Impulse buy tsuba

[sanjuro]

OK, This is where the tosogu guys get to snicker at my naivety, and tell me what a twit I am.

 

I bought this on good 'ol fleabay (Yes, occasionally I descend into foolishness), because it took my eye and appealed to me. I dig old iron and this looked to be not a bad piece. My first impression was Edo? Tembo?, but what the hell do I know? Now I ask what have I bought? No need to be gentle, I can handle dissappointment and criticism. It didnt cost the earth. Think of me as a newbie in respect of tsuba.

Dimensions are 84x76mm. Thickness by proportion seems to be 3-3.5mm at seppa dai.

 

 

Now let the night of the long knives begin.........

[cabowen]

With what appears to be the Ten kanji in the upper left of the first photo, I would say Tembo a good bet....

[John A Stuart]

So, Tempo yes. Flash makes it shine. When you get it hopefully it will have a better patina. If you figure you got it for a price you are comfortable with, all good. John

[Brian]

What they said...

 

 

Hopefully the patina is only flash related and the real patina is darker. Then it would appear to be a standard tembo tsuba.

[Soshin]

Hi Keith G.,

 

All in all not a bad impulse buy. I would agree with others that it is a work of Tempo school circa the late Edo Period. Here is a papered example in my collection: http://dastiles1.wix.com/reflections-#!Composite-View-/zoom/c211q/imagewpm. The patina looks light but I think it is the flash of the camera.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

[Curran]

Concur.

 

Iron even looks a bit more towards the Saotome end of the spectrum.

Bet it is hard as tank armor when it shows up.

 

No long knives here, unless you have steak on the grill.

You have steak on the grill, don't you.....

[cabowen]

Down under I think it is "shrimp on the barbee"...

[sanjuro]

Thanks guys!

 

Its nice to know my instincts arent too far off the mark. I'm gambling on the patina side of things, and like all of you, suspect that the flash photography has 'shinied up' the usually darker patina of tembo work. At less than $80 US, its not a huge gamble and I thought rather worth taking.

Ownership now brings up another question. Being late Edo, and somewhat deliberately 'crude', were these tsuba considered as practical tsuba?

 

Curran.

No steak on the grill... Its too damned hot to cook at the moment. (38 degrees celcius). Maybe after sundown when the temp gets below 30.

 

Chris.

As you probably know, a 'shrimp on the barbie' is a line from an ad. Its actually a dig at the Americans. We dont have shrimp in Australia, we have prawns. Shrimp are little things, our prawns are rather large. Anything smaller than our prawns we call krill. (or bait) :D

[Curran]

38 C ? Crikey.

$80. Double Crikey.

 

Tempo can range from the uber hard Saotome type iron that does have almost a shiny mineral luster to it, to the softer greyer carbon clay multiple stamped variety. First look at yours, I thought it was of the more Saotome variety- but realize it might be flash. If not of the flash, but rather of the more Saotome uber hard iron... really a good deal. Like those more. Hope the patina works out.

 

Sounds like you have some Florida summer weather at present.

My *most sincere* sympathy.

[sanjuro]

Since patina is an issue regarding type with this tsuba, I have included another pic from the listing taken at an angle that is less prone to the flare of the flash photography. Maybe it will help.

 

[Curran]

Yep: thinking the thin and uber hard variety. Sort of halfway between Saotome and the later Tempo stuff.

[sanjuro]

Curran.

 

Alright then! This is a good thing, yes? I'm looking forward to getting this piece in hand. Its nice to know you can have a small win occasionally on ebay. God knows there's so much crap and fakes on there these days.

[watsonmil]

Dear Keith,

Bloody Australians .... more luck than brains ! In my humble opinion you stole it. Congratulations on what appears to be a nice addition to any collection.

... Anonymouse Ron

[sanjuro]

Hi Ron.

 

Thanks...... I think. More luck than brains eh? I'll have you know this was a strategic purchase. (in other words I virtually stole it). If I admitted otherwise it would indicate that any newbie could go on ebay and score a decent bargain. Now, we dont want a whole generation of newbies having their hopes and aspirations of finding bargains on ebay fired up do we?

Just between you and I, it was more luck than anything else, but I do have a something of an eye for a decent bit of steel. In this instance it seems to have paid off. :D

[Brian]

We are running about 35 degress Celsius during the day currently too. I don't do well in the heat..prefer the 1 - 10 degrees I just came from in the US.

Yep...prawns here too. Shrimps are what cats and Thais eat dried :D

Sorry for the off topic..

 

Brian