Interesting Myochin Tsuba Example: Yes, That Cast One

[kaigunair]

I had been watching this with interest, thinking it would make a good candidate for destructive testing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161666129361?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D161666129361%26_rdc%3D1

 

This appears to be an exact example of the book sample, and better than the last example posted in the forum: 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/7626-tosa-kuni-ju-myochin-munetoshi/page-2

(the example on page 2 of the thread has a casting error in the nakago-ana which this and the book example does not share).

 

The controversy over cast and this tsuba example is found here: 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/7939-the-last-word-on-cast-iron-tsuba/?hl=%2Bmyochin+%2Bcast&do=findComment&comment=79418

 

I was hoping having this as an example and by putting it through the ringer, might have answered some basic questions regarding construction and more importantly, age.  But it seems someone wanted it more badly....

 

I'm pretty certain all the dents and divots match up to the book example, not to mention all the curves and crevices.  The one pictured in the book is sans any rust, which is interesting in itself., but this makes the b&w picture harder to make out some of the details. Would be very helpfu if anyone can identify physical differences between the two I might have missed.  

 

Else, I would hazard a guess these two came from the exact same mold/workshop, and other examples might come from castings of these tsuba (i.e. cast of a cast) or possibly later when the original die/mold was deteriorating....