Spartancrest

Dealers often stretch the imagination when describing their items, but this auction is really stretching the truth ! https://auctions.roseberys.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/catalog/549/lot/170319

There is a guard by Inshu no ju Naomitsu [Naomitsu of Inaba Province] in the Brooklyn Museum of the same general type - taken just a little more to extreme. The Brooklyn Museum only has B&W images. Stephen the seppa-dai looks like it has obliterated a signature in your example?

School utsushi - like the many Kinai school examples? Those two examples are close but as you say not the same. That is a good trick to flick from one image to another- would come in handy very often detecting mass produced copies.

There is one here at catawiki https://www.catawiki.com/l/21380241-iron-tsuba-signed-kofu-ju-namitoshi-gold-inlay-Japan-19th-century It has a little more gold highlights. [ I have lightened the image so the mei is a little clearer, still difficult to read] The rim also has gold overlay. It is in fact the same tsuba as number 9. in the post by Andrey E. above. There is another in the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences [Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australia] Similar flower theme but the mei looks to be from another hand. A5308-31 Also one in the Ashmolean Museum [Jameel centre] http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/8/object/20284 I am no expert on mei and the signatures may well be by different people but the style of work is the same.

The auction site translates the 'signature' as 正保 = Shōhō I don't know of a smith or tsuba-ko with that name but Shōhō (正保) was a Japanese era name after Kan'ei and before Keian. This period spanned the years from December 1644 through February 1648. [I cannot see this tsuba being made within 300 years of those dates]

Tony, no fakes at least, the last one is badly corroded, could even be a battlefield find? The fourth is 'Hot stamped' Tembo [also called Tenbo & Tempo, depends on how you want to spell it ] as Barry has suggested.The carved landscape with gold highlights [2] reminds me of a Umetada that I have seen but it could be Shoami school it has a badly damaged 'mei' maybe someone else could try to read. Number 3 could well be Akasaka or even Owari , there is some overlap in these two schools, see the designs in the image. All of your guards could do with a good clean, nothing harsh, maybe boiled in clean water for a few minutes and a soft cotton wipe down till absolutely dry. There is a huge following of tsuba collectors on NMB and many specialist areas you can draw from.

Not close enough I think.

This Mekugi looks like the same chevron shape https://www.jauce.com/auction/u421938794

That original Chinese fake - https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/A-Japanese-signed-tsuba/1293649-japanese_signed-21.2.21-bukowski - they want somewhere near €250 ($285 USD)

Samurai stealth -

Well the black tiger was cheap [and nasty] but what the hell I bought it for 1,000 yen just to see what was under that paint. What I found is a construction technique I haven't seen before. While the core of the 'item' is Lead or alloy composed mainly of lead, the outer layer is a gold coloured thin foil. This foil is harder and of a higher melting point than the base metal so I am wondering how this would be applied without melting the base material? Does electroplating work on lead? I had the thing for five minutes before removing the ridiculous black paint. Please no sympathy notes - it was just curiosity, not ignorance of it's true nature.

As an up-date the example from Jauce - https://www.jauce.com/auction/q429219730 - took someone to the cleaners for 25,555 yen or close to $250 USD. + Fees.

Pietro, I think it is not meant to make sense, it is meant to deceive. 侏 Mijika = in English means 'Actor'

Robert if you see ten that look the same - run. The Chinese fakes are everywhere. You just don't get signatures like that on a real tsuba. This one is also up for auction - any idea of the mei? https://www.jauce.com/auction/r443391065 It looks very modern. The design is by Goto hokyo Ichijo who may have used a woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada for inspiration. Goto Ichijo's original design below. The proportions are way off in the copy above. These steel reproductions are closer to the correct proportions, these were factory made in large numbers and in other various metals, all are the same rounded shape rather than the subtle mokko of the Goto original. They also lack any celestial body rising on the horizon, [There is at least one example with a silver 'moon' in place of the sun] So what do we make of the first example currently up for auction?

Geraint you are certainly right, one on it's own is a maybe - three all with the same imprints around the nakago-ana that is definitely a series of fakes, darn good fakes at that. What are the chances though that they all turn up on the same week? The small amounts of 'gilding' are not identical so they are three individual pieces, not doubling up as sometimes happens when a dealer sells on two sites at once. Is it worth telling Diamyou54eb that he is selling a fake?

WWII Armory marks.

It loses a lot in translation

So what you are saying is I should stop torturing the mailman? What do I do with him now?

There is an almost identical guard here on Jauce, https://www.jauce.com/auction/q429219730 Julien the identical placement of the tagane-ato punch marks is a very worrying sign - makes it very likely to be a copied fake. There is no doubt in my mind that both examples are copies at best - mass produced copies at worst.

Yas I would not sell my example for anything. 7,000 is a cheap price for such a long time tradition. Thank you so much for the extra information. The workers are very skilled. I don't know if the paperweights are still being made? Or what years they were produced? I see a lot of these “Compliments of NYK Line” souvenir of a cruise line circa 1920’s for the Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line. They were given away as advertising at the time - a hundred years old now. They are better made than the cast 100 yen piece.

Yas - it is a real wonder that a lot of 'no longer useful' metal objects survived those times - the world losses more than lives in all conflicts. It is a great pity that we can't seem to lose conflict. Ten more years and that paperweight will be an antique, but it already has much to tell. I have a small database of tsuba shaped paperweights, they are an interesting subject in their own right - if they are not trying to be fakes. Here is something unusual in a bad way https://www.jauce.com/auction/m475525520 Izarae (Lit. to clear/clean a cast piece) gone too far! [hardly an "Excellent Product"] Looks like it was worked on by an angle grinder! Back to paperweights I have one of these that I note turn up every now and again https://www.jauce.com/auction/371174105 Even though clearly a paperweight copy of an early Christian guard, I do enjoy having mine, as it too has a history behind it.

Well they just keep coming - another Nambu-tekki souvenir - https://www.jauce.com/auction/j712104332 I wonder what ridiculous price it will finally sell for?

I bough a 'better fake' if there is such a thing, same 'watered steel' and kanji in the wrong area, at my local market for $50 as a wall hanger - and mine says it was made in 1643 on the blade. It is alright for cutting weeds so its not entirely a waste of money. What does 'Unfurtunetly' mean anyway!

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Here is an example of having it both ways, the fuchi/kogiri fit together to form the 'split tsuba' https://www.jauce.com/auction/r461703084