Submitting Tsuba for Grading and Papers - Thoughts?

[Winchester]

Hope all is well wherever this message finds you.  Please keep in mind that although I study our shared hobby daily--I find peace and enjoyment reflecting on the pieces and learning--I am a novice collector and my questions may not be the most articulate.

 

I searched the forum and didn't really find direction, so here goes:

 

Does it make sense to submit tsuba to shinsa that you personally appreciate and would like to more of the history? 

 

It's not the case that I am hoping for some remarkable grading that would increase value; I have a personal interest in kuruma-sukashi tsuba, earlier pieces and I'd like to learn more. Plus, however misguided, I feel like I am doing the pieces justice by trying to document them for future owners.

 

Thinking out loud, maybe just buy books more focused on my area of interest...or don't rush...continue to study and enjoy the ride? 

 

Thank you for listening to my rambling/musings. 

[SteveM]

My opinion: shinsa for tōsōgu makes sense for high-value items, or better-than-average items. It costs around JPY 18,000 - 20,000, and takes a couple of months to send it off and then get it back. If you are sending an item to Japan from overseas, it adds a further cost and time and complexity, which might make sense if you were a dealer and and were looking to validate the authenticity of an item, and/or reduce resell friction. 

 

For an average piece, the expense and the hassle of shipping it off to Japan, isn't worth it. If the item is unsigned, you will get back an attribution, but its likely to be an attribution to a school or genre, so you won't find out anything specific about the item, but you might get a hint about where to direct your studies. 

 

So if you are just looking for an idea of the school or the age, you'd do just as well to post pictures here on NMB and see what feedback you get. 

[kissakai]

I agree with Steve

Sometimes a tsuba's school/mei are obvious and don't expect much extra information

So if you have a Yamakichibei tsuba don't expect an age or generation (same with swords)

Ideal if a tsuba/sword is unsigned of good quality

I did use shinsa to verify a signature that had mixed opinions on the NMB

 

 

 

[BIG]

You can buy paperd items directly in Japan.

 

Best

[FlorianB]

The problem is the lack of any explanation for an attribution. Frequently a temporal classification is omitted, too.

 

Even the quality of a tsuba can’t be recognized because there are high class Tsuba and low end specimen with Hozon.

 

But sometimes the description of the motif is informative, in some cases, however, cryptic.

 

Best,
Florian