Spartancrest

Stephen does not mention he was a great help in the layout and proofreading of this book - too modest! We have never met and live 3,848 km from each other. For our American friends that is close to the same distance as Los Angeles to New York.

B. Hennick A selection of pages from "Additional Articles for Tsuba Study" The contents page displays only some of the articles contained, as the list is extensive. There are a number of French and German translated articles including one partially shown. All illustrations are in B&W, being originally that way or sepia. Also just listed on Abebooks. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30698515895&searchurl=kn%3DAdditional%2BArticles%2Bfor%2BTsuba%2BStudy%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image1

I have just added a companion volume to my book "Early Articles for Tsuba Study 1880-1923". The new book is called "Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study". Both books are available from 'Barnes and Noble' book store at a little more affordable price than Amazon can match. As well as these two books, both volumes of "Public Domain Tsuba in the Metropolitan Museum of Art" can be found on the 'Barnes and Noble' site and likewise at a marginally cheaper cost than Amazon. They may be available cheaper on other sites depending on what companies are available in your country of origin. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/additional-early-articles-for-tsuba-study-various-contributors/1137345944?ean=9781715180881 222 Pages https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/early-articles-for-tsuba-study-1880-1923-enlarged-edition-various-contributors/1131587251?ean=9780368753015 339 Pages https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/public+domain+tsuba+in+the+Metropolitan+Museum?_requestid=4370779 Vol 1 - 474 Pages, Vol 2 - 336 Pages Please be advised that there are some scam sites Online 'selling' PDF versions of these books - they are fake and you will lose your money, none of these books are published in an electronic format. Regards Dale

Yas You are right - there must be a lot of this design, they turn up regularly. Do you think the dealers don't know what they are selling? Or should it be 'buyer beware'. Sometimes the pictures are too bad to make a good judgement, perhaps this is intentional? Another poor casting. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tsuba-Japanese-Samurai-Dragon-sukashi-copper-sword-fitting-katana-Edo-wakizashi/174336697085?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D118d3fa5e2f340df891dce0780a795b2%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D174336697085%26itm%3D174336697085%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A826bbcfb-c8a1-11ea-8b71-74dbd180be5d%7Cparentrq%3A5fd4f6741730aa12e54700f8fffabe28%7Ciid%3A1

Yas There is a better quality dragon in the same style as you have posted- I realize these are not the same pattern as the original post. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/OLD-Japanese-SWORD-IRON-TSUBA-DRAGON-GOLD-FLAMING-PEARL-FORGED/362699252450?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dc2f86f180de044d8b8c4f3255fe611ee%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D264784173278%26itm%3D362699252450%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Aba9997cc-c823-11ea-97c0-74dbd18015b7%7Cparentrq%3A5c9ca5e41730a994816e5d50fffcd6f4%7Ciid%3A1 He seems a little more aggressive with his mouth open! He has a friend looking back over his shoulder from an auction back in 2012.

Yas. A You are correct, these are mass produced like minted coinage, there are some punch marks on one where the replica was mounted for a particular blade, sekigane simulation all the same and plugged hitsu were just surface features and never pierced. But it is amazing the variety of iroe used to fool buyers. $80 for a fake - cheaper than some I have seen.

Why not go after this one and get your own papers? https://www.jauce.com/auction/c837857740 or this one https://www.jauce.com/auction/p780233857 - they seem to be coming out of the woodwork!

There are several Asian fruits that may be the candidate - first thing though, how do we know if the fruit is to the same scale as the monkeys? Cornus Kousa, Korean Dogwood is an edible fruit found in Korea and Japan. But perhaps more telling is the 'Monkey fruit' found throughout South East Asia. The custard apple leaves certainly look right but there are so many varieties that finding the specific species will be difficult. particularly if we don't know the size.

Pietro Is this the same guard?, https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/Iron-sukashi-tsuba-NBTHK-Hozon-Origami-Shoami-School-Japan-1603-1868-Edo-period/26601365-iron_sukashi-01.6.19-catawiki It shows the opposite side to your picture.

I have found the origin of these replicas https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vtg-chicago-field-museum-tsuba-monkey-1858300739 The 'Alva Museum Replicas. Inc, N.Y.' operated from 1948 -1990 run by Alfred Wolkenberg. The company specialized in mass produced copies of a huge range of diverse museum pieces. Tsuba pendants etc. turn up manufactured in the 1970's. Nice to know where they originated from. The original guard is to be found in the 'Field Museum of Chicago', the images available are limited to some old black and white card references https://fm-digital-assets.fieldmuseum.org/1435/610/130774_CardScan.pdf The detailing of the reproductions is extremely good, the one giveaway difference is the pin and hole in the raised hand of the reproductions - not seen in the original.

Matching Menuki? https://gramho.com/explore-hashtag/kandatoukodo

Barry There is the same line on the example with the red background [not shown in picture] The slight differences may indicate a separated daisho set, At a guess NBTHK probably got this one wrong - or do they award papers for castings these days!

