cluckdaddy76

I have been trying to identify the theme of this tsuba, but am at a loss. It is 79 X 79 mm diameter with a 4.2 mm thickness. The only note I have on this one stated it may be Owari, I was thinking Kanayama may be a possibility too. It appears to have been set more than once. I appreciate any info on the theme or school if anyone cares to comment. Jason

Jake I agree with you, the flashy kinko tsuba with certain depictions seem to be fetching top dollar right now. I feel one currently has a better shot at openwork iron tsuba if you have a trained eye. I will have two of those that I plan on sharing soon once they arrive as I believe I did very well with these pieces. Hozon papered pieces that are mediocre in my opinion are also going for good money these days too. I understand that it is a few hundred USD to get papered so people may factor that in, but if the tsuba itself is not all that appealing, I would never buy just because it has modern hozon papers. I am only just starting to make purchases; I was lucky to come into the bulk of my collection all at once and was given great advice to study first before venturing out into the market. My collection kept me busy for a few years, but now it is time to do some hunting. I am attracted to natural motifs such as plants and animals and for some reason prefer iron. I do have my eye on a nice shibuichi plate tsuba coming up for auction that I am hoping will fly under the radar.

Dale, it seems to be a mixed bag. Here is what I have found going through various examples. If the tsuba is mostly openwork, they do only show one side. Solid or mostly solid plates do have pics of both sides. Signed tsuba can vary, solid plates seem to have both sides of the tsuba and if signed a third close up pic of the mei. Signed openwork pieces usually have a second close up pic of the mei but that is it. I have not looked at every single one yet but went to various pages to test the pattern I found, and it stays fairly consistent. Jason

This was the only print that came with the collection I inherited. It was in a junk frame, so I decided to put it in a decent quality one with UV protection glass. The framer who helped me wanted to make it a floating piece, so I needed to pick out a thicker frame. I did choose the frame design. The pic does not portray the floating part well; it looks better in person. I figured it was worth preserving and would look good on my wall. It has a special backing on it to help preserve it from deteriorating and the off gassing that happens with this rice paper. Jason

Pic 2

It took about a month and today I received the call to pick up my rice paper print from my frame shop. It is not in perfect condition , but it is an original. I would appreciate any knowledge on this piece, it was one of the other items in a large collection I came into all at once. The guy at the framing store was actually excited to frame this one. He had a couple other prints at the store from someone else to frame when I stopped in to pick mine up. He laughed when I saw them and told me they were tourist reprints, even though people still pay decent money to get them set. Jason

I watch the auctions, and I mean many different one's regularly as I feel this is a great way to study. I have noticed a huge uptick in tsuba going for much more than they were even say six months ago. This includes both legitimate pieces and people greatly overpaying for modern pieces. To me it seems a bunch of newer collectors without much knowledge and deep pockets have jumped into this hobby recently. Just my opinion. Jason

Curran, in total agreement with you, I did not think this piece was worth much more than 3K, I would have at least expected papers at that price considering in came from Japan. Jason

I may have something of interest. I came into a decent size collection all at once and have a katana with Satsuma mon on the kashira and also on the koiguchi of the saya, both seem to be sterling silver. Fuchi however is old iron with no mon. Saya appears to be old, it has a large iron kojiri with great patina on it. The tsuka was rewrapped in the 1980's according to my notes, and the koshaire is sort of tachi style, but not an elaborate one. The blade may be koto, but I have not done much research at all on this piece. Blade is good condition and in decent polish. If it did not have a few kitae-ware on one side, it would be an excellent blade. I am not sure the blade is from the Satsuma area. If this interests you at all, let me know, I will take some pics but it may take a week or two. Jason

I did not purchase this one, I was just studying. This went for 2,555,000 yen, $17,300 USD. I was looking for a gift for myself, but this was a bit steep . It is also not my taste in tsuba. I would spend $17,000 much differently if I had that amount to spend. Jason

Can you post more pics including whole blade with habaki removed? There will be people here to help but will definitely need more pics. Jason

I almost used this set as I do have a few goats on my hobby farm too, but really want to make it completely chicken themed.

These are the menuki I am planning on using, I have a few sets of chicens in my collection.

Very nice, I am going to splurge and setup one of my wakizashi with this theme. Here is my chicken kozuka, it is a nice piece but does not match my tsuba/menuki. Sorry for the poor pic, I have not photographed this one live yet even though I have it at my house.

Thanks for all the replies, there is an endless amount of knowledge to learn when it comes to this hobby. I will go down the rabbit hole and see if I can find out which museum did this or was it multiple back in the day. Jason

I was thinking it was museum related, but have only seen chalk, I did not think a museum would actually stamp on the iron itself. Here is the link to the auction for better pics. https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1192601501

Looking for a fuch kashira set. Here is the tsuba plan on using. Would also consider a kozuka, the one I have does not match this tsuba. If someone is more interested in trading, just let me know what floats your fancy, I have around 75 tsuba, multiple sets of menuki/fuchi and a handful of kozuka, most of my collection is very decent quality from what I see these days.

Mei

Back

Front

Can someone tell me why the number 342 seems to be stamped on tbe bottom of this nakago ana? This is for learning purposes only, this is an auction that just came out on Yahoo Japan. Already it has multiple bids and is over $3,500 USD without papers. I also am not blown away by the quality considering the current price tag. Can anyone fill me in on anything I am missing, I completely understand this could just be a style of a certain school which demands the price, I just do not see it myself

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