This Tsuba is up for auction

[Caracal]

This Tsuba is up for auction. Want comments on this Tsuba. School, Signature, quality ......

 

 

 

 

//Robert

[PietroParis]

I’d say modern reproduction, maybe a paperweight?

[ROKUJURO]

School is Chinese Grammar school.....Not a TSUBA but a cheap decoration item.

[Brian]

Back to the books! That one is obvious and terrible.

[Spartancrest]

Robert if you see ten that look the same - run. The Chinese fakes are everywhere. You just don't get signatures like that on a real tsuba. 

 

This one is also up for auction - any idea of the mei?  https://www.jauce.com/auction/r443391065

It looks very modern. The design is by Goto hokyo Ichijo who may have used a woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada for inspiration.

Goto Ichijo's original design below. The proportions are way off in the copy above.

These steel reproductions are closer to the correct proportions, these were factory made in large numbers and in other various metals, all are the same rounded shape rather than the subtle mokko of the Goto original. They also lack any celestial body rising on the horizon, [There is at least one example with a silver 'moon' in place of the sun]

So what do we make of the first example currently up for auction?

 

[kissakai]

I think one of the easier ways to spot these is to look at the mei

If there are no chisel cuts it's a fake

 

[vajo]

Chinese brass Tsuba from Longquan. 

 

[Caracal]

Just what I understood great warning cheap paper weight...

 

/Robert

[vajo]

No, you can put it on your chinese cutting katana. Therefore it is made.

[PietroParis]

On 2/13/2021 at 2:26 PM, Spartancrest said:

This one is also up for auction - any idea of the mei?  https://www.jauce.com/auction/r443391065

It looks very modern. The design is by Goto hokyo Ichijo who may have used a woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada for inspiration.

 

 

 

 

The first kanji looks like a cursive 正 (Masa/Sei/Sho) to me, but I can't figure out the second one. Maybe 弥 ? This would make it Masahiro/Masaya/Seiya, does any of these names ring a bell? Or maybe it's 侏 ?

[Spartancrest]

Pietro, I think it is not meant to make sense, it is meant to deceive. 侏 Mijika = in English means 'Actor'

[kissakai]

Pietro - Have noticed the top kanji is a smiley face

 

[Spartancrest]

That original Chinese fake - https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/A-Japanese-signed-tsuba/1293649-japanese_signed-21.2.21-bukowski - they want somewhere near €250   ($285 USD)   

[PietroParis]

Gotta love the description: “The general impression is good.”

[PietroParis]

1 hour ago, kissakai said:

Pietro - Have noticed the top kanji is a smiley face

 

I wouldn't put it past them, but I still think it's a cursive 正:

 

[Spartancrest]

The auction site translates the 'signature' as 正保 = Shōhō  I don't know of a smith or tsuba-ko with that name but Shōhō (正保) was a Japanese era name after Kan'ei and before Keian. This period spanned the years from December 1644 through February 1648. [I cannot see this tsuba being made within 300 years of those dates]