Spartancrest

Not a fan of ebay - far too many "proxy sellers" which is an indication of corrupt practices that ebay allows [probably endorses]. What does the ebay platform care as long as they get their cut? I know a lot of other sites do the same, so it is up to us [the buyer] to look a little harder for the original seller - he/she is also getting their reputation damaged. Can anyone remember when the airlines were closed for shipments around Covid lockdown and the spike in shipping fees that were "temporary"? They never did go back down did they!

Hi Jon, is it possible to get an image of the tsuba unmounted from the blade? From the number of seppa I think the guard is unlikely to be original to the sword. A look at the seppa-dai might help with its identification.

Alex what other purpose does money have? All money is ultimately wasted - that is how governments work . You can't take it with you when you die and leaving it to the kids just puts them on the same roundabout. Money is the ultimate slavery tool - get rid of it. Hell 90% of people wouldn't go to work if they had to do it just for fun, wages are a form of enforcement to keep the masses busy. [This political broadcast was brought to you by the money lenders association and the guild of "Make me richer than the Plebs"]

Kitsune? Trickster fox? "Dancing Skunk" thread here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/51886-old-classic-the-proud-tanuki-tsuba-aka-dancing-skunk-humor/

Who are the experts here? Typically dark image from the Vancouver Museum with this attachment: DB 248 RESEARCHER'S / EXPERT'S REMARKS "This tsuba might be the work of the late artists of Owari. Common design and all are the same. This type of tsuba is certainly by the same school, if not by the same hand." Owari? I would swear it looks by Shoami Kanenori - who did indeed produce very many the same, thus common, but in no way are they ALL the same. But he had nothing to do with Owari as far as I know. So I would ask who are these researchers/experts? arse from their elbow experts?

https://varshavskycollection.com/collection/lib-3022.2022/ https://www.dollsmuseum.jp/shop/product/Japanese-traditional-oshie-hagoita-02/ https://mainichi.jp/english/graphs/20211126/hpe/00m/0et/002000g/20211126hpe00m0et015000q https://chidorivintage.com/en-au/products/Japanese-decorative-wooden-paddle-hagoita-kabuki-kimono-edo-jk745?srsltid=AfmBOooX9LbYKcLxvBbTLWt4kCD6qkyCtAow-LcNwpaw33vlf-QhV0Z3

I just released the St Louis book [again]. Larger format double the number of images. Someone gets a lot of the cash benefit, but it isn't me! Stupid high "markup" a $45 book to print, costs some poor sod $105 to feed the greedy middleman! And that's not even with shipping or taxes! I wouldn't pay that much for a book at the best of times - - - and it's my book! Brian where have you hidden the "bitching again emoji"?

Cleveland Museum of Art, left some with "mounting" damage on a few of their exhibits. Luckily within the seppa-dai but still not excusable.

That is what I thought. I do like the way the way the banner flows in the wind - nice piece!

An extreme example I will grant you!

Jesse, it does look like J9 - But the J may be an E or F written in perhaps an old German font? Strange place to put a museum catalogue number but the seppa-dai is probably too rough of a flat area? Do you know where the guard came from? You did well to bring the image out as much as you did from the original image it looks almost invisible or a bit of rust.

Hello, one here with the 'patina' intact and the right way up! https://www.jauce.com/auction/e1193417263 "Tsuba, ornaments, sword fittings" and nothing to see on the ura

Bruno, drifting off the topic but have you seen this? https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1190180124 Suitable for a trident !!

Going way back to Posted March 6, 2023 This has just come up https://www.jauce.com/auction/s1098914034 Well I now know what my example originally looked like - I wonder what happened to the frame on mine?

