Modern repros tsubas?

[Aldwin]

I've been wondering if these two are modern repros or not? Seems to be repros...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0267121031

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0277330389

 

Can you please share your professional opinions on these two?

 

Thanks!

[Bugyotsuji]

Not professional, but I would agree with you 100%.

[Ford Hallam]

In my opinion the first one is an obvious modern fake/pastiche piece, probably Chinese in origin. The actual quality of the modelling and the colours are very worrying though...these guys are getting very clever.

 

The second tsuba, the shakudo one, appears to be a modern work by a fairly skilled amateur using classic technique and materials. Apart from its age ( or lack thereof :D ) and the fact that it was not really made with mounting in mind, I would say this one is a perfectly legitimate piece of work. In fact there a quite a few points that I think are very well done and even suggest to me the work of someone who had a strong artistic sense. The way the pine tree's bark is rendered is one such aspect. Certainly at least as good as the average Edo kinko piece.

 

Regards, Ford

[Mike]

The seller never wrote that the tsuba are antique, though the price is little high for table plates for coffee cups Mike

[stenbar]

Have you seen the tsuba on http://www.swordstore.com? The pictures aren't that great, but they seem to have a very authentic look to them. I've printed out their inventory and compare them to ebay before making a bid.

 

Hopefully a close-up picture would show some flaws.

[IanB]

All, I've never pretended to know anything about tsuba, but I think you might have missed something with this pair. It would have been wrong to comment whilst they were sale, but now the sale has ended, I think the buyer has obtained a bargin. The shakudo based tsuba had superb nanako and showed considerable wear on the turtle and elsewhere - so much so that the details were worn away. Yes its possible that it was modern and could have been aged deliberately, but I don't think so. The other tsuba, of shoki, was not done in metals but in lacquer. If you looked at the oni, the details are not modelled with cuts but with applied trails of lacquer. Another give-away was the gilding on the seppadai on the reverse, the gilding had strayed slightly along the edge. Whether it was lacquered on metal or wood - who knows? I think you might find the signature is that of an inro maker or similar.

Ian Bottomley.

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

I know nothing about tsuba but on the shakudo one, it seems the "kuchibeni" (if it is one) is not inlayed but painted, that is odd for an original tsuba.