Spartancrest

Colin, one in the Ashmolean collection with two "letterboxes" - I presume they mean box for keeping letters, not something the postman sticks a delivery into! Unlike your guard the two boxes are both shown with the lids on. [sorry, I am a dog with a bone when I go looking for images ] https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/item/ash-object-365270

I am going back to the document box idea. This guard is much later than the tosho. From Grev. Cookes book on the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

I think the sukashi shows the two parts of a "Fumibako" or document box - there is even a round hole alluding to the bronze ring used to thread a ribbon to secure the two pieces.

Willkommen Sensche, I agree, late Hizen with rain dragons - rain dragons routinely have a split or two tails

Good purchase - where do you find them?

Got us all thinking - great to see!

I disagree - looks like a very rare beautiful piece. No real idea what the theme is, but it reminds me of the privacy screens set up around Samurai commanders "Jinmaku" The small symbols could represent mon also seen on these screens - Just a wild theory.

The tagane-ato punches would suggest it isn't cast Iron - looks like some ten-zogan on a couple of the fan faces, seven lobes seems like a rare design lots of eight and six lobes - I wonder why seven seems uncommon?

Forest, you can always use a bamboo chopstick cut to fit. I think your spelling is a little off "Mekugi" 目釘 You can also get metal antique screw through ones https://www.jauce.com/auction/x1193511145 https://www.jauce.com/auction/v1193029774 some are very decorative https://www.jauce.com/auction/u1192803948 https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1191697412

Almost identical tsuba in this older thread, I hope it helps. Yes, Tiger and Bamboo theme is common AI says : In Japanese culture, the pairing of tiger and bamboo represents strength, courage, and flexibility. The tiger, a symbol of power and resilience, is thought to be the only animal that can navigate dense bamboo forests, making it a metaphor for strong leadership and a harmonious society. Found another tsuba image https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/326709526637 Looks like the design is a Bushu speciality. Grev. Cooke has this in his PDF. http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/articles/78_Tsuba_from_the_Collection_of_Grev_Cooke.pdf

A friend suggested I do a book like the Montgomery Collection "The Art of Tsuba"- not a bad book. Only downside was it was compiled after he died - sobering thought! AI says: The image is a humorous depiction related to a fictional entity called "Spartancrest," which appears to be a bookstore or a book-related organization, indicated by the text "Please buy more books" and the person reading a book at the base of the headstone. Wow, I always wanted to be fictitious!

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-jp-sword-crane-turtle-tsuba-katana very similar theme.

Hey Justyn - https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1785329101/Japanese-antique-katana-tsuba-samurai?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details This one is honest - vintage from the 1980s but they still sold it for AU$227.27 https://item.rakuten.co.jp/shicmx/tong09/ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007687728236.html Oh no https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1193696272 sold for that stupid high price 200,000 yen - Just one bidder! NOT A WINNER IMHO !

I found these two listed back in 2022 and 2023 - both identical except in the finer detail, the eyes and the silver sword blade tarnish pattern. I might have thought this was the same guard just re-sold at a later date, but for the fact that generally older pieces [six months in this case] don't get better and change that much in so short a time. [2023 invaluable.com] It is the same guard as https://www.zacke.at/auction/lot/221-toshinaga-a-superb-suaka-tsuba-depicting-shoki/?lot=31121 that Sold for €3,120 I think someone got stung big time back then. When you consider that a supposed genuine piece sold for that much back then, why would the seller of this new copy be content to list his piece on a run of the mill auction site like Jauce? Why is he not selling it through Christie's or one of the other big companies? [Not that Christie's, Bonhams etc know what they sell!]

The dealer should have taken the money and run! But no he is greedy and re-listed it at a huge starting price 200,000 yen - I do hope people give it a closer look next time they bid [if ever]. I don't like all those little holes in Shoki's hair and the "paint" should always stay within the lines children! Good copy compared to many, but still it should be advertised as what it is - a copy. This might not be the place to say it but as none of these - even the utsushi "real ones" - have ever been near a sword, are they tsuba? Or are they in reality "tsuba like" objects of art?

Sorry Justyn, it is a modern copy - There is a few of the "originals" getting around utsushi made by hand but most are in museums. One in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston https://collections.mfa.org/objects/9935 One in the image [left] is from Musée des Arts Décoratifs - the one on the right is another modern fake - side by side there is little doubt. https://www.zacke.at/auction/lot/221-toshinaga-a-superb-suaka-tsuba-depicting-shoki/?lot=31121 - I have my doubts on this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/236224456422 shocker from ebay - yuck https://www.ebay.com/itm/145101641124 Eyebrows from hell! ebay https://www.etsy.com/listing/1785329101/Japanese-antique-katana-tsuba-samurai I can only hope the bidders on the one at Jauce can back out of their bids. $800 AUD is way too much for a few grams of alloy! One done in Makie on a tansu - very popular design for a long time. Check the position and detail of the belt/obi in the seppa-dai area.

True enough, I have followed several tsuba that I would love to have - nothing fancy just interesting shapes. However the asking prices are not what the market is prepared to pay [this includes me!] So I know of several pieces that have been on the market for at least eight years! No "bites" and no lowering of the sellers prices - I guess the dealers are waiting for inflation to catch up and don't mind hanging onto stock for around a decade! The market works both ways.

PUZZLE ! Cut down to just the seppa-dai?

This is not my area at all but I thought to share this very strange "sales pitch" for a blade that has drawn human blood - very recent blood by the look! https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1194607685 That looks like about twelve stiches to me!

Thanks Jason, I am just glad that I managed to grab all the now missing images. I have all the ura views of the sukashi ones, which is not a big deal as you would just see a mirror reverse image really, but sometimes the tagane-ato are on that side and the punch marks are often a "finger print" to identify specific pieces that may have been in other collections in the past. Forensic Tsubaology A screen shot of a question answered by AI : AI will have to guess again! I released a "Pictorial guide to the tsuba in the Saint Louis Art Museum" six days ago - maybe "Skynet" hasn't caught up yet! [John Conner , where are you?]

Something odd going on here - now some are showing two images, while others have only one with a signature close-up - https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/8667/ https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/8666/ https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/8686/ Maybe it is a "Time share" thing

But how many images of each tsuba? Apart from a few with closeup signatures?

I recently up-dated the Saint Louis Art Museum's collection of tsuba, but something has happened to the museum's on-line images. Half the images are now GONE. It seems incredible to me that a museum would minimise it's access to information particularly images in the public domain. I wonder if any members within the U.S. still have access to all the images [omote & ura]? Living on the other side of the planet I am wondering if some "firewall" has been erected to limit access to "outsiders" - or am I just paranoid? [Makes no difference to me as I have the entire collection on record - but why should I be the only person with access?] Can other members check the site and see what they find? https://www.slam.org/search/tsuba/

Check out this tsuba with a poem from the Walters : https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.363/

My "speciality" finding the original bargain!