Curran

Okay, the next one: Hamano Naoyuki tsuba $1100 --------------SOLD------------- See the Comptons Collection Vol #3 reference for an very similar one. This one I am selling came out of a museum collection. Museum numbers inside the nakago ana. Condition is near pristine. Comparable ones are out there right now at $3000+ and $1700+ on dealer sites. Again, condition is near pristine. Tsuba is, of course, very 3-D. The scanner cannot pick it up. Curran

Gang, in the sales section I am graduating a part of my tsuba collection. Most all are non-sukashi pieces that I have enjoyed studying. As far as I am concerned, they are open to discussion- as each one had enough to teach me that I held onto them for a while. I'll be posting more tsuba over the course of the next few days. I will go so far as to guarantee each piece for papers if people chose to submit to the upcoming NTHK shinsa. Natuarally, some already have papers- but if you want to submit again, sure.. Ps. Always willing to consider/work trades on papered ko-Akasaka tsuba Curran

Peter, I more than understand- but there are a bunch of smart people in the community. I think we can come up with a more intelligent solution. At least put out a sign on the table saying: "Juyo Masamune, Juyo Norishige, Toku Hoz. Sadamune available" and let people inquire about it. The dealer can get a name, a card, and a feel for whether this person across the table knows enough sword ettiquette to handle such an item. Then it is up to the dealer. You don't want to show me the Yukimitsu tanto... thats fine.

This one I have owned for many years and displays great. Yet for some reason it scans poorly. NTHK papers & Aizu Shoami Tsuba: -----------GONE----------- NTHK papers from Hargihara-san. 72 pts. (=good) Gold and shakudo arrowheads. Well cared for tsuba.

Alright- Tonight first up: Higo (Nishigaki) Mountain Pass Fuchi /Kashira $725 Large size- definitely for a katana. Gold and Silverwork.

It does not seem to be letting me edit/add to my original posts. The Bushu-Ito is most likely by MASANAGA or a contemporary in the Masatsune Mon of the Bushu-Ito Group. See pages 138, 139, & 147 of the Nihonto Koza. These tsuba that I sell- I will guarantee this for papers if anyone wishes to submit to the NTHK in the upcoming Chicago shinsa. Curran

Where were you Milt? We missed yah, but I figured you were more set on Chicago.

Next one: Tsuba #2: Bushu-Ito ---------SOLD-------- Very good condition. I believe the flower is called "Clematis" vine. Thank you Mr. Moriyama for helping me to learn to recognize it on tsuba.

Feel free to openly discuss or ask questions, as we might as well make an academic lesson out of this. This tsuba in typical Kunishige fashion is very thick: 9mm

I'm trying to focus more on sukashi tsuba- with greatest interest in ko-akasaka, early owari, kaneyama, Ono and early Higo. I will be selling the majority of the non-sukashi part of my collection. Figured I'd post them here before considering evil eBay. If interested in one, shoot me an email or post here. I'd also be interested in most papered ko-akasaka (or Tadashige) for sale or trade. Curran C. Tsuba 1: Hirato Kunishige --SOLD--

-No, that would be a mistake- Bad karma It adds up. I had a wealthy guest/friend drop in and visit the show on Saturday. Hands on guy who likes to see things before he buys. He could buy anything in the room fairly easy. He didn't see anything that quite fit the bill, and I wasn't going to go forcibly digging under people's tables. So he left with a few thousand worth of various fittings. Pocket stuff to him. As a hedge fund manager, I deal with more and more of these people as we grow. Nihonto is small potatoes to them. I don't mind the dealers being offish towards me, as I focus more on fittings and rarely buy big, but then why should I bring someone over to them and make introductions? The karma adds up.

