has been published, increase its value or is it more a case of providing provenance that adds to the value? I wonder where it has been all these years?

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-299547 I think this is the auction - but no images.

Could someone give me a translation on this mei - there appears to be a character on the bottom left not identified. Thanks for any help.

David this is probably getting way off subject but I just came across a 'variant' to your tsuba - the scene is slightly shifted to the right and the samurai is carrying an extraordinarily long sword. Once again the guard is cast as seen in the close-ups. https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1043730052 The seller could at least give it a rub with a cloth - it is difficult to see very much detail. I have taken the liberty of enhancing the images. The samurai has moved even further under the nakago-ana in this piece.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/s1043514683 a slightly dressed up one with some gilding, it has the 'inbuilt' tagane-ato mark.

Hi Dave. Age is a bit difficult to be specific - likely Meiji but they may also have been made right up to the 1950s for practice swords. There are at least two slightly different patterns so it is possible one is a copy of an earlier version - but I have no idea which pattern came first I am afraid. You might notice in the images I sent that the horses head is further under the nakago-ana on some and the trunk of the tree is moved over. But just knowing the pattern doesn't tell me which came first - it is even possible a rival company made a copy about the same time. Chinese copies coming out even now, will have several rival makers making a similar pattern so it was similarly possible in Japan where there was no copyright on designs. [at least not till more recent times]

Yes sorry, Grey is correct, that tsuba was mass produced - they come in two sizes, with either cast in tagane-ato marks [see red arrows] or plain. A great number are "signed" but a few are not. Unfortunately yours has extra faults both sides top of the seppa-dai and either a cracked mimi at the bottom, casting fault or corrosion damage. It is an interesting fact that even cast tsuba came out of the factory in different 'grades'. I have seen a few so bad it is near impossible to see any details at all, I can only guess they didn't go back into the melting pot because they looked incredibly 'aged' or dug up from a battlefield and were probably sold on as such. No great drama you can always put a better guard on the koshirae and perhaps have the bonus of an interesting talking point or paperweight?

No worries Jean, it went to someone else's home so they will have to work it out. It would have been difficult to display and I really didn't like the decoration - but it is a strange one!

Yeah but there are more than three sizes possible! How about a royal flush, or quadrella. [yes there is such a word] Maybe I could name them after the Marx brothers?

Hi Brian you are right I just completed a triple set myself last night - as a bonus I get a lot of rust to correct but hey it is all fun. Anyone seen a really big [over 90mm] version of the design? Preferably with this seal. For any who are interested this is not how to 'clean off rust' https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/tetsugendo-school-tsuba-floral-532919159

Darn - I could have sold the stone and made a profit, also improving the look at the same time!

Rich, I like the term Trisho but what happens when you add in a nodachi 野太刀? Yon-sho or Shi-sho?

I have asked this question in another thread but it went unanswered - what is a set of 3 matching tsuba [or other fittings] called? 大小と 小さい Daishō to chīsai ? There must be a name as they certainly exist. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/3-signed-antique-Japanese-sword-tsuba-fuchi-kashira

It must be a day for Shiachi https://www.jauce.com/auction/n1042986975 Described as Nanban

Brian, I must agree on the decoration, it is actually something that put me off, I don't like that aspect of it at all. The mokume was enough - gilding the lily does not make it more attractive.