Mark Green

I would say, looking at the pic Chris posted. The white plant may be the exact model flowers, pestals, and bud, for your tsuba Chuck. Easy to scrape a few of these off in a heated sword fight. :D Mark G

Hey, look what I found looking through one of my new tsuba books. Same theme. I like yours better chuck.

Now that I have had a look on my computer, rather than the stupid i thingy, I'm sure Ford Sensei has it right. The Japanese Apricot looks very likely. And, makes the theme correct. Chuck, It works better with your nice tale also. These Apricots bloom in late feb.-early March. Much more chance of one of your samurai cutting off a few buds, and blooms from a small tree, than a poeny. No ice around when peony bloom. They are likely just now going by, in northern Japan.

Yes, that is likely as well. Another very early bloomer. I missed the five petals. Around here in NC. they bloom end of Feb-early March. Likely about the same in most of Japan. Good call Ford. Surely not a peony though. I looked at it again? Still not sure they are not camelia. The bud looks very camelia like, and they may only have 4 petals???? The pretty inlay pestals look very ume though. Likely ume.

Sode, and a crop. No doubt. I love that rope inlay!!!

Very pretty! I feel those are Camelia flowers. A plant that blooms in the winter/fall. Mark G

" Signature: Kun 4 tou Kurihara Hikosaburou Akihide - most probably gimei" John said it in his discription, ?????? I think it looks very good too.

How would it be papered if it is Gimei. Why would you think it is gimei? Very pretty btw. Cheers, Mark G

There would be too many factors to say for sure. I would think that any Muramasa, papered, and polished, would start in the 15-20k range. Or you could find one at a yard sale for 50$. Then spend 5+k getting it polished, and papered. You never know. You see very few come up for sale. I would think in most cases, you would be paying a lot more than the sword was worth, just for the mystique.

I think a katana in good shape would run 25+K and up.

I guess that would depend on how many fingers you will give up.

Wow, a full polish window, with burnishing and all. Nice looking hada. I personaly like sashikomi, But i'm with Chris, when hadori is done well, it can be very wonderful to behold. I do feel though, that even in Japan, with the pro polishers, good hadori can be hard to find. I think it likely takes a knack. Some people have it, many don't. But put it on your sword none the less. Mark G Here is one by a board member with the knack

Your right there Robert. Not sure what is up with both bohi??? Very sloppy for sure. Can you get a whole blade shot? That would be the best to see what you have there. The pole looks like it was very nice at one time. That looks like a silver foil habaki. Are some of the pole fittings silver foil as well? Hard to tell from the pics.

Could be the shinshinto guy. Also from Musashi mid 1800's he signed with this 4 chr. mei. He is in the TK208, maybe someone will post a pic of the mei. I would love to see more pics of the blade.

Nice get, Fujiwara Kunimasa Not sure which one. There were a bunch from Musashi, that signed this way. Shinto, late 1600's-1700's

Pcay.................get a return promis from him, or do not buy a thing. At least he pointed out the flaws on this one. Yes, lets cut some good stiff bamboo with this puppy. With lots of children, and grandma standing around. GEEEEZZEEEE Pcay!!!! 8 or so years ago I won a ebay battle with him. He sells lots of swords, and knows exactly what is going on with them. Has not always been so open with the flaws. Buyer beware!

It would be very nice to see pictures with all these. I would think with todays ease of digital photos, it would be easy to add some pictures with the list. Is this planned? Anyone know? Congrats Ford!

" Sashikomi is like a beautiful nude girl" YUP!

I think you did the right thing Chuck. I would think that bug tsuba is cast. I think I have seen this exact one before, somewhere. They sure are getting good. I find it very hard to believe that these dealers don't know exactly what they are selling. With 99.9% of the world, knowing little, or nothing about tsuba, it is very easy. With modern casting tecnology, it is very easy to make many copies of a nice period tsuba, then just sell one or two a year, so people forget. If you know how to patina iron/steel, it is easy to add many years of false age to a cast tsuba. With the above 'bug' tsuba, I would think the patina is 'too' nice to believe, It does seem like a whole lot more of these tsuba are showing up these days. And, there seems to be a good bit of money being made. There are still many real period tsuba for sale on ebay. I would think that the people selling real tsuba would try to band together to hit these casting tsuba dealers hard. I just took a close look at all the tsuba the 'bug' tsuba guy has for sale. Hmmmmmm??? The swords look real enough.

Isn't that a shishi over a waterfall. Very common theme. Are those spots inlayed shakudo? That would be way cool! Try to take some better pics Jamie. That is a real nice looking tsuba. I for one would like to see it. Mark G

I took a few more pics. My camera like to take close pics, but I haven't yet figured out how to get good long pics. I've been doing a lot of research, I feel now that this sword may well have been 80cm or longer. With a 1.7 or so torisori. I'm starting to think it is much older then I first thought. I tried to get a shot of the activity in the hamon. I feel it should go to shinsa. Who has the Shinsa service deals going for SF show? I will be away that week.

Hi Keith, Sorry for the confusion. We have not heard Ford Sensei's take on your tsuba yet. Maybe you could post a few new pics at an angle, under good light, so we can see the inner walls. I'm sure Ford will be able to tell. he seems to be the master at this game for sure. Just makes you wonder how many of these cast tsuba are out there in peoples collections. Some are very hard to spot. Ford, Great analysis on that last one. Do you think the sellers are just that ignorant, or just lieing to make the sale? Or some of both?

Kieth, I'm not so sure yours is cast. I was talking about thierry's nice tsuba being the wonderful casting job. I wouldn't think Chuck's was cast. But the pics are not that good. It would seem very unlikely that a nice Shakudo rim cover would have been added to a cast tsuba. Those nakago ana, punch crimps, do look a bit suspect though. Mark G

On a close look, you can see where one of the flower petals inlay has fallen out. Unless my eyes are playing tricks, you can still see the outline of the petal in the iron. I would think that it is likely a mid Edo, or later period tsuba. There were dozens of schools that worked in Sukashi. Less that added inlay. It is a very common theme. I look forward to seeing it in person Jason. Mark G

Very nice casting job indeed!! I would think this tsuba is very young. Mark G Keith, I would say that laquer looks very new. Maybe to protect it from rust? It does have a nice shape. What size is it? You can age a tsuba in short order, with some patina mixes. Or the look of age that is.