Japanese Ebay Tsuba sellers - legit or scam?

[gtstcactus]

Was wondering if anyone has purchased from ebay seller yumi3go55 his shop is at http://shop.ebay.com/yumi3go55/m.html

 

Are his Tsuba and other pieces legit? this person has a few thousand positive feedbacks and some apparently quite old pieces although not with any paperwork...

 

or edoantiques http://shop.ebay.com/edoantiques/m.html

 

or yoayoi http://shop.ebay.com/yoayoi/m.html

 

I'm sure there are others but these 3 were the 1st few in Japan I found with a reasonable number of tsuba for sale.

 

Or is Ebay a waste of time for tsuba?

 

Jason

[moss]

Jason,

Like any Ebay sales there are the good the bad and the ugly.

You need to evaluate on an item for item basis which will require research,probably through books.

 

There is at this moment probably an Ebay seller rubbing his/her hands right now waiting to dazzle you.

My advice for what it's worth ,make that seller Amazon or one of the NHMB members who sell books on the board.

 

The sellers you ask about.......one definately is up to no good which one schill it be.

 

Good luck

Moss

[Jimmy R]

I have bought several items from YUMIGO over the years. I can honestly say that they have some good medium to low end stuff with a few treasures here and there. They seem to state correctly what they are selling and will even send more pictures. I bought a Tsuka last year that somehow slipped through the cracks and it was amazing and I think I paid $90.00 for it. It even arrived within 10 days. Like all E-bay sales you are taking a risk when you buy something you have not held and I would reccomend never buying a blade you have not closely inspected unless you have the money to take a risk. It looks like Yaoyoi is peddling junk and edo antiques looks like they have some good stuff but I have never bought from them.

Good Luck!

Jim

[Grey Doffin]

Nearly all of the tsuba Yumi sells have been coated with a clear finish. Makes them look shiny but it doesn't belong.

Grey

[gtstcactus]

Jason,

Like any Ebay sales there are the good the bad and the ugly.

You need to evaluate on an item for item basis which will require research,probably through books.

 

There is at this moment probably an Ebay seller rubbing his/her hands right now waiting to dazzle you.

My advice for what it's worth ,make that seller Amazon or one of the NHMB members who sell books on the board.

 

The sellers you ask about.......one definately is up to no good which one schill it be.

 

Good luck

Moss

 

 

The one up to no good.... perhaps one who holds "private auctions" I can't see evidence of shilling in the history of 2 of them who do not run "private" auctions...

 

 

Jason

[pcfarrar]

I've had some decent buys from Zen-gallery. I recently got a kizaemon jakushi (shodai) tsuba in the nanban style (very rare for Jakushi school) with NBTHK papers for a few hundred $. Just have to be careful and experienced enough in what your buying to spot the bargains.

[Curran]

The ebay sellers you listed:

 

The Yumi seller: look like real pieces, but something uniformly wrong about them. Grey said he thinks they've been coated with something, which would make sense. They look funky. Buy at your own risk.

 

Edo antiques: quick glance and things looked relatively okay. You'd do better at a show.

 

Third seller: rather low end and/or dubious stuff.

 

You'd probably do better buying something off a seller here. One in a bargain something comes across ebay, but the risk/reward gets worse and worse each year. There have been a few good book deals, but the last time I got a nihonto bargain off ebay was probably 6 years ago. Most of it is catch-study-release for small gain/loss.

[Andi B.]

..I purchased a few cheap Tsuba from Yumi3go55 without any problems -> What you see/pay is what you get...

 

But there is one long wakizashi I bought from him what I regret :

The suguha hamon is - as far as I can see - only created with hadori and the blade is polished extremely narrow (compared to the nakago's thickness). This was not visible on the small pictures. So look carefully!

But I suppose that happens to nearly everybody sometime...

[gtstcactus]

I guess the reason I'm looking at auction sites and other internet outlets such as forums like this is because in New Zealand we don't have much if any shows for Nihonto and Tsuba and other sword accessories (to my knowledge). If I'm lucky there might be 2 militaria auctions a year near me, and they might have a max of 5 Japanese swords and perhaps as many accessories at each...

 

 

Jason

[Curran]

Understood.

I opened up a photoshop type program and looked at one of Yumi's tsuba. In the side shot of the tsuba with a bit of zoom it quickly becomes apparent that he painted both faces of the tsuba with something. Sad, sad, sad. Wonder what he is using.

 

Your best bets are probably to get to know the community here and buy from someone you like/trust if they offer out something that appeals to you. At least you are fairly certain to get something real, and some bargains do come across the board. The crowd here is a small fraction of ebay, but most all fakes are screened out. The only drawback is waiting for something good to come across.

 

This website also has a "Links" section up top and links to many dealers in Japan. Get to know them.

Like something....you can always get opinions from those on the list.

[Sporkkaji]

A while back I bought a tsuba from Yumi on an impulse because I wanted one with an abalone theme. It's currently in the hands of an expert who's fitting it to a blade by enlarging the hole slightly. He tells me it's an authentic piece, but it's not of the highest quality and that the color/patina is 'off' somehow. Didn't pay that much though, so I'm happy with it.

[Soshin]

Was wondering if anyone has purchased from ebay seller yumi3go55 his shop is at http://shop.ebay.com/yumi3go55/m.html

 

Are his Tsuba and other pieces legit? this person has a few thousand positive feedbacks and some apparently quite old pieces although not with any paperwork...

 

I purchased one tsuba from yumi3go55 and a few wooden boxes. The boxes were fine and the tsuba was fine. The tsuba being a Late Edo Period Tempo tsuba nothing special but also nothing wrong or strange about it. The other sellers I don't think I have any experience with.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David S.

[raven2]

Jason,

 

If you do not have enough knowledge to decide for yourself whether the tsuba on those sites are good or not, more than likely you will get taken in some way or other.If you are looking to purchase tsuba (or anything for that matter), you would do much better to buy from the people on the board. Grey has some very nice pieces for sale from the Holbrook collection right now. Much safer and you will be much more satisfied.

[chrisf]

I think a lot depends on what you are looking for,I have bought cheap tsuba off ebay to make up a sword where cost and quality were not of prime consideration but if you want to buy tsuba for investment then I think 'hands on' is the best way in order to fully appreciate what you're buying.

If you don't have access to dealers or arms fairs there are knowledgeable members here who occasionally sell items.

[kusunokimasahige]

Tried bidding on my first tsuba, with Yumigo35, want a tsuba to fit on my gimei katana in stead of the Gunto tsuba which is on there now. Well nice, you try to find things cheap only to be outbid by some dealer..

 

Ah well... one will come along... I think with ebay you never know what you are in for

 

KM

[bone]

I bid on one of his for 26 bucks one night just goofing around. Imagine my surprise when I got my congratulations email. I had it appraised for between 800.00 and 1000 dollars! Then that guy emailed me that he'd put the decimal point in the wrong place. He meant 8-10 dollars... Eh! Easy come easy go.