Bob M.

Item No. 159 Iron Tsuba with brass inlay 7.65 cm x 7.38 cm x 0.45 cm at centre , 0.22 cm at rim. An intricate mesh pattern in brass , with a couple of small sukashi of chidori ? Unknown age , guess at mid to late 18th cent. The patient workmaship shown in this piece testifies to the Japanese spirit and will of the skilled craftsman to produce the best that he can. As with many Japanese works , there is a ' hidden ' treasure that in this case , shows in sunshine or bright light , when flashes of a multi coloured iridescence are seen. The plate has been shaped to show this by thinning down at both the rim and the Seppa Dai. Purchased direct from a Japanese dealer in mid 2007.

Re Item No. 158 Looking at this post again , I find that in my haste to post this tsuba to the thread , I missed some of the most important facts about it namely , that it is approx. 25 years old , and is an early example of Ford Hallam's work . Sorry about this - I was late , going elsewhere , and knew I would not have access to my computer for a few days...

Item No. 158 - Iron Tsuba 8.23 cm x 8.15 cm x 0.53 cm Subject of horse Acquired some 13 years ago - partly because it is my birth year sign , partly because I like it... The thickness varies between 5.3 mm over rim , to 4.5 mm inside the rim , rising back to 5.3 mm at the seppa dai My first thoughts with this were that it is like an oversize Yagyu style tending towards Owari. Any views ? Apologies - First two pics much too blue...

Item No. 157 Copper Tsuba with Silver , Copper , Shakudo and Gold details 7.00 cm x 6.40 cm x 0.40 cm Subject of Bushi entering a room with screens . Pine tree on reverse Hamano School ( Hamano - Masazui ? ) signed Masaaki with kao - Is this Furukawa Masaaki ? Mid 19th cent. Delicately carved and realistically expressed - nice detailing on the screens , featuring Bamboo . Typical good hamano pine tree on reverse. Bought off ebay from Japan nearly 16 years ago.

Item No. 156 Kozuka in Shibuichi and Shakudo with gold and silver inlay Subject of Tanabata ( Star Festival ) by Ikkin the 2nd , mid 19th cent. Front of the kozuka in striped shibuichi showing bamboo pole with paper decorations attached. Ikkin studied under Hashimoto Isshi and Goto Ichijo , two ' giants ' of their craft . The signature is particularly well done , it was worth buying the piece for that alone . Bought direct from a Japanese dealer some nine years ago. NBTHK papered

Re . Item no. 155 Hi Glen , Well it is a possibility , but I imagine that a design like this would have proven quite popular - leading the school to take the commercial decision and produce a few batches of almost identical menuki . With the level of skill on show , I think that reproducing the design exactly would not be a problem.

Item No. 155 Menuki Shakudo with silver, gold and copper Subject of rats on dried salmon , signed Haruaki Very fine detailing , as you would expect from Haruaki School - it is even possible to see the Salmons' individual teeth ! An almost identical pair ( maybe the same ones ) were in the Hartman Collection and appear in the auction catalogue on page 122 , item 488 . I am not sure if these are the same menuki that were in his collection as I bought them from a dealer in Japan about nine years ago . That said , the Hartman collection was auctioned at the end of June 1976 and it is quite possible that they went back to Japan , only to come back to England ' on vacation '.

Hi Jean , Thanks for your post- All of the tsubas you mention are part of a large ( over 150 piece ) collection that I acquired a few months ago following the death of the owner. I have not had time to sort all of these out and in fact do not have the knowledge to do this properly . At some point in the past , it looks as if the collection , or a large part of it was dropped , possibly down stairs , causing a number of boxes to be smashed , others damaged and a lot of the tsubas mixed up and put back into boxes at random. Unfortunately there is no documentation to show how the collection was formed and so I am forced to guess or try to get opinions as to maker / school etc . I am hoping, that, by posting these in my thread together with other pieces I am a bit more certain about , my errors will be corrected by those NMB members more knowledgeable , especially in the field of sukashi and old iron , than myself. Less than one third of the collection has any attribution at all , ( by the box being labelled ) ; the rest are in plain boxes . Re. Item No. 153 - has a label on the box stating ' Ko Katchushi Ex Jim Gilbert ' . The tsuba in the box must therefore be one of the mixed up items. There are other tsubas in different boxes which would more closely resemble traditional Ko Katchushi work. Re. Item No. 154 - there is no evidence of tekkotsu anywhere . Many Thanks for your time and interest ! If anyone is able to assist me with the above ' jigsaw puzzle ' , either on the NMB posts , or off Board , please get in contact , any help much appreciated. Regards

Item No . 154 Iron Tsuba 7.16 cm x 7.13 cm x 0.47 cm No signature or attribution - wondered if Owari/ Ono might be a reasonable call ? Seems to have some age to it and has been mounted more than once.

Item No. 153 Iron tsuba 7.30 cm x 7.23cm x 3.8 cm Rounded mokkogata form with rim measuring 5.3 mm thick attributed as Ko Katchushi 16th/ 17th cent. ? Ex Jim Gilbert collection

Item No. 152 Iron Tsuba with gold 7.29 cm x 6.72 cm x 0.55 cm Subject of dragon in cloud, signed Jakushi A better quality tsuba from Jakushi wuth nicely carved and animated dragon . Two shades of gold used for clouds and flames , the design carries on around the rim. The carving of the dragon is good enough to make you think at first sight that it is a shakudo inlay , but it is all from the same plate.

