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I think it has a good zoom but I can only see from above. some pieces are amazing

Only one image of each tsuba is shown.

But how many images of each tsuba? Apart from a few with closeup signatures?

Hey Spartancrest, I checked the site and they show 39 pages of tsuba.

This particular name Sukenobu is often alternatively read Akinobu, according to Ray's link above.

Shawn there are many ways to upload photos here, including Step One, cropping out unnecessary background material of your photos first. Personally I am surprised that 'X-Ray' could see anything on there!

Well, we could go back into our photo archives and find interesting things that long ago went their merry way. After reading your post, Colin, I discovered this for example. Although the sukashi Netsuke is solid silver (better than .925 sterling) it had to be described as 'white metal'. And the reverse

Hi Lou, welcome to the forum. It seems I am a little late to the party, but I thought it was also good to hear from me directly. I'm very approachable so feel free to drop me an e-mail through the site as well. I won't go into the generic criticisms on the occupation of dealer. I understand the sentiments, many dealers in the past and present have done their best to stain the trade's reputation as a whole. Which is why I wanted to do it totally different. I don't like to blow my own horn too much, and let my work speak for itself. But if I must, here are some examples of how I work: This was a fine Sindh flintlock with a stock that was invisibly repaired. In such cases you get before and after photos: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/item/fine-sindh-flintlock Here is a Chinese sword with Qianlong reign mark, several have sold for 10-20k but they far postdate his reign and are worth only a fraction of that. I bought one so I could tell collectors in detail what it was: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/item/chinese-sword-qianlong-reign-mark Or, Vietnamese Christian crosses. Often sold by dealers and auction houses such as Christies and Sothebys as "Macau, 17th century" but in fact they are all Vietnamese, 19th century. Again I diverge from established opinion, which affects what I can sell it for, in favor of being honest about what it is. Read the article here: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/item/vietnamese-christian-cross I do this again in the description of a pierced iron ankus from South India. Described by the Met and the Victoria & Albert Museum as 17th century, most dealers would take that and run with it. I think it's late 19th and describe it as such: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/item/south-indian-pierced-iron-ankus My work is appreciated in this field, and I have sold to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Royal Armories in Leeds, Klingenmuseum in Solingen, and various smaller museums and have acted as a consultant for these museums and the British Museum and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, plus again numerous smaller museums. I am cited in Metropolitan Museum, Rijksmuseum and Klingenmuseum catalogs and wrote many non-profit articles and book chapters on a variety of subject. With the Manchu Foundation I co-authored Debtelin 2 which was favorably reviewed by Natasha Bennett, curator arms and armour of the Royal Armories, see: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17416124.2024.2416350?src= Then I wrote 615 informative articles so far in my glossary, a project that took hundreds of hours and is commercially not viable at all: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/glossary Before becoming a full-time dealer I put my heart and soul in Manchu Archery, a list of publications on that can be found here: https://www.manchuarchery.org/publications Now, back to the initial question. Are my Japanese swords any good? On the best pieces, you shouldn't rely on my word. They come with Juyo papers, avoiding the somewhat lesser sessions 20 to 28 (1974-1982). My best swords also always come with Tanobe sensei sayagaki. I do a lot of homework and do indeed serve a lot of well-off people. But when they walk away with my sword, and go to someone like Ogawa (curator emeritus of the Met) and show it, I also want the second opinion to be highly positive. This is how I retain strong buyers. I'm in this business since 2005. I have a brick-and-mortar gallery, I'm not going anywhere. I have well-educated return customers who have been shopping with me since the beginning. This is the most self-promoting post I've ever done, so apologies, but I wanted to offset the rather generic "dealer=bad" air produced after someone just asked for any experiences dealing with me. Am I having way too much fun? Yes absolutely. I work with great people, and get to see fine pieces. I'm living my dream and I want to keep living my dream, so I am very careful to retain my reputation and do the best job I can as a dealer. -Peter

Koshirae is Tachi...

