Spartancrest

As you can see this one is attributed to Kyo-Shoami image from "Catalogue of Tsuba in the permanent collection of City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery." 1940.

Well I thought it had an Umetada "look" - but it would just be a guess. Aoi leaves were as you say, a staple for Kinai. Although I found some similar shaped pieces they don't necessarily look the same workmanship - hard to tell the school but I do like the style and the quality. [Not much help sorry!]

I think there are at the very least three metals in the inlay - patina might be hiding more? Hard to judge on a screen.

Sort of - maybe? If you look a little hard you might see three long arm monkeys in the design [strain- strain!!]

Hey Deanna, how many of these do you have? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/395949588982 Are they starting to breed lately? https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1162744741 They come in a nice chocolate flavour as well. Now this is getting silly https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1136083150 12 lobes!

Grey Doffin seems to have had a lot of these plugged sukashi tsuba. Most also have the rough finished surface [Ji] a Christies auction piece

One formula of many for patination of iron tsuba - https://www.jimkelso...rials/ironpatina.htm All entail a little risk.

Not all of us - I am only here to annoy my wife and cause trouble.

You aren't selling yours are you? https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1162893289 No not enough "lobes"!

Keep rubbing it every now and then with a soft cotton cloth, it will pick up a glossy finish eventually, sun exposure can also help. I think it will look much better over time, you did a good job to get rid of that "pork crackling" rust [A term I just made up ]

Posted upside down but that is ok. Better than this design Aoi leaves [mallow] a symbol of longevity, top and bottom. I am less sure of the long thinner leaves around the seppa-dai. Sen-zogan a metal inlay technique in which thin lines of metal are inlaid into a surface. Kebori (?) hairline thin carving of the lines making up the veins of the leaves. I am not at all sure of the school. A nice piece, similar to a friend's who I hope won't mind me sharing his image. also a rather grainy image that looks like it has a Manji pattern on it which would make it Heianjo perhaps. Someone will have a better idea of what school or time period your piece is I am sure.

Yes I have noticed the smaller pieces are often much cheaper or even overlooked - I can't work out why myself, they take as long to make, maybe even more work involved - big is not always better. I am often amused by some sellers posting very dark images of tsuba they are trying to sell - Don't they have enough money for electric light or do they live in a coal mine? It automatically makes you cautious! This guy, I call him the "backyard blacksmith" https://www.jauce.co...j2hmyuc?search=tsuba He usually has more stock, but I think he is busy at his backyard forge getting next weeks designs done. He still needs some work on his patina which is always black and oily looking.

You forgot the deposit fee. Add in Elon Musk taking his cut from any Paypal transaction + his very far off from current exchange rate conversion. [No wonder he is the richest man on Earth - he has taken all OUR money!] One aspect you may not have experienced yet with Jauce is that they have a loyalty policy - if you have been a long term buyer from them, they do give a credit rating amount on the basis that you have paid all previous costs. The credit allows you to buy things when you may be a little short of funds temporarily, but they will send a "hurry up and pay" if you haven't topped up your account within 24 hrs - I believe it took me eight years to win their credit trust! I am sure they don't fully trust "foreigners" Almost anything you find on Jauce can also be found on Yahoo JP and Buyee who have their own system of payments and fee structure, so it may be a good idea to check them out, they could be cheaper or offer sales on credit like ebay. I use Jauce because I find it easier to locate items that way but it is relatively easy to use Jauce as a search tool and then track down the same item on one of the other platforms. Each item has a unique code at the end eg. https://www.jauce.com/auction/1162767573 This part of the code 1162767573 can be pasted into a Buyee item say https://buyee.jp/ite.../auction/h1162219928 and end up with https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/1162767573 where you end up with the same item on a different platform. I hope that makes some sense.

Getting back to one of my PET HATE fake tsuba - https://www.jauce.com/auction/x1162738657 - not on ebay? ¥46,000 for a colour copy. These things are very well made and in isolation they are likely to fool a great number of people - but when you have seen two or three hundred of the darn things you can't but feel sorry for the people who have bought them.

