Mei

[Spartancrest]

I just purchased a novel Tsuba and would like some help with the signature, and possible school, any help would be appreciated.

 

Dale

[Fuuten]

Sorry to say Dale, this looks like a cast tsuba to me..

[Ford Hallam]

And the mei is on the wrong side of the seppa-dai or signed on the reverse. 

[SteveM]

廣成 Hironari.

 

No idea of authenticity. I will flip through Wakayama later to see if there is any info. 

 

Edit: No such artist in listed Wakayama.

[Curran]

 novel Tsuba

 

He did say "novel".

I still like the design.

[Ford Hallam]

Not in the Shinsen Kinko Meikan, the Toso Kinko Meishu Roku nor Haynes.

 

And while the image is slightly pixelated I also think it may be modern cast piece.

[ggil]

If it's cast then the original old tsuba (if the design was copied from a forged piece) was probably really nice. I'm with curran as the design is very appealing to my eyes also.

[ROKUJURO]

Dale,

I think I have seen this design (O-TSUBO; big storage jars) before in a KO-TOSHO or KO-KACHUSHI TSUBA.

It is difficult for me to make a statement on the school; I don't think this one is so specific to relate it to one. For my old eyes it is the complete loss of patina - probably the result of a steel wire brush treatment - which makes it look so new or 'cast'.

[Spartancrest]

I am away travelling and purchased it on-line so have yet to have a close look. I do hope it is over-cleaned rather than cast --- I have more paperweights than I can use already!

Steve M, I have a tsuba that reminds me of your login profile logo. What do you think?( It may have been over-cleaned as well, not by me)

 

Thanks one and all.

 

Dale

[Geraint]

Hi Dale,

 

What are your thoughts about the placement of the nakago ana in relation to the seppa dai?

 

All the best.

[Spartancrest]

Geraint

 

I assume you mean the antler tsuba? Yes have noticed the nakago ana  it not cut very central to the seppa dai . Have yet to get home and examine it up close, but thought perhaps the seppa dai may have been off centre and the nakago ana cut to centre the blade after the piece was finished?  Yes I may be hopeful, but not the way my luck has been running

 

Dale

[Geraint]

Hi Dale,

 

Yes I was looking at the antler tsuba.  I think I would start from the assumption that any tsuba worth collecting had been made by a craftsman, and I load that word with great respect and admiration.  The idea that such a person would make a tsuba off centre without noticing, or that they would then just carry on is difficult to grasp.  Do you think the seppa dai is off centre?  I can't say that it looks that way to me and as the tsuba shows no sign of having been remounted then these inaccuracies would bother me a lot.

 

Hard to say much from your image or even the ones on your Pinterest board but if this is brass then all sorts of alarm bells would be ringing for me.

 

Hope I am wrong.

 

All the best.

 

Bye the bye, you might like the one on this page scroll down to the last one.  http://nihonto.uk/Items%20for%20Sale/tetsu%20tsuba.html

[Spartancrest]

Geraint

 

I have bought these last two on-line and I have yet to see them 'live'. The site I bought them from is very difficult to get detail information and google translate is not always up to the task.

 

Shoki under his hat is very nice, would probably be out of my price range. Seen many copies same pattern, most though were poor castings around the $20 mark so gave them a wide swerve. I am a poor pensioner so my pieces are modest to say the least, but I do like the more unusual.

 

Dale