Tsuba - possibly the work of Ujisada

Hi all,

New to this so please be gentle with my lack of expertise. I have been collecting Tsuba for a short time and picked up a wakazashi Tsuba from Japan and some time later picked up a larger one that I believe completes the daisho. the work is extremely similar to Ujisadas work, especially his "horses" tsuba. Can anyone help me determin if this is his work or not.

I submit these photos for you examination.

Hi Frank,

welcome to the forum.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I'm afraid you've been lumbered with a cast copy...a modern fake.

The most obvious 'givaway' is the seam line that you can see inside the central opening that would take the sword's tang (the nakago-ana) This indicates that the metal piece you have was cast from a wax model. This wax model was made by injecting molten wax into a rubber mould that was itself taken from an antique original tsuba. This is all modern technology.

regards,

Ford

The other one...one on the left...fake too I suspect, just finished off better?

Brian

......I.....picked up a wakazashi Tsuba from Japan and some time later picked up a larger one that I believe completes the daisho.....Can anyone help me determine if this is his work or not......

I know these cast copies for more than 30 years when they were already on the market (the left one).

A closer look shows that the person on the left TSUBA has not only lost her face but also her hand, being very ashamed because of this bad copy. In the original TSUBA face and hand were probably made of soft metal.

As you are new in this field, things like these happen. My advice is to look at as many original TSUBA as you can. Buy books with good pictures and study them, and enjoy the workmanship of good original TSUBA.

Thanks for your advice, I guess I need to do a lot more homework so as not to get stung again. I thought I was pretty safe having obtained one from a Japanese antique dealer and the other from an antique collector in England. I will be checking items much more carefully next time. Thanks again to those who replied.