Hi Peter, It could be Kaneie but if it is, it is late - seems like too much inlay and in various colours. Kaneie was more known for a sparing amount of gold inlay - less was more, at least in the early works. Gimei usually have a signature - it was the selling point even when it was obviously not true. No signature would suggest to me it is not trying to be a Kaneie but might be following similar designs. Shoami? [Yes I know a bit of a "catch-all"] Minimal inlay - prominent signature. Signed Fushimi ju kaneie, circa 1650-1750. Someone with more knowledge will point us in the right direction.

Me either! Sorry but the one with the timber background was the most expensive. [and from ebay!] Coming down to more realistic prices - [neither are from ebay ] one selling for USD $300 the other USD $55.19 In this case the one with the "heavy" Tagane-ato gets my vote and is the less expensive. I guess dealers have to make a profit but their turnover would be better if the profit percentage was say 100% rather than close to 500% like this last example! [OK 445.45% to be exact for the **** -retentive] Don't you just hate that! There are way too many of these "buy in bulk lots" where you only want the ONE good piece and you end up with a drawer full of junk and have to pay more for shipping that said junk around the planet! I have messaged many dealers asking for the price of "the one" but never get a good result - they are too anxious to clean out their own desk drawer!

I think this is the very heart of the "problem". Investing more money on fewer items is no guarantee that the items are in fact "better" - How does paying more increase the quality? It should be the case but often it is not. Which one of these is selling for US $32,775.00 and the other for US $422.06 ? - Now tell me why buying the more expensive one gets me value for money?

True - either way we lose because we have to pay the return shipping! Best to be sure first time around. Have you seen the shipping costs they put on somethings on ebay? I was buying a dog brooch for my wife [something she collects] $16- but the postage was $66 from the US. Give me a break, there is no justification for that. [NO SALE]

I do totally agree with you. I buy 99% of my things from Jauce - they are reliable and a great deal of the time much cheaper [especially when the same object is selling on ebay] I am not so happy with the multiple fees but even taking that into account they still end up better value. It is a shame even Jauce is now allowing the crude fakes to appear, but at least they tend to be bunched together so you can easily skip them en-masse. Of course Jauce and Yahoo and Buyee tend to sell the same items, it just depends which company people like to deal with. I have been buying through Jauce for more than ten years now - why would I switch? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/286181606407 vs https://www.jauce.com/auction/v1162501365 that is US $163.89 on ebay vs US $55.70 on Jauce https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/286181606420 vs https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1162476189 that is US $120.99 on ebay vs US $36.27 on Jauce These are not insignificant price differences even with fees and shipping.

Crap tsuba are of course not restricted to ebay https://www.zacke.at...nagatsune/?lot=63242 this is a fake for €1,300.00 https://www.bonhams....period-19th-century/ same type of fake sold for US$976 Two "respected" auction houses? Who don't know their elbow from .............. Same fake minus the nice paint job on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/144617398691 A "better" fake also minus the paint on Jauce https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1162467177 I say "better" because the hitsu have been cut through (crudely) by someone after they got their hands on it. Whereas the others have only got the hitsu stamped into the design. How does a new collector get past the lies that some sellers tell when describing these things? I bet that the Bonhams' buyer is really pleased with his "WIN". I wouldn't be happy! PS Two sizes available - with or without the paint job.

I don't think this thread is directed to the "grandmothers" - more to the children, that is the entire point!

The only trouble with this statement is - Who can tell what are the most important works? Several times people have said you need to wait to get the very best - but who says what is the best? That is always a personal judgement based on experience. New collectors don't have that experience and should not be force fed the opinions and tastes of other people. We would all love to collect the absolute best but I will guarantee that each of us will have a different view of what that means. Price never guarantees anything, so we can rule that right out of the equation. JMHO

Thanks Dan, but you didn't mention my Hemorrhoids from long hours sitting at the computer. [not true - no Hemorrhoids - but that would explain me being a pain in the a*** ]

No this statement doesn't sound good either -

Kakemono, a vertical Japanese scroll painting Makimono ( 巻物: "rolled thing") Emakimono (lit. "picture scroll") Kakejiku (Hanging scroll) Lots of names for basically the same thing depending on the direction it is intended to be seen. They even make Chinese fake ones now [yuck]