Flower Fuchi Kashira

[raynor]

Greetings,

 

I surprisingly won an auction for a set of fuchi kashira, and wonder if someone can tell me something about them beyond my beginner eyes. Appears to be shakudo with inlay, am I correct in that some of the flowers might be silver?

Appears to be Edo period and not Meiji as the seller suggested, or am I wrong?

 

[raynor]

Alright, are the photos that bad? :)

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello Omar,

 

  On 2/15/2019 at 4:59 AM, raynor said:

Greetings,

 

am I correct in that some of the flowers might be silver?

 

 

My guess based on these images would be pewter.

 

Edo, not Meiji, hmm, I'd be most interested to hear how that determination was made?

[raynor]

Franco,

 

I'm in no way claiming knowledge here, but the decorations seem normal, subdued versus the more random and often overly elaborate work done for western tourists after the banning of swords a decade or do into Meiji?

 

Pewter makes a lot of sense too looking at it in sunlight.

[TETSUGENDO]

Omar,

 

To my eyes the metal in question is oxidized SILVER, "pewter" or any primarily tin based alloy, has an entirely different appearance.

Your pieces appear to date later Edo/Meiji.

 

-S-

p.s.-FYI, Meiji is not a dirty word.  Along with plenty of nonsense and ordinary fair, much extremely fine work was produced by artists who are considered to be some of the best tosogu-shi of any era.   

[Frank B]

  On 2/18/2019 at 8:13 PM, TETSUGENDO said:

Omar,

 

To my eyes the metal in question is oxidized SILVER, "pewter" or any primarily tin based alloy, has an entirely different appearance.

Your pieces appear to date later Edo/Meiji.

 

-S-

p.s.-FYI, Meiji is not a dirty word.  Along with plenty of nonsense and ordinary fair, much extremely fine work was produced by artists who are considered to be some of the best tosogu-shi of any era.   

Nothing wrong with something made in Meiji, while it is true many of the artisans took up new professions. Some still worked at a very high level in this period, I cant imagine anyone would not want a work by Shomin merely because he worked in the Meiji Period. 

[raynor]

Nothing against any good Meiji works, after all he was in my opinion the most influental emperor in Japanese history with what he started. I meant that the set seems traditional as in made for wear, not deliberately made to catch the eye of Western collectors as per post sword ban.

 

The fuchi motif seems a little like that compared to the more subtle kashira.

[Surfson]

Is it just me or does anybody else have the feeling that this piece has been coated with some sort of black lacquer?

[TETSUGENDO]

Robert, what makes you say that ?

 

-S-

[raynor]

To me in hand it seems like accumulated dirt, I see no tiny bubbles etc to indicate lacquer and it does have the dark almost indigo blue raven feather like sheen. But then again I'm still very much learning, I will post some photos tomorrow with sunlight for a better look.

Thank you all for the input so far.

[Ford Hallam]

I'd doubt the inlaid flowers are pewter, Being made of tin and lead, that alloy reacts very badly in the traditional non-ferrous patinating solutions in that it causes a flash plated copper halo around itself.

 

As Stephen wrote, it's most likely patinated silver.

[raynor]

  On 2/19/2019 at 9:49 AM, Ford Hallam said:

I'd doubt the inlaid flowers are pewter, Being made of tin and lead, that alloy reacts very badly in the traditional non-ferrous patinating solutions in that it causes a flash plated copper halo around itself.

 

As Stephen wrote, it's most likely patinated silver.

Thanks Ford. Silver does seem to be it, especially now that I just looked at it in sunlight. By the way that is the most epic Tengu nose I've ever seen. Reminds me of the Norwegian trolls back home.

 

Here are some photos using sunlight. Am I correct that the tiny scratches on the underside of the kashira rim are just that, scratches? Seems like a strange place to put any kind of signature.

 

[Surfson]

The new set of photos looks much better!

[Steves87]

I like this set, nice buy!

If I had to guess, id say the scratches are from trying to carefully pry the kashira of a swollen old tsuka. 

Ive not delt with dismantling a Nihonto antique, but the modern stuff can be a fairly snug fit

[raynor]

It is a nice set, subdued rather then overly flashy. It was going for the price of a decent restaurant meal so I had to try.

 

Interesting one would choose to scrape at the metal and not the wooden tsuka during removal.

 

I've read some shakudo repatinates itself in air, is there something I could do to allow it to happen on it's own here?

 

Either way the scratching was done on a non critical spot and is so tiny that it's not a big issue.

[raynor]

Also, in the sunlight there is caked old dirt around the raised inlays visible, in hand it is quite visible too with the sets smooth shakudo surface. Any way to clean old grime like this off safely with minimal risk to the patina and workmanship? What about the fading silver flowers?

First idea I get is mild soap water with a soft paint or toothbrush for the surface. Will wait for any pointed fingers.