I am starting my topic in the same manner as at http://www.militaria...ichibei-tsuba/:
I recently acquired two tsuba on eBay from a decent seller, allegedly made by some 'Yamakichubei', and bearing a signature: yama (山) kichi (吉).
Then, I bought another one, with the same yama (山) kichi (吉) signature and similar design, but decorated with gold inlay of paulownia with tendrils.
Size of the first tsuba: 85.2 x 79.1 x 3.5 mm (seppa-dai)
Size of the second tsuba:83.6 x 77.2 x 3.6 mm (seppa-dai)
Frankly, I did not (and do not) think that these are a real Yamakichubei pieces, but they were cheap enough to buy for research purpose.
How puzzled I was when in a few days I found the third specimen, almost identical to the ones before, but this time with a paper: https://www.ebay.com...119.m1438.l2649
Seems like they are producing them en mass!
Anyway, I would like to know what you think regarding these tsuba and Yamakichubei tsuba altogether. It seems to be a fascinating theme for research beyond what we know from 'Tsuba. An aesthetic study'.
Sergei