Item No. 151 Iron Tsuba with shakudo , gold and silver 7.84 cm x 7.50 cm x 0.37 cm Subject of fruits , leaves and tendrils . This tsuba has been forged into convex/concave shape ( forget the Japanese name for this style ) such that the overall height is 8.5 mm . Mumei , with no real indication of age , but has quite an 'old feel ' to it - guess at 17th/18th cent. A heavily structured piece of iron with prominent forging pattern.

Item No. 150 Iron tsuba 8.2 cm x 7.7 cm x 0.36 cm Subject of dragonfly with water and reeds on rear , carved in katakiri bori , signed Myochin motte kitao A wonderful piece of carving. The corrosion spots are well in excess of 100 years old - this piece formed part of the Red Cross exhibition of 1915 , and the image from the record of that exhibition shows the spots. Provenence - Ex. Colonel J B Gaskell collection Exhibited Red Cross exhibiton 1915 Published - Japanese Art and Handicraft by Henri L. Joly, pp 112 , no. 48

Item No. 149 Iron Tsuba 8.38 cm x 8.31 cm x 0.44 cm at centre , 0.30 cm at edge Subject of ' Toshu monkey toys & yasurime ' 18th cent. ? Finely forged and patinated. Any ideas of school or tradition ? I had wondered if Myochin is a possibility.

Re. Item No. 147 Thanks Glen - From the examples in the postings you have supplied , the piece certainly looks closer to the Tempo/Tenbo school example. Regards

Sorry ! For some reason the pictures are being scrambled and not in the the order in which they were posted - I will try and sort out with Brian , but please bear with me for the time being. Regards

Item No. 147 Iron Mokkogata tsuba with gold 8.46 cm x 7.69 cm x 0.46 cm Tsuba forged with many hot stampings on a ' rock face ' ground with much gold ' cloud '. Mumei. Another piece that is more than it appears at a glance . Arrived with information ' Gomoko Zogan ( Sen ) 18th cent. ' Can anyone help with this ? Item No. 148 - Iron sukashi tsuba with silver 6.97 cm x 6.81 cm x 065 cm over rim , 0.40 cm in centre Iron with silver fukurin - design of dragon ( I thought it might be of a fox at first ). Long , untranslated inscription on both sides . A nice tactile piece with the thinning towards the centre. Unknown school or age . As usual , any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.

Item No. 145 Iron Tsuba with brass inlays 8.24 cm x 8.15 cm x 0.50 cm Sukashi tsuba with feathers , leaves and tendrils . Heianjo style work , estimate age at 2-300 years In good order with no losses that I can see , gaps in design on rear appear intentional. Item No. 146 Iron Tsuba with Gold 7.60 cmx 7.10 cm x 0.36 cm Subject of Ryujin's messengers with Takenouchi no Sukekane ? Signed Mogarishi Soten. Very good quality inlay work with hardly any losses - is this another version of the same incident featured on Item No. 111 ? There are two messengers on this piece and no sign of the ' tide jewels ' as shown previously.

Re Item No. 144 As well done as it is , cannot look at this tsuba without seeing a family of three giraffes...

Item No. 143 Iron Tsuba with gold - 7.93 cm x 7.15 cm x 0.46 cm Subject of bamboo by Patrick Hastings about 10 years ago Simple , restrained treatment of a popular subject. Item No. 144 Iron Sukashi Tsuba - 8.42 cm x 8.22 cm x 0.46 cm Subject of Irises with water droplets by Kevin Adams about 8 years ago Utsushi of a famous image - nice piercing and carving skills.

Item No. 141 - Fuchi Kashira in Shibuichi , Gold and Shakudo Subject of quail amongst millet, signed Naomine Part of large lot , bought at auction 8 years ago Item No. 142 Iron Tsuba with gold 7.50 cm x 7.18 cm x 0.53 cm Subject of Moon in clouds with cuckoo . Below , a stream flows quietly by ... Signed Eiju ( Seiryuken ) with seal- originally with the Tetsugendo school. A beautifully imagined scene with the depiction of the stream bank of particular note. .

Item No. 139 - Iron tsuba with gold accents 7.35 cm x 6.53 cm x 0.25 cm Subject of watery landscapes with fisherman and boat , geese flying into land. Signed Kaneie ? Edo period Subtle design and execution of subject , difficult to see clearly , contrasts with the almost brutal shaping and folding of the iron plate . Nicely forged and worked surface with good patina. Bought some eight and a half years ago direct from Japan Item No. 140 Iron Tsuba with gold and silver 7.85 cm x 7.44 cm x 0.49 cm Subject of stylised map of Japan on a background of waves , together with a banner in Silver and Gold in clouds on reverse. The names of the provinces inscribed in gold nunome. Signed Joshu Masanobu ju Umetada Tachibana Shigeyoshi. Umetada School 17th Cent. Painstaking work on the map , still in very good condition after nearly 400 years.

Item No. 138 - Iron Tsuba with shakudo 7.95 cmc x 7.48 cm x 0.46 cm over plain, 0.70 cm over rim Carved with images of bushes and trees in winter ? ( No leaves ) Nice iron , ornate shakudo plugs , oily wet patina on plate showing careful forging and texturing. Evidence of being mounted several times. In fact almost everything you would want in a tsuba by Nobuie - maybe just a little too good ? Opinions anyone ? Two pairs of photographs against different backgrounds bring out different details.

Item no. 137 iron Tsuba 7.43 cm x 7.12 cm x 0.50 cm Subject of broken fans Shoami 18th Cent. Rich dark patina on a tsuba bearing a classic sukashi subject. Recent purchase.

Re Item No. 136 Any ideas ? - Is this ' Faux Nobuie ' or does it have some age or is is not possible to tell unless held in hand ? I know it is not easy to give an opinion as there is nothing else to help put the tsuba in context... Thanks !