Spartancrest

His name only mentioned as a member of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO-KEN KAI and LENDERS https://drdeanhartle...AndArmor.htm#MEMBERS Such a little mark in history we all make.

Recent Hartman collection auction.

I think it is much better that Ford came up with his own slant on the design - makes it unique and not a slavish copy. That is the true Japanese expression of utsushi after all. Lets leave the lousy copying to the Chinese - who, lets face it, are not that great at it! [Yes I know I will never make it through immigration control if I ever visited China!]

Yes looking at his pages he has these - but I believe these images were only available after Ford had made his utsushi. I wonder how the guard got from California to Stuttgart and how many other stops along the way? There are a few minute differences between the image in Hawley and the auction in Stuttgart but they may just be photo problems or as Bob M says himself there may be another guard made by the same maker. Anyone got a clue when they started making these hideous copies? [lazy at that - they mirror reverse the image both sides] I know it didn't take long for the Chinese to steal another tsuba designed by Ford.

I wonder what this is for? Pity it shows only the back. Is it a badge or a wall hanging?

I think I may have solved a mystery that caused the late Ford Hallam to "recreate" a "lost tsuba" - I believe I found that lost tsuba in Hawley's "TSUBAS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA" Page 301 of that picture book. In the book there is an odd view of the ura side of a guard which should have been flipped over - to me it is obviously the same tsuba that was "missing" or so close to it that it makes no difference. Remember the book was published in 1973 so it is impossible for the image to be of the utsushi made by Ford. See this blog from 2009 https://followingthe...-cat-out-of-bag.html What do you think? Was Hallam looking on the wrong continent and the tiger was in California all along? There is a signature on the Hawley image but it is not clear enough to read, Ford may have assumed that the small guard he had access to was made and signed by the same maker as the larger piece, but he did not have the ura view to back this up. Anyone know a collector from California by the name of "Stoehr" ? He may know of the whereabouts of the lost guard. [PS. Ever notice the title of Hawley's picture book is WRONG - no such thing as tsubas surely he knew the plural of tsuba was still tsuba!]

More like constantly in your face! I got sick of finding examples. [enough to sink a bulk carrier!] This one is less like a cross and more like a capstan Perhaps there were a lot of "Hidden Sailors" more than "Hidden Christians" - you know what they say about sailors!

Mauro you beat me to it! While there are many Kawari-gata versions there are also ones within a rim.

I found this one in 2022 - someone has removed the rim. I like the addition of the Torii on this one.

Let us not forget Shinto religious symbols with Torii gates marking the entrance to shrines and sacred places.

With or without a rim. [This one reminds me of a WWI sea mine ]

Half way between these two? At a stretch I see karigane linked wing tip to wing tip in some spots - but it could also represent a web with holes broken through? I don't think it really matters, I like it even not knowing what it represents

One I forgot I had - strange how I bought it at a time I was working packing poppy seed! [It has an undulating/wavy plate.]

I might kill two birds with one stone - I am looking for the type of plant this tsuba depicts - five petals, either a shrub or perhaps a vine? From the National Museum of Norway.

Well Simon, Eldreds auctions sold one for $169 [including fees] in 2012 so your $25 was better than that! You notice the "mushroom" top is a constant feature, the "signatures" [fake] are added later and can vary even in who they pretend to be by. https://www.eldreds.....-with-re_BEB03ED54F

You will get some backlash for this statement - [I totally agree with it though! If a Samurai never wore it, it was never a tsuba - it was an art piece! ] This gives us a split - Do you like to collect "Art pieces in the shape of a tsuba" or "The real thing" [Yes I will get some backlash for that too!] Of course many real tsuba are works of art as well but for me a tsuba that has never been mounted or intended to be mounted has no "spirit" [JMHO] I just saw a very high end auction conclude with some crazy prices paid for the last lot of tsuba while other pieces sold for far less - I think some people just want to "win" regardless of what they are looking at. For those with bottomless pockets, The Inaugural Sale of the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection Achieved more than $22 Million at Bonhams in New York - and they had three such sales! [the prices were for the total contents of the sale not just the tsuba] https://www.bonhams....Japanese-art/?page=6 For me finding a neglected bushi tsuba at a bargain price is far more thrilling than pumping thousands of dollars into something someone else thinks is what I should get, but I don't really see the value in.

Hi Simon your images show the "ura" side - back side. Normally the "omote" side has the most detail. But I would concur that the piece is cast - hey I have seen a lot worse and it is a useful learning tool. Watch out for the ones with that "mushroom" top of the nakago-ana [cast in for adding sekigane] and the cast bubble/fault on the seppa-dai.

Magic! I think the guard displays at least some of the "Lucky" treasures of the gods - Magic price for a little treasure! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarabune#:~:text=The gods carry with them,巻き物 makimono)%2C the magic mallet The gods carry with them takaramono (宝物), or treasure things, including the hat of invisibility (隠れ笠, kakuregasa), rolls of brocade (織物, orimono), the inexhaustible purse (金袋 kanebukuro), the secret keys to the treasure shed of the gods (鍵 kagi), the scrolls of books of wisdom and life (巻き物 makimono), the magic mallet (小槌 kozuchi), the lucky raincoat (隠れ蓑, kakuremino), the robe of fairy feathers (羽衣, hagoromo), and the bag of fortune (布袋 nunobukuro).

“infinite wisdumb” sent me this image: The result = What also caught my eye was the rear end of the spider - now why would Mother Nature go to the trouble of making a spiders bottom look like some very scary "Golliwog" [no racist intent] Or a negative of Harpo Marx?

two examples of Gamma Sennin and the three legged toad/frog from the Cleveland Museum of art. https://art.thewalte...mmortal-gama-sennin/ https://collections.mfa.org/objects/10064 https://www.nihontoc...t.com/Frog_tsuba.htm

Dimensions from the V&A "The dimensions for this object from our records are given as ‘3.5 in by 3.9 in’, this would be 8.9 x 9.9cm." No thickness was given but I think Gustavo and I thought 6mm was appropriate. Gustavo's ingot that he used for the tsuba "The composition is as follows copper 89.37%, zinc 4.34%, tin 3.86%, lead 1.75%, iron 0.68%. The lead content changes from one end to the other, the small piece is the highest at around 2.5%. The zinc and tin content should give clues as to the origin of the metal because not every group of people made bronze in the same way. " Gustavo might correct this as he did some extra work on the metal.

If we are to believe all the advertising - this guard dates from Late Kamakura Period (1278-1288 A.D.) https://www.samuraim...nteisho-certificate/ this one from 1572 https://www.samuraim...k-hozon-certificate/ or something really fresh made last week https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145100278538 I guess without some form of metal dating - age is often a guess.

https://www.invaluab...582192e47cefc6a573fb

For those people interested in the original piece from the V&A as well as another version that was found in the process of the search. [may be the daisho pair?] PS. Any help I contributed was minimal - the praise for the WORK should all go to Gustavo, who went to extraordinary measures to get the metal from the correct period and has the technical skill to see the project finished. [I only found some images which is all I am really good at.] Now there are THREE BIG SPIDERS!