Iron Tsuba Gold Covered Somehow.

[jason_mazzy]

I can only assume it is gold lacquer but it just seems different. The  sekigane is gold not copper. The seppa that came with it are gold foil and gold laquered (one might actually be solid gold but I'm not gonna crack it). The Nihonto that came with it is old Koto with a gold lacquer mei. The tsuka has the hole and fittings for the tachi style kashira but was apparently rewrapped and a traditional kashira was used. Fittings are old Iron with solid gold inlay of a pine. 

 

I have not come across this before, any information?

[Bazza]

One can see pitting in parts that suggests gold-coloured paint over iron???

(small edit)

 

BaZZa.

[Alan Morton]

HI Jason,

someone has spruced it up for you to make it look better, you now have the job

of unsprucing it.

I would buy a tin of acetone and place the the tsuba in a large jar with a screw top

lid and add acetone to cover it. The acetone will attack the paint and destroy it letting

you clean it off. The  lid is needed because acetone evaporates at a great rate of knots.

You will be left with a nice iron Higo tsuba with some rust as my mate BaZZa says

Alan

[jason_mazzy]

I do believe it was covered but I am certain it is not any new or modern type of paint. It is definitely iron and covered. I seen this on another converted tachi type tsuba on an important blade. I believe I had read or a person who saw it had said something about using gold laquer in Edo to, for lack of a better term, "Bling" out and draw attention to the person or sword. 

 

Seems to be quite intentional as the sekigane is gold along with the goldwashed seppa, gold foil seppa and 1 seems solid gold. Am I crazy or was that ever a trend in fittings?

 

It seems violent to quickly jump to stripping away what was done long before I had the sword (though I am not opposed except I am certain it is real gold lacquer so probably worth a couple bucks in actual gold).

 

 

 

 

 

ps what exactly is the theme? and why are the ana so beautifully wonky (Buddhist bowl, tea ceremony?)

[leo]

Jason,

if I am not mistaken, this has been painted with the type of gold paint which is used for restoration purposes.

It is made with real gold powder to prevent it from darkening.

As far as I remember this lacquer is pretty expensive, but the gold application is so thin that the value is not worth mentioning.

 

Basically it is the same paint and method as the aluminium paint used for stove pipes, exept that real gold is used. It is a rather modern paint and has nothing to do with the matte or shiny urushi gold-lacquer which was used to paint metal fittings.

 

If genuine gold parts are involved somebody surely invested a lot to restore these fittings to his individual taste.

 

Best, Martin

[Ford Hallam]

Jason

 

I think what we're seeing is electro-plating. The iron ground will appear lightly matt due to the texture of the iron which would first have had have been stripped of it's patina, perhaps it was already ruined theough hence the plating. The seki-gane, most likely being copper and having a smoother surface to the iron, has a more relective finish thus appearing to be a different colour. We can see a slight ghosting effect where the seppa-dai protected the original plated surface so that it is still slightling lighter in colour compared the the area that was exposed. Gold doesn't oxide in this way but brass would so I'd lean towards the plating being brass. It's worth pointing out too that often plated copper and brass resists tarnish somewhat better than polished solid metal. If you look inside a cast brass candlestick for example you'll see a similar bright frosted yellow wheras the polished outer furface will readily tarnish if left unprotected. A complete scientific explanation of this phenomena would be to lengthy to write here not to mention horribly technical.

 

You can test my theory by making up a little solution of salt and copper sulphate in hot water, just enough to dissolve the dry ingredients. (1 part CuSO4 to 4 parts household salt ) Apply a little of the solution to an inconspicious area of the plating and note any colour change. Avoid any areas where the underlying iron is exposed thoiugh, or you'll cause an electrolitic reaction and copper plate the surface. Perhaps best to stick to the seki-gane. If the shiny 'gold' colour does tarnish it will indicate that it's not gold but rather brass

 

I hope that's of some use.

[jason_mazzy]

  On 2/4/2015 at 7:59 AM, Ford Hallam said:

Jason

 

I think what we're seeing is electro-plating. The iron ground will appear lightly matt due to the texture of the iron which would first have had have been stripped of it's patina, perhaps it was already ruined theough hence the plating. The seki-gane, most likely being copper and having a smoother surface to the iron, has a more relective finish thus appearing to be a different colour. We can see a slight ghosting effect where the seppa-dai protected the original plated surface so that it is still slightling lighter in colour compared the the area that was exposed. Gold doesn't oxide in this way but brass would so I'd lean towards the plating being brass. It's worth pointing out too that often plated copper and brass resists tarnish somewhat better than polished solid metal. If you look inside a cast brass candlestick for example you'll see a similar bright frosted yellow wheras the polished outer furface will readily tarnish if left unprotected. A complete scientific explanation of this phenomena would be to lengthy to write here not to mention horribly technical.

 

You can test my theory by making up a little solution of salt and copper sulphate in hot water, just enough to dissolve the dry ingredients. (1 part CuSO4 to 4 parts household salt ) Apply a little of the solution to an inconspicious area of the plating and note any colour change. Avoid any areas where the underlying iron is exposed thoiugh, or you'll cause an electrolitic reaction and copper plate the surface. Perhaps best to stick to the seki-gane. If the shiny 'gold' colour does tarnish it will indicate that it's not gold but rather brass

 

I hope that's of some use.

 

 

Ford,

 

This is very helpful. I will do this and post the results.

[kaigunair]

Except for the surface, I like the theme.  I see it as the kanji for person on top ("hito" two slanted lines) and possibly the hiragana character "ko" which could be child - a theme of parent a child perhaps?  The hitsuana could be stylized temple bells or saddles.  

[jason_mazzy]

Ford, I have found several of these tsuba types now. When did the Japanese begin to gold plate the tsuba for? Bling out the tachi in Edo?

 

http://www.ogpantiquesinternational.com/store/p79/TSUBA.html

http://www.ogpantiquesinternational.com/store/p80/TSUBA.html

http://www.ogpantiquesinternational.com/store/p89/TSUBA.html

http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mQEpATM02b3ZNFOoTyrmg1A.jpg

[Ford Hallam]

Jason

 

you've found a bundle of very obvious modern cast brass copies. I say brass becuse of the way the surface looks, this is a feature that results when the alloy cools in the mould and is quite different from bronze or other copper alloys. They appear to have been gold plated and are possibly slightly over valued.

[Stephen]

I asked this seller if she would try a magnet , she assured me its brass

 

[jason_mazzy]

ok thank you. i saw the link on a nihonto forum and was surprised to see the gold plated ones. Mine is iron as it is magnetic and i have had no luck in finding how or when the Japanese began goldplating.