cluckdaddy76

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/208084194_antique-Japanese-katana-w-inlay This has 6 bids and is up to $1,400 with six days left. And don't forget the 28% buyer's premium. Funny thing is that this auction house set their estimate at only $100-$150. They did advertise it as "an antique" but vague other than that. Let's see if this pops up here or on some other online forum in a month or so, hopefully the bidding does not get much higher as the winner is going to be very disappointed in the end. Please study before buying anything if you are a newer collector, it is easy to get fooled unless you gain some knowledge. I cringe when I see auctions like this online. Jason

Cast

Here is one I see cast copies of quite often. First pic is from my collection. Second pic ( sorry for the quality, photo is from a screen) is a cast replica. Many variations on these AOI tsuba and their cast counterparts. Jason

Here is another common reproduction for sale, it seems most people are aware of this style, I saw one some months back go for over $300 USD, but the others have gone for much less. https://www.jauce.com/auction/l1186344504 Jason

Thanks for all the help, but I was just studying this one and did not bid (also not my taste), so this mystery will never be solved. I am just getting confident enough to attempt an auction or two and just trying to learn about the "better" fakes out in the world. Colin, thank you for explaining shakudo, I was under the impression it was a solid color plate. My biggest concern was the sekigane, I also learned something here as well so once again thanks for the replies. Jason

I wish I saved the link so everyone could see better resolution photos. I am lucky as I have a job that usually allows me to do some visual studying every day and this one raised flags for me last week. Dale mentioned kuchibeni that a couple schools did, but to me this looked like it is simply trying to copy that look. The supposed top sekigane on the one I provided is absolutely just colored, unfortunately my current photos are not high res enough to show it. I also looked at Dale's link of other kuchibeni pieces and their sekigane that is set is all the same color. The one I posted makes it look like older copper on the outside, maybe even trying to be raw copper, but inside the nakago ana it is bright shiny copper, almost looks brand new. Jason

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Dale, I see different versions of the tsuba you posted all the time as well as other modern fakes, the dancing skunk has also been mentioned here recently. This tsuba I was studying had me skeptical due to me seeing bright plain copper shining through in spots. I thought shakudo plates would be the same as shibuichi plates and be solid and the same color. Even with the pics in this thread, let us look at Justyn's example around the outside of the nakago ana. It is solid black. You can see on the example I posted that on the outside of the nakago ana there is bright copper starting to come through around almost the whole left side (pics 2&3). This is what lead me to believe that this may have been painted or am I incorrect that shakudo plates are just plain copper on the inside? Jason

I really hope I can find the link. On your example you can see on the bottom right of the nakago ana that the copper sticks out a tiny bit, it is not completely flush. I wish the pic of my example of the top of the nakago ana was clear when you zoom in, you can tell it is just coloration on the Tsuba plate, there is no copper added here at all even though you see the coloration.I just do not understand why someone would try to make it look like sekigane when there appears to be none on this piece.

I am trying to post the link but have somehow lost it and was not following the auction. My concern is that there is no actual sekigane, in the pics of the posting you can clearly see that is just part of the tsuba base plate that has been colored and not an actual piece of metal which was set in there. I may have saved the link on my iPad and will try to upload once I am home from work either later tonight or tomorrow. Jason

Just a second close up pic.

Just a second close up pic.

Sorry for the low quality pics, but these were from a recent auction that ended, these are just screenshots. This tsuba ended up selling for roughly 140,000 yen plus fees, so I am guessing the lucky ( or perhaps I should say unlucky) winner will end up paying close to 165,000 by the time fees and shipping kick in. This question is for learning purposes, but I have concerns since I have been studying. One thing I notice is that the sekigane seems to be fake. It has been colored to look like older copper, but you also see bright newer copper inside the nakago ana. Then when you look closer , you realize there is no sekigane, it is simply part of the tsuba plate. I also do not like the nanako work, it does not look quite right to me. The other work too is also not great quality once you look close enough. I am just trying to home my eye and keep learning, so am I correct this is a modern cast piece of some kind or am I mistaken?

Thanks for all the feedback, there is endless knowledge to learn with this hobby. I see that shibuichi is usually a 75/25 % ratio, but silver content can go as high as 50-60%. I have a Victorian hand mirror from sometime in the 1800's that is solid silver and is a very similar color as it has not been polished in the last century. I know this tsuba is nothing outstanding, I was guessing it may have some age once I saw it has been set more than once which is why I decided to look at it in more detail. Curran, do you think this one could be 400+ years old as you mentioned ko-kinko? Most of my studying so far has been iron based tsuba as they are what attracts me most and the majority of my collection is iron. I do have around 15-20 soft metal tsuba in my collection, but all of those are much more intricate in the design, which is why I had assumed this one was iron until my discovery last weekend.

I told the jeweler I did not want it polished, I wanted to keep the patina, so the first thing he did was he used a cloth of some kind and lightly rubbed the entire piece. He then went in back and did something with the cloth or used something to inspect it. He also took measurements and weighed the piece, ( I did point out there was some copper in the nakago ana) and I believe he used some formula to check the size vs weight for some sort of rough estimation. I am taking his word for it, but he seemed confident. I would also expect much nicer work on solid silver, but do have one random theory. Perhaps a newly rich merchant who had money, but no connections had this piece made. I have an older saya in the collection that is similar in that it has a good amount of silver work, ( this silver has been polished) but the work is also not spectacular. I just happened to be poking at some of my less exciting pieces this weekend and found the tsuba interesting once I realized it was not iron and that it looks to have been set at least twice.

I came into the majority of my nihonto collection all at once, from a collector who was most active 1950’s -1970’s. I have posted a handful of times, but have mostly been studying these last few years to decipher exactly what I have in my collection. I had put this piece aside as nothing special but am now asking for opinions as I just discovered something about this piece. I realized it had been set more than once , and put a magnet to it. It was not magnetic and I saw no signs of copper upon inspection this morning , so I took it to a jeweler today who told me it was basically solid silver ( except seki gane). Assuming this is old, that amount silver back in the day is respectable as a fitting for a sword. I am just curious of opinions and information at all someone may have on this. The nakago ana has seen some use, but I also can see where once set and only the engravings are seen, it would look nice on a tanto. Just for perspective , this is a tiny tsuba, roughly 4.2 cm X 3.7. I appreciate any feedback.