Spartancrest

OK I give up - what was this made for? Not authentic tsuba but modelled on the gourd/catfish pattern Tuning fork, place card holder, menu holder? Strange - and I do like strange

https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1143410685 nice looking pair.

Maybe the design is a bag for Hashi rather than bamboo poles - the modern equivalent

I don't believe in Heaven - just the Hell we all live in - and besides this is the wrong thread for books! Look at these guys - half have the flu the other half think they can avoid it by wearing a bit of paper on their face or are they just trying to look Kool?

Embroidered fabric tsuba patches. https://bladeandbeam.com/search?q=tsuba&options[prefix]=last

Enamel tray with tsuba motifs https://www.catawiki...adorned-with-flowers

That is what had me confused to start with, the tagane has moved the metal as you would expect from a genuine guard, The lack of a seppa shadow helps but otherwise they are very well made modern 'utushi'. Most are from well known patterns and some have "age appropriate" faint kebori. In isolation they might well pass as genuine, clumped together in a group they stand out more. Even so the prices are not outrageous considering they are hand finished, I couldn't make one for the time and labor cost. Well he must be skilled and has certainly got the look right - he is a quick study, what would his work be like if he had studied it all his life

http://tsubaryuken.com/sinsaku.html - call me naive but when I was looking through this site I thought all the sukashi tsuba were genuine - until the very last section where they show them being made! I found the 'translate to English' and it does state they are "NEW" from 2014 and that they have several hundred of them. But then I got to thinking, once these "tsuba" were out in circulation how would you know they weren't the real thing? They have been out now ten years so how many have found their way into collectors hands and the time span is long enough to change hands several times - these are not some clumsy Chinese rip offs or laser cut paperweights which are easy to spot - these are going to make serious collecting very hard especially for the novice.

This image has both with weird hair - but what freaks me out is the fingernails! As Stephen already knows the little Tanto guards are very rare [well each is slightly different at least ] I think the early Beatles got their hairstyle from them?

Have a look at this thread - Princess Leia, if I ever saw her! Jittoku and Kanzan the two brothers.

I passed on this little gem the other day- darn it went really cheap too. https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1141730743 Katamenuki

You can PM [personal message] me and if you have a Paypal account you can forward the funds via my email address. centurianaja@gmail.com Shipping fees and exchange rates vary with each country so it is best to contact me first before sending any money. As an example the shipping alone within America [of the three books] cost close to $18 but the same books at the same prices cost over $80 just for shipping to New Zealand - from my place that is "just across the ditch" not half way around the world, but the printer is not set up in every country so sometimes distance really matters. The Publisher/printer has some strange rules at times, I have to pay express rates even though I would not mind waiting a few days and paying less - other countries sometimes have the same express or expedited shipping fees whilst others can have "economy" rates - why is beyond my pay grade! [By the way shipping for me of just one of my own books is $16] I forgot to mention there is sometimes Tax added in the total price - you might note the GST [Goods & Services Tax] in the Australian invoice above but some other countries also have state taxes which also complicates the prices and makes them different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. One I just sent off to America has LA State Tax (4.45% tax rate) added into the cost - what other states charge may be different.

Not something I know about but maybe this thread might help.

It should be $85.23. So Blurb [the printer] tells me. The new book is available through me now. It will take maybe a few more weeks to become listed on the book networks. [I will cringe when I see the markup the distributors charge - as others who sell their books can attest the author gets very very little for each book sold for me it is $2. So with a limited number of sales it is not something to make any money!] [I don't know why there is a "select shipping method" when in Australia you only get the one choice - for Americans they have a choice of four options!] I only use my hand size as a guide to bras - Funny how your hands shrink as you get older.

But I know next to nothing on Yagyu tsuba - are they the ones with the fat mixed in with the muscle? Or is that spelled with a 'W'

I was just going through my book covers - not all are included. The things you can waste your time on in retirement!

Hi Marcos, I just sent off an order for another member of NMB, for all three books. I can get them at cost price [which is less than half the price Amazon or others are selling them for.] Depending on shipping address which varies a lot. Combined shipping makes it cheaper as I just found - so much so I could send another book title to the NMB member. Just send me a PM and your postal address and I can find out the cost, also the company that prints them often has "discount" periods where they give up to 20% off or better yet free shipping so timing the purchase can save even more money. It is even possible to get the new book before it gets listed so that might upset the proxy sellers All three books make up 936 pages. Regards All I forgot to say all books are available either soft or hardcover, in general the hardcovers are $10 extra [I don't know why a little extra cardboard costs so much but that is what they charge?]

Looks like Catawiki has sold their copy - But I guess if they can steal my images - then I can steal theirs! They were bid what it retails for anyway https://www.abebooks...-1923-1518472990/plp I can get it delivered to anywhere in the US for about $16 USD!!! I don't like proxy dealers

No not me - but I like his hat!

Geez Ron you are quick off the mark!

I just sent off a "new" book to the global distributors - Titled "Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study II" It follows on "Early Articles for Tsuba Study 1880-1923 Enlarged Edition" & "Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study" with more articles and catalogues/catalogs, this time mainly dealing with auction catalogues of some of the well known collections and many of the more obscure ones. I concentrated only on auctions with images available, nothing more frustrating than to have to imagine what the tsuba looked like in my opinion. The book is 322 pages with several hundred tsuba illustrated. With any luck the book should be listed within a month. The first book in the series [compact version] I just found listed on Catawiki, it is almost the same as the Enlarged Edition so you can check out the images https://www.catawiki...-period-1989-present [I don't recall giving anyone permission to show the pages, but that obviously doesn't stop Catawiki !! ]

https://tosogu.cz/?p=1485

Just found this in an old catalogue Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, donated over 150 tsuba to the Metropolitan Museum, some of their best. The estate of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer. Japanese & Chinese art [Part III] Publication date 1930 The description is a little off! 28. Bronze tsuba, Large oval form for great sword, embossed and parcel-gilded with figure of an old magician evoking a dragon from a smoking koro; reverse engraved with a pine branch. Signed SHUNMEI.

Spot on that is correct. Check out - I took the liberty of revolving the kozuka and enlarging it a little. Notice the headpiece on this tsuba. https://www.zacke.at...ters/?lot=38593&sd=1 Three Sake Tasters—Shaka (The historical Buddha), Koshi (Confucius), and Roshi (Laozi) May as well include a Kashira https://www.liveauct...a-confucius-lao-tze/