Tsuba purchase

[kissakai]

I was unsure whether to put this post here or tosogu page

 

I hve been offered these two tsuba from a London dealer

After just reading about tips when buying a sword it was recommended that the image but put on the NMB to seek comments

I'm using the same advice for these tsuba

 

1)

I've seen nothing like this tsuba and thefore have no idea of it's merit if any

 

2)

Didn't look right and thought it may be cast

 

 

I know the NMB members do not pull any punches so fire away

Grev UK

[Brian]

I think #2 is the better of the 2, even though it is missing some inlay. #1 seems fairly generic to me.

 

Brian

[raven2]

I agree with Brian. Number two is better but if it were me, I would pass on both of them.

[kissakai]

I tend to agree with you both

If I was more convince I'd have bought them but in this case I appreciated some clarification

 

 

Grev UK

[Soshin]

Hi Grev UK,

 

I would suggest you save your money and not buy either one. The first one looks like the surface is way overworked characteristic of many low quality tsuba from the late Edo Period to early Meiji Period (i.e. Mito and Aizu Shoami). The last one has some major loss of brass inlay that greatly detracts from aesthetic appeal of the tsuba in my opinion. Trust me from my own personal experience if you buy such tsuba you with later regret it and then spend a long time selling things at 1/5 the price you paid on eBay because you just figured out that there is much better tsuba out there at fair prices if you look hard enough and save your money. I hope you find this information helpful.

[kissakai]

Hi David

Already refused these tsuba

 

Grev

[Soshin]

Hi Grev,

 

Good job. Keep up the good work, study hard, and don't forget to save.