The Tampa show was good, though Chicago Show+Shinsa being only 2 months away seems to have had a number of people opt out in favor of that. Volume over the last few years has been consistent, but then a drop this year. Certain regulars were absent. There were many good fittings to be seen, but many good swords were kept under the tables and you had to know to ask for them. I've never liked this, but that is the business practice for some. For everyone I know about, there must be one that I do not. I sold a good number of tsuba. Even mix of sub $500, $1000+, and $2500+ tsuba graduated to new owners. I had a very scant few blades for sale, most on behalf of a friend. 2 offers of cash+trade for the higher end ones. I was very tempted by a nearby dealer's tanto w/ koshirae. It too had been under the table, and I did not know about it until very late in the show. All in all, there were some good items around. I came with cash and left with more cash than I intended. One tsuba I wanted was "not for sale, but I'll leave it to you when I die" and my distant 2nd favorite- the very hung over owner changed his mind. With family obligations in Tampa, I only spent 2/3rds of the time at the show. I would have liked to been able to hang out more, buy and sell more. Just never enough time.

Kyo-sukashi. 1725 to 1800 is my call. Rich is da king. Not much to add. If the plate is (probably) thinner, I'd probably put it later (1750 to 1800). Ps. Your Umetada plate patina is entirely consistent with that of other Umetada tsuba I have seen from that period. A few years ago I owned a similar style Umetada by Yoshitsugu. Distinct patina. Gray black, and somewhat slick as if it had somehow been burnished. Curran

Left hand side is: Umetada Shige______ (I cannot see the last one) Just off the top of my head from memory- Probably later Edo Umetada work. If you pop open Harry Watson's Nihonto Koza Kodogu Volume- I suspect he will prove to be one of the Umetada Shige_____ listed there. I'd thought such guys very unlikely to be gimei, but the NTHK bounced a fellow listmember's signed later Edo Umetada at the NTHK shinsa. So always a chance it is gimei. If you can produce a better image of the last character under the 'Shige', I will look it up for you.

Milt, Sorry but I do not have a photo of the back. The back has a money with a hat carrying a banner and another baby monkey eatting a peach or such. Look it up in Japanese Myths and Legends. I believe it talks about the theme in there. The deer tsuba image was too large to post. I'll send it to you offline.

Milt and Moriyama-san, I should have known that said 'kao'. Sometimes I miss the easy ones. Yes, my wife has her anniversary, her birthday, and Valentine's Day within a 9 day stretch. We call it Holy Week, perhaps because I must be Angelic :D during this time. So of course there is the Tampa show right in the middle of Holy Week. It should be interesting. She gets a Hermes purse, and maybe I have to sell a tsuba or two to pay for it. Thank you gentleman. Best regards to you.

Milt, Yes I remember your tsuba quite well. I thought it was a fair call by the NTHK, though I too think they may have shafted you on the kozuka. That is the drawback with the NTHK these days.... if they paper a signed fitting- then it is darn certain. But on so many bigger names, they hesitate. I owned a nice Umetada tsuba where the vine flowers ( I now know they were clematis) were rendered in gold and silver. They were executed exactly as on your Bushu Ito tsuba. This supports for me... as I've read a bit more, and I understand the Umetada <-> Bushu Ito connections- but it is still hard for me to accept that I was so far off. I've seen a near identical basketweave cloissone tsuba that was NBTHK papered to Hirata. I am learning. Maybe I have another 50 years to learn a bit more. I've attached scans of two other tsuba I sent. I do not recognize the characters inside parenthesis after the verification of the mei. Yes... I know the one set says "the nidai", but what is that in that other set of parenthesis on both papers? Let me guess... it says "This space for rent".

They enjoy a good reputation according to some. I've seen their stuff in SF, and but not yet been tempted by their swords. They get in some good fittings now and then and are knowledgable, but can be difficult to deal with. I tried to buy a set of menuki off them, but ran into such trouble like you are currently experiencing. Then I tried to buy those same menuki in San Fran, but there was further difficulty between 'website' price and 'see them in person on first day of the San Fran show' price. The menuki have been there on the website at least 4 or 5 years now. I gave up trying to buy them. As I've said, they get good stuff (fittings at least), but dealing with them has never been easy for me. You would probably do best to deal with Moses at Nihontoantiques.com , Fred W. of Nihonto.com , and Andy Q of Nihonto.us . I've had some excellent buys from Moses and Fred.

