Brass Tsuba

[Dan tsuba]

Hello all !

 

Thank you so much for the replies on the fan tsuba in my last post.  Any info on this tsuba would be greatly appreciated !!

 

With respect,

Dan

[Steves87]

Hi Dan, I like the deaign of this Tsuba, however, from the pictures it looks more copper than brass.

Im really interested in what others have to say about the nanako as your other Kinko tsuba is quite obviously punched and have more space, on this Tsuba you can see the dots are a lot smaller and closer together (to my eyes). I have not studied nanako, but i would guess half dots, say at a seppa area, would be maybe a warning of casting? Cant say I see any here, but again im just interested in what the pro's have to say.

[Alan Morton]

Hi Dan, I think your tsuba is shakudo and where the petals and flowers are would have been filled with gold amalgam

and the nanako area black shakudo and are normally attributed to Yoshioka school. They are often seen with

Dragons around the rim or flowers. Its has been over cleaned but could be restored by the Iron Brush clan here

Alan

[Mantis dude]

Hi all,

 

While I am not sure if there is a difference between iron and copper when casting, you are primarily looking for imperfections where the metal doesn't perfectly cool or fill in around the mold and/or the mold has imperfections itself (especially as it is used more often). Areas to look at are the carving edges like in a signature or certain design elements. When a chisel is used the edges are going to be crisp or sharp. Rounded edges could likely indicate molding. Seppa dai area is an obvious 1st place to look. Not only for crisp punch marks but is it smooth? Or does it have pot marks/divets like not all the metal cooled flat. When looking at the nanako: are the dots distinct or might some dots have excess metal attached. Each dot in a mold would have to have the metal perfectly formed around it which I would think leaves open a lot of opportunity for errors. likewise, Are there traces of metal at joints as in the case of sukashi tsuba. Often these remnants are filed away but not always. Obviously, you have to take the entire piece in and then look for these signs that don't look right. They can look pretty good at first or even second glance. Also, as I stated the molded pieces can be cleaned up, getting rid of the more obvious imperfections. It can also have real punch marks(crisp/sharp) since it was actually mounted. It can also be decorated with addition of gold/copper/shakudo tetc. which adds to hiding of its original moulding. As always, having in hand can help since you can't feel the edges in a photo. these are some of the things I would look at when evaluating a piece. Hope this helps.

Ken aka "the mantis dude"

[Steves87]

This is a similar tsuba as per Alan's post.

currently for sale (not mine - on online sales site)

[Alan Morton]

Tuba2464a

+Shipping

 

This tsuba I found on Sanmie trading to Yoshioka Inaba Nosuke

Alan