Umichi Mitsuteru

[kyushukairu]

I picked up a set of Goto-style coiled dragon menuki which bear the mei 'Umichi Mitsuteru' (羽道光照), though he doesn't appear in Sesko's Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings. If anyone has an alterative meikan I'd appreciate any references which you can find.

Kind regards,
Kyle
 

[Ford Hallam]

The edges of these menuki do not fill me with confidence. They are simply far too rounded over and poorly defined. The mei also feel pretty fresh to me as does the lack of wear on the gilding. If gilt then the base metal would be copper, but here the insides are unnaturally black. For me, based on what I can see, I'd say these are modern cast copies with added silver tanzaku-mei.

[kyushukairu]

Thanks for your thoughts, Ford.
The design itself is slightly different to any other coiled dragon I've seen, so it doesn't appear to be a copy of any of the more renowned Goto smith's work, which one may expect from a cast copy. (I'll add images to illustrate this later) It also seems strange that someone would go to the effort to add a tanzaku-mei but include an obscure mei, as opposed to that of a famous smith. 
What could have potentially caused the blackening inside? Would that have occurred if the menuki were made from brass? 

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Kyle

 

Brass can go more black naturally, than copper, yes. If they are brass that'd be more suggestive of casting, brass casts well and easily and is rarely used in uchidashi or menuki manufacture traditionally.

Also as brass doesn't take mercury gilding too readily, whereas copper does. 

 

 

The design itself is slightly different to any other coiled dragon I've seen, so it doesn't appear to be a copy of any of the more renowned Goto smith's work, which one may expect from a cast copy.

 

 

Fakers will use whatever they have available, pieces by famous makers might not have been on hand.  Based on the range of cast copies of crap we do see I don't think there's any reason to suggest  we might expect only good stuff is being faked.

The design being different from what you've seen previously might mean the pieces are not even Japanese in origin...I look forward to seeing the pics of the front. Im sure they'll tell us much more.

 

You might think it strange that someone would go to the trouble of adding a tanzaku mei of an obscure maker....you bought it, so apparently it was worth the effort. An hours work at most, I'd estimate.