Restoration Services In The U.s. For Tosogu

[marcus]

Good day to everyone,

As some of you may know, I just spent the last two months in England learning the finer points of antique Japanese metalwork restoration under the tutelage of my friend, teacher and world authority Ford Hallam. I was fortunate enough to have the experience of working on a wide variety of pieces from iron jizai okimono, bronze vases, sword fittings and more. It was the most intense period of study that I have had in my life. I have been single mindedly pursuing classical Japanese metalwork for more than a few years now and was awarded Tokusho-The Sakaki Mayor's award at the NBSK competition this year for my entry.

After completing these past two months specifically focused on restoration both Ford and I feel that I am ready to offer my restoration services here in the US. Ford has also graciously made himself available to me through Skype for consultation if something unusual should arise.

My reasons for wanting to do this type of work aside from my art is many fold, it affords me an avenue of study that few will ever have, also very important to me, is that these works of art are treated as such and properly brought back to their original glory.

If anyone here is interested in discussing the services I offer please feel free to message me here or email me at mcmetalarts@gmail.com

Thank you for your interest in advance.

Marcus Chambers

[Stephen]

Email sent

[Dan tsuba]

Hello Marcus, 

 

Is the email address still good ?

[marcus]

Yes, this email is still good.

 

[kissakai]

Is it possible to see your winning entry for the Tokusho-The Sakaki Mayor's award?

 

[marcus]

Hi Grev,

You should be able to see it here 

[Stephen]

On 5/28/2023 at 3:20 PM, marcus said:

Yes, this email is still good.

 

Good to see you drop my friend.

Have any work of late to share?

[kissakai]

Thank Marcus

I remember the tsuba now

 

[marcus]

Thanks Stephen. It's been a crazy several years, but I do have some work that I'm finishing up I'll share here when it's done.

[kotachi]

Hi Marcus,

I have a tsuba signed "Choshu Hagi Ju Tomomitsu Saku" that has some sort of paint or glue on it. A previous owner has tried to scratch it off and has damaged the patina in doing so. It is an iron tsuba but from what I have read this artist was know to use acid treatments for surface finishes to create the patina. Is this something that can or should be addressed or do you think it is just a part of the tsuba now?

-Jay

Edited November 8, 2023 by kotachi
wrong order of characters in the signature, reversed hagi and ju

[ROKUJURO]

MEI does not look reversed to me. Often, there is also NAKAI in the signature.  長州 萩 住 友光
The patina looks strange. Is the TSUBA magnetic?

[kotachi]

Yes the tsuba is magnetic. It has a very rich brown and smooth patina. It does seem very different from any other iron/steel tsuba I own. I only put the editing note in because I initially posted the words in the wrong order, it is correct now. 

-Jay G.

[marcus]

Hi Jay,

Sorry I didn't see this post until now.

It's really tricky to tell from the photos how the patina was applied? I would say it's possible to make some inroads lessening the damage and cleaning it for sure. If you are correct about the acid treatment/patina then you'll probable not be able to repair it without extreme measures. 

Marcus