Robin & Yas I have compared the two examples you posted - Due to the slight lighting differences it is difficult to tell if in fact they are of the same guard - possibly years apart, or if not the identical guard then they are so close with the same tagane marks they must be cast from the same mold.

Brian Yes you can see why he took it from one home to the next, He also commissioned a Tsuba window. [80cm x 110.5cm] In a similar vein The A.A.Vantine & Co. produced an interesting lampshade in the 1920's. [As the guards are all identical it is likely they were produced just for the lamp shade and not genuine tsuba]

This monkey has had a good scrub, but it can't be said to be 'clean'. https://www.zentnercollection.com/items/1426669/Japanese-Antique-Silver-Tsuba-Monkey You will notice all the features of the museum reproductions. Particularly the sekigane as molded in cannot be real. if this is truly silver I will eat it - not that I could afford this apéritif!

Chris It makes me cringe too! Victorian and Edwardian clutter! I bet he never had to do the dusting! Still would have been nice to pick through! If you look close even the fire tools have tsuba guards - guess that much is practical?

I have come across this very interesting Blog site, that will either make you weep, or cheer the ingenuity of ultimate recycling. I like many collectors, like to display my collection but I don't know anyone who lives/lived within their collection as did Louis Comfort Tiffany. http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/59036 Please look at the images at the highest resolution, If you think your walls are covered by tsuba, you will be surprised how far earlier collectors outstrip us.

Pietro The thickness of the hitsu outline [thicker than the four joining bars], to my eyes make this the major design element of the guard and there must be a meaning to it, Yas's crest theory may well hold water.

Piers It is a pity that 'Unique Japan' don't know this fact. I have two guards of this design, so the design is also not 'Unique' as the above would have you believe.

I have seen reference to the box shapes on the guard being called 'Masu', originally a container measure of rice, when it was a common form of currency. The design of the hitsu then becomes something more than standard hitsuana? WIKIPEDIA : A masu (枡 or 升) was originally a square wooden box used to measure rice in Japan during the feudal period. Masu existed in many sizes, typically covering the range from one to (一斗枡 ittomasu, c. 18 L) to one gō (一合枡 ichigōmasu, c. 0.18 L).

Richard G. That notion of consignment pieces makes sense, as does the 'get them in the door so they can look around' - 'No one likes to lose money' is a a very funny human concept, [having Aspergers, I can sometimes put myself out of that group] The accumulation of money is meaningless when it's purpose is to spend on what you need. What people really mean is they want to have more than they can spend. The free trade economy. [That is what keeps a small group (and getting smaller) at the top and a large group (and getting larger) at the bottom,]

Richard George & Rich S. I think there should be an old, tired tsuba orphanage set up for retired Tosogu - people could donate their neglected pieces and visit on weekends. I have always thought that even the destroyed, by incompetent past owners, have lessons to learn from - This thread was started to show the disparity in pricing, my threat to purchase the cheaper version was not entirely serious [i don't like the design at all]. I have noticed since the Covid outbreak that prices are on the move upward at an accelerated rate, is this just profiteering or increase demand because people are stuck at home with less to do? I have followed some of the Japanese auction sites for about ten years now and I can say that some items have been listed for that length of time! The prices were ludicrous at the time and remain ludicrous now, how can a dealer be so silly to not know their price will never be met? Is it a case of 'I paid this much for it, so it must be worth more now'? - As custodians of these things we don't really 'own' them we are hiring them for a time and selling on the lease to the next custodian.

Ken Condition is important to me, a freshly minted piece with no history of actual use, is not! Give me something that a warrior used, over a pretty piece kept in a draw for a hundred years, any day. There has always been two types of guard on offer, side by side through history - the ones used by the men who did the fighting and the ones used by the men who profited from it. Forgive me if I prefer the the former. However the real question remains what are you paying for? The answer seems to be the piece of paper, as many a papered example can also show corrosion and age related degradation. We all also know that on occasion the paper attribution would be better used to wrap fish and chips because even God gets it wrong sometimes. Shinken Money is the problem - not the solution, I seem to remember the human race did quiet well with out it for five million years - give or take an eon.

Papered V's non-papered. Just what do you pay for? These two examples are selling right now, the disparity in price is a joke. That little yellow piece of paper must really be worth something because the objects themselves don't reflect the value for money. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tosano-Kunijumyo-Chinkin-Toshio-Late-Edo-period-Certificate-attached/392858980313?hash=item5b78384fd9:g:B20AAOSwr5Fe~Twf https://www.jauce.com/auction/o404593427 I am thinking of buying the cheaper piece, it looks like the real thing - and I can always supply my own coloured paper.

I think your guard is close to the 'Lock' pattern, I have seen these also described as 'Kites' and 'Cruciform'. I think too many guards are described as 'Hidden Christian', The Japanese had many cross shape designs that had nothing to do with Christianity.