Silver Nanako Tsuba

[Curgan]

I got this tsuba a few days ago. Based on the seller's pics, I thought it was a shibuichi one and was amazed to discover it was a silver one. I asked and a jeweller for confirmation and he concluded it is indeed silver. It seems that silver photographed with flash turns to grey. Anyway,since it isn't what I 've been looking for, I will list this tsuba for sale soon at the price of purchase, but first I 'd like to know what fellow members think of its school and era.

 

The tsuba is made of silver with gold peonies and butterflies. Dimensions 7.0x7.4x0.4 cm. There are something that looks like a strass on the gold. The nanako continues on the rim and there are some signs of wear in areas. The marks at the nakago ana and the blackening at the hitsu ana interior reveal that it's solid silver IMHO.

 

The person who sold it to me mentioned that the original Japanese owner bought it 25 years ago from a museum. After his death his widow sold it and eventually ended up with me.

 

Thanks everyone for your opinion...

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Curgan,

 

In my opinion this is a modern cast copy (in sterling silver which the Japanese didn't use btw). A rubber mould was taken from an original (probably shakudo) tsuba and a wax produced from that. This wax model was then cast in silver.

 

This has clearly been done in an experienced jewellers studio. The gilding is merely a light wash plating and not all what one would expect on a genuine tsuba of this type. The apparent inlay work is, to my eyes, not inlaid either as it's all one piece of metal. The sekigane in the bottom of the nakago-ana is also part of the body of the tsuba, that's not possible if it was a genuine tsuba.

 

If you examine the nanako ground carefully you will see a number of very obvious areas where whoever reproduced this has had to try and repair bits of the nanako texture that didn't come out clearly in the casting.

 

Based on the shape of the seppa-dai I'd suggest the original that this was made from was a Meiji period work. The present shape of the nakago-ana is not convincing but this is because it's been filed up by someone who doesn't know anything about tsuba....like most jewellers

 

Sorry to have to tell you this.

 

regards,

 

Ford

[Curgan]

By all means Ford... your authority on the subject is always most welcome.

 

The "seppa dai" line is lost at some point and the nakago and hitsu ana don't have casting lines on them. What do you assume of it?

 

P.S If you 'd like more pics of the "inlays" I 'd be happy to provide as much "unpleasant" that might be...

[Ford Hallam]

Hi John,

 

 

The "seppa dai" line is lost at some point and the nakago and hitsu ana don't have casting lines on them. What do you assume of it?

 

It's standard practice to file casting seams away so their absence is to be expected. The seam btw. is actually in the the wax model ( it is a result of the joint of the 2 piece that make up the rubber mould. It's good practice to clean up the wax before casting it in metal thus eliminating extra clean up later.

 

If the outline of the sappa dai is faint it merely tells us that either the original was worn or the casting had to be polished down a bit.

 

If you think about the relief flowers ask your self why, on a piece like this, would they go to all that trouble to inlay the motif in the same material as the ground only to then gild it to get a contrast. If the gilding was planned they would not used silver I think but copper as it provides a richer base for the gold. In any case the gilding is clearly just a wash plating done with an electo-plating set up.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing some close up images of the inlays but bear in mind that whatever marks were visible on the original may be perfectly well reproduced on the copy so....

 

regards,

 

Ford

[Curgan]

Ford,

you are a school by yourself.

[drbvac]

How much does it weigh?? The silver alone must be worth a fair amount

[Curgan]

it's quite heavy, I estiamte 130-140gr. I 'll weight it at a drugstore on Monday

[John A Stuart]

"in sterling silver which the Japanese didn't use btw" Ford, do you mean fittings in general or just tsuba? John

[Ford Hallam]

Hi John,

 

Sterling is 92.5% silver and the remainder copper. This particular alloy wasn't used in Japan in the past. They used either pure silver (being unaltered in the usual patination solutions) or silver alloys that tend to be classified as shibuichi's with typically 15 or more percent copper. That would be for all tosogu.

 

The silver for a tsuba like this would be about $100 ~$150, I'd guesstimate.

 

I'm afraid the close ups show that the inlays are not separate pieces but blend seamlessly with the ground. Have a look at the tips of the leaves.

 

regards all,

 

Ford