Justin

Is it OK to swear on this forum?!?? A very nice koshirae Darcy.

Great menuki and great photo. Who is the artist Darcy? They look a bit Ichinomiya Nagatsune(ish) to me. Thanks for posting.

Wakarimashita. Thanks John.

Nice tsuba Thierry. What's the story behind the first one? Is the man trying to catch the swan with a net or is it supposed to symbolise something else?

I didn't know that the NBTHK papered fittings to different artists on the one paper: http://www.nihonto.com/10.18.13.html If anyone would like to buy this set for me for Christmas then I would be most grateful :D

Thanks for sharing your father's collection Bernard. Some great pieces. We hope you can stay part of the NMB community.

Andrew, you might want to give eBay a miss and check out the dealer's websites. It might also be worthwhile buying some books.

David, this thread originally had a link to the Bonhams Auction. Did this get removed for some reason? I was going to download the auction catalogue.

All good with my sword John. The NBTHK clarified that it was Ko Gassan, Muromachi period. It is all about Alan now

Thanks Al. Look forward to seeing it. Might be up in Sydney in November. Will keep you posted.

Three great kozuka. It's a bit like a school reunion.

Some of them offer sniper bids. This might be better. I usually set a max. price I'm prepared to pay and put that in anyway.

Interesting you say that. I have had the same experience. Perhaps they have an arrangement with the proxy bidding companies or can hack into their systems to find the max price (Japanese Shopping Mall, Buyee, etc).

Too thin.

Thanks very much guys. Masayuki (Shozui) is mentioned in the Haynes Index, but sadly no information. Looks like another unrecorded artist. I have a mumei kozuka very similar to this one and was hoping to find out more about it.

Hi, can anyone please help with the character after Masa in the photo below. Have looked through my books but can't find it. Thanks!

Made for a Yari or Ken I suspect.

Kiri mon tsuba. Not Higo though. http://www.tokka.biz/fittings/TS541.html

Hi David, something about this tsuba (and your koshirae) looks strange to me. Have you considered a Taisho/Showa copy of an old Higo design? I initially thought your koshirae looked fake, but on reflection I think it is possibly a Gendai period copy of handachi fittings.

Thanks Pete. I thought this was the case, but just wanted to check.

Mumei

Does anyone know why the NBTHK say Goto for some attributions, while other times they just say the name of the master. For example I have a futatokoromono and the paper just says Teijo, however I have noticed other fittings with Goto Teijo. Any reason for this?

The iron on the tsuba on the Silk Road site reminds me of Ono work.

A nice tsuba Jon. I like the thickness, the hammered over edge and the pattern around the mimi. I once saw a similar katchushi guard on Tsuruta's site, however it was larger. I emailed him immediately however it was already gone. I've been on the hunt for one ever since.

I was lucky enough to examine and photograph hundreds of tsuba from the Church collection at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in January. The photos turned out really well (even under fluorescent lights), however I signed an agreement not to share them with anyone. You can see them in the Church collection catalogue anyway. The museum staff were great and allowed me lots of time to go through them all. Although I arranged this through a friend who knew the curator, I think most museums are accommodating if you ask in a courteous and professional manner and let them know that you're a serious collector looking to learn. Well done on deciding to publish your photos/write ups. I for one will be looking to purchase a copy.