That’s an interesting point, I’ve often wondered – and I’d be curious what others here think – if the NBTHK might intentionally keep the number of Jūyō and Tokubetsu Jūyō designations relatively low. If every excellent blade were to pass, the designation itself might lose some of its prestige and the market could become oversaturated. By applying extremely strict standards and allowing only a limited number each session, they might ensure that the rank remains truly exceptional and valuable. This could also explain why certain swords fail in one session but pass in another – even without any change in polish or condition. Perhaps the acceptance rate depends not only on the quality of the individual blade but also on the overall submissions and a desire to maintain exclusivity. Has anyone come across comments from NBTHK officials or scholars that support or refute this idea?

I understand and respect that as your opinion The competition is in the blades themselves of the same smith or school If it were only by the quality of the blades submitted (I assume this is your claim), then blades with the attribute Mihara, Nio, Naoe ... would not have passed Juyo if there were enough blades from Awataguchi, Ko-Bizen, Ko-Aoe, Ichimonji, etc. And of course all of them would be in a state of preservation corresponding to obtaining Juyo status And this is not speculation Jacques It is not unusual for a blade to fail one year and succeed the next or two years later With the same judges Why? If the only criteria was quality, then the blade would pass first time or never pass Regarding your comment "I am interested in is recognizing a swordsmith's work at the first glance" - I don't understand if you mean the judges' skills or your own There is nothing unusual about a blade having excellent metallurgical quality and it is not easy (maybe even impossible) to attribute a blade to a specific swordsmith I agree with many of your contributions And some I don't

And lastly, this was especially fun, getting to study them for a second side by side. Sword 2 has a powerful, thick chu-kissaki as compared to Sword 1. The Rinji was longer and thicker generally as well. I don’t know enough about it, but I’d love a look from @PNSSHOGUN and @Conway S to see updated thoughts on this being a Takayama-to. Regardless, I certainly enjoyed the sugata on the Rinji. But since I own a Rinji already, I’d love an early-war sword. So maybe I’ll just have to get both eventually (if the pawn shop ever lets them out of their evil clutches, that is). Bummed to not have been able to close the deal yesterday, but I frankly didn’t have high hopes. I’ll have to do some thinking on paying $1500 each and see where we are in a few months.

Sword 2 - Rinji with stuck mekugi

I recently up-dated the Saint Louis Art Museum's collection of tsuba, but something has happened to the museum's on-line images. Half the images are now GONE. It seems incredible to me that a museum would minimise it's access to information particularly images in the public domain. I wonder if any members within the U.S. still have access to all the images [omote & ura]? Living on the other side of the planet I am wondering if some "firewall" has been erected to limit access to "outsiders" - or am I just paranoid? [Makes no difference to me as I have the entire collection on record - but why should I be the only person with access?] Can other members check the site and see what they find? https://www.slam.org/search/tsuba/

Sword 1 - February 1942

Overall, swing and a miss. I went back to the shop with $2000 cash and probably would’ve paid that much. I started at $1300 for the pair, and he countered at $3000 and wouldn’t budge. I learned he’s had them for three years, so maybe he just doesn’t care to sell them; they’re not even displayed on the wall. Frankly, $1500 each wouldn’t be a bad price at all, but I have a lot of other priorities going, so if I’m going to pay that much, I need to think about it more. I left my contact info for if he decides to drop his price at all. I figure those swords aren’t going anywhere. They’ve been there for years and probably will continue that way. But, like every potential purchase, it’s an opportunity to handle a sword in hand, take reference photos for later, and learn more. And so I was happy to snag some additional photos. I’ll upload them below.

Marsel, the first photo is upside-down. The shape looks Japanese but there is too much corrosion to say more. But please do not "clean" or grind it, leave this to an expert!

Jon, it is not a TACHI, but a KATANA blade.

Maybe (English is not my native language), but where is the "competition" ? What you say is pure speculation, nothing else. Anyway, I'm not interested in that , what I am interested in is recognizing a swordsmith's work at the first glance (that's not the case for many).

Haven't asked the auctioneer. Just saw it yesterday. I really liked the Tachi mounts.

On one side, perhaps: 表西光人 刻 (?) 一琴 On the other side, the mei might be: 績成之 + 花押.

At 700 pounds it's already not worth the headache.

Jon, that sword is in an auction in the UK. How are you going to get it to the the USA? Have you asked the auctioneer whether they can ship it? Shipping swords in the UK is a nightmare.