Quick get your wallets out! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/226875719520 or https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/226875705267 US $329.99 ApproximatelyAU $506.97 Or https://jp.mercari.com/item/m23105341320 USD$ $23.90 Seems a large price difference? Well factor in the shipping cost for in excess of 1.5 kg of iron! What both sites fail to reveal is the size of this "Edo Period Antique" (Age: 1800-1849) - around 30cm or just under a foot in height, the fact that it is a wall hanging "object" is not mentioned and no view of the ura is shown either - and why don't they know which way up a tsuba should be seen? Still they did go to the trouble of removing all the factory applied patina to reveal the "silver" colour! [Oh and that is the strangest "Crane" I have ever seen!]

It might be rude to ask how much was paid for the tsuba? Another signed example selling this week on Jauce https://www.jauce.com/auction/u1191124637

Dubious description from the Vancouver Museum: Catalogue number DB 158 Iron (?); openwork; face: three bats in flight, with wings forming outer border, bodies connecting to metal surrounding openings; reverse: similar, but features not defined (or worn); rounded rim; three hole tang; Rabbits Kogai and Korzuka Anna. Really? Three BATS? Not three long eared Rabbits! Triple bladed - three hole tang? No idea what a "Rabbits Kogai" should look like or some person by the name of "Korzuka Anna" has got to do with it. O(h) Canada!

Yes the 1973 edition had it all!

Good one Justyn! Some similar in this thread: From 2018 - I think they have one down as Chosu. Cleveland Museum : https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1919.416 signed "Masasada, residing in Nagato province." similar nunome to yours But one here papered to Kinai - https://www.ebay.com/itm/205417340105 One in the Metropolitan Museum: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/34935 Inscribed on the obverse: 長州住正定 Chōshū-jū Masasada (Masasada, resident of Nagato province) [I think yours is better] https://www.finarte.it/auction/rare-and-fine-antique-arms-armour-sarzana-2023-03-31/a-fine-tsuba-signed-choshu-ju-masasada-95758?lang=en

Same museum DB140 Diameter, 3.1890 in, 8.10 cm Height, 3.1102 in, 7.90 cm Width, 3.1102 in, 7.90 cm Thickness, 0.2165 in, 0.55 cm Crazy, this time the dimensions do suggest a diameter measurement - but why isn't that measurement the same as the height and width !!! Again why can't museums take decent images - have they ever heard of "flash photography" or "adequate illumination"? The quote below comes to mind! It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard". Douglas Adams ...

In the Museum of Vancouver [Which states it has the biggest collection of tsuba in Canada] there is a guard, Catalogue Number - DB 134 which has "interesting dimensions" Diameter: 3.2480 in, 8.25 cm Length, 3.2677 in, 8.30 cm Width, 3.1890 in, 8.10 cm likewise DB 135 Diameter: 3.6614 in, 9.30 cm Height, 3.6220 in, 9.20 cm Thickness, 0.2559 in, 0.65 cm Width, 3.5827 in, 9.10 cm Can anyone spot the problem?

Auction image upside down https://www.jauce.com/auction/x1192628486

Hi Jason, similar thread here: Also on some impressive pieces. See also: [ title needs an 'S' removed !] The link to the auction in the thread does not work anymore but I tracked down the auction records. link here to the 2014 tsuba auction: https://www.batemans.com/catalogue/afb4f32c61312999f80895cc7c754b1c/9f72c1814b6f84555a7fe5bc5d559a1b/two-day-sale-of-fine-art-antiques-collectables-to-include/?view=grid-wide&searchTerm=tsuba&searchOption=1 Four have punched numbers added - unfortunately the provenance does not tell who or where they came from. Two show consecutive numbers, so it is likely they are all from one collection originally. Images even at the time, were very dark and hard to see the numbers. Image is enhanced with numbers shown.

Lets keep my mental health out of this!

What to make of this? Same image used for two tsuba - both about 5 mm difference between height and width, so which description is correct? From Cornell University. https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/9359/tsuba-with-design-of-plum-tree-raised-rim https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/9362/fourlobed-tsuba-with-design-of-plum-pine-and-bamboo--rai?ctx=32b8d7f61e2cbb8afc86a61a47e816b23292c641&idx=26