Moriyama-san, Thank you so very much for the in-depth translation. I truly appreciate it. I purchased the cloissone tsuba for my wife a while back, because she liked it. She tells me that clematis grows very well here in Florida, and she thinks it must also grow in southern Japan. We did not realize the flower on the tsuba was clematis, but you (or the NBTHK) are very correct. I have never seen a cloissone Bushu tsuba before, so my mind is still trying to absorb the idea (accept or reject ?). I will post more tsuba and their papers later. Most of the others are signed, and I understand the papers, though there are some kanji I do not understand. Thank you again.

Milt, Okay, here's a photo. The coloration of the butterflies and flowers is translucent like stained glass. Study with a magnifier shows the apperance of what I think are little bubbles trapped like that in amber. The wire used to shape the butterflies is of varying weights. Both gold and silver wire have been used. (silver for the antennae of the butterflies). Inspecting it closer, I now realize two types of gold were used on the vines- a yellow gold and a red gold, so that the vines contrast more as they twist around one another. This tsuba has some minor issue with rust in the basketweave. A jeweler (or dentist) with an attention to detail could clean this up and make it a truely beautiful tsuba.

I've had a little more time to try and figure it out. Tsuab #1 (deer tsuba) is: Otsuki ( ?? ) I assume it is Otsuki Den or something similar. I could kick myself as I read up on Otsuki a while back and Peter sent me a related article. I knew it should be easy, but was wandering off trying to make sense of 'O-gatsu' or 'Dai-gatsu'. Nice tsuba, but I'll probably sell it in Tampa. Tsuba #2 is: Yoshioka The name rang a bell in my head, but wasn't in the Koza that I saw. Supposedly there were 12 generations (according to small blurb by Haynes. Catalog #9), but I would greatly appreciate the sharing of knowledge others might have about this school. 'Yoshioka' seems a very general attribution if this family was 12 generations long. Beautiful tsuba. I assumed it was Goto. Most likely one of the side branches. I'd very much like to better understand the reasoning for a 'Yoshioka' call. I wish I could see the koshirae that went with this one. Tsuba #3: Well... that one still says Bushu. I know that other schools worked in cloissone- but I would have thought the work to be Hirata or Umetada. Anyone else have an example of Bushu Cloissone work? Curran

John, Yes, I didn't give you any of the easy ones! :D I work fairly hard to ID a tsuba before I send any tsuba to the NBTHK or NTHK. Of the many I sent, I was only uncertain about the deer tsuba and the cricket tsuba. Now that they are back, I still do not know what they are... oh the curiosity is killing me. I've been more and more hesitant about sending to the NBTHK for fittings. Sometimes their calls are very good, but then I've seen some odd things. As Ford noted, he's had some of his moderns pass. I just had a big-name pass that I was more than 1/2 sure would not pass. But then I have a Hirata tsuba come back with Bushu papers? Maybe the Bushu group worked in fine cloissone, with the sort of iron I usually see with Hirata tsuba? Hell, I don't know! What is up? I've never run across anything like that in the books, so I must hope Peter K. or Rich T. can explain. Maybe Jim Gilbert will pop out of the woods for a bit and point me at a reference? Mr. Nobody, I need your bilingual expertise! Anybody think they can beat him to the translation? Peter K.? Rich T.?

Paper 1: (deer tsuba) Ogatsu___? Daigatsu___? Paper 2: (cricket tsuba) (Yoshi Oka?) Paper 3: (cloissone tsuba) Bushu? ? ? Thank you for all help.

Dear Gents and Dames, I just received a large crop of tsubas back from Japan NTBHK. Ironically they failed the only one I knew to be 99% correct, and passed with flying colors the one I thought most dubious. I cannot complain, though still scratching my head about that and some of the other papers. Three of papers are giving me trouble for various reasons. Tanslation help please? Paper 1: (Translation) ? Paper 2: (Yoshi oka ???) Paper 3: This one is confusing to me. The papers say "Bushu", but it is a fine Hirata cloissone tsuba. Maybe I miss something in the context? Any translation help is most welcome!! It is my anniversary this weekend, and I do not think the wife will let me stay home to work on these. Curran

And now the fairly identical otherside. Been curious what this one was, but have not bothered shinsa'ing it yet, as I get the feeling they will scratch their heads and call it 'Hamano'. Doesn't feel Hamano to me. Some sort of derivative of Hamano- maybe Otsuki or maybe something else. Opinions welcome.