jamesicus

That is simply not the case, Brian. Displaying a notice of copyright ownership has not been a requirement for some time now in International copyright law (Berne Convention) and posting or publishing on the Internet does not consign intellectual property to the Public Domain. I think the following link provides good down to earth Copyright usage information: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html I am an advocate for as much free use of online material as possible and I believe that Creative Commons licensing is an excellent means to that end. Follow this link for more information James

That is a dangerous game to play. What you are doing leaves you open to legal action when you post such material on the Internet without permission of the copyright holder. James

Yes, further research on my part has lead to pretty much the same conclusions as yours -- and garnered the same respect. A wonderful tsuba indeed. I have been looking for one like that for a long time. James

Well I have retrieved a few tea ceremony (chanoyu) utensils and am now displaying them with daishô -- I always used to do that for I think they really enhance Nihonto displays. I believe they go together because of long standing association with Samurai culture -- the way of the sword with the way of tea (chadô). These items are not antiquities -- just every day utensils that I bought when I lived in Japan and have now owned for over fifty years. I couldn't locate all of the utensils -- missing are the hishaku (ladle), futa-oki (ladle rest) and kensui (waste water bowl) -- but that is of no real consequence for in my opinion too many articles actually distract from the display and the chawan (tea bowls), chasen (bamboo whisk), chashaku (bamboo tea scoop), and natsume (tea caddy) serve my purpose quite well. I also like to display sencha (the ubiquitous dried and rolled green tea of Japan) teapots and cups with daishô out of nostalgia. When I lived in Japan in the 1960s sencha was requisite for formal discussions and business transactions -- you knew you had been accepted when you were invited to partake of sencha. I know this is not the place to expound about sencha -- I will do that in the Izakaya section of this Forum. James

I wish everyone a happy, prosperous and healthy 2012. James

I am actually searching for traditional Japanese stands in plain black lacquer -- mostly out of nostalgia, although I do like their understated elegance. In the meantime, I am temporarily using portable stands that I made to display antique blunderbusses and military flintlock carbines .......... .......... to display my Nihontô .......... James

I understand your motivation, Dave, and admire you for exerting such great effort -- and spending so much money -- in preserving this piece of history. You are a good custodian! I personally try to keep antiquities that I purchase in the same condition in which I receive them (not always possible when structural repairs are required) for that represents their total history -- blemishes and flaws included. Of course I realize that they may have been cleaned, repaired or restored to some extent during their lifetime by previous owners, but again, that is part of their history that I try to preserve. I do especially admire surfaces that have grown lovely with much handling and use over a long period of time (patina) and exert maximum effort to preserve them. But there are no correct answers or solutions in this regard and I wish you great success in attaining your own goals. James

Thank you all for the suggestions and advice. I am experiencing difficulty in photographing the very shiny surfaces of polished blades and in consequence the depictions of surfaces are often deficient and flawed. I hope the visitors to my web pages will excuse these shortcomings while I improve my photographic techniques. In am working diligently on the problem. Unfortunately I am old, decrepit, sick and grouchy!

Mike: As a follow-up to my previous post, I think ADVICE FOR NOVICE COLLECTORS by Richard George also provides some excellent information and guidance.

I think an excellent on-line resource is Richard Stein's Japanese SWORD GUIDE

Thank you for that most interesting link, Chris.

I understand. Thank you. I am afraid I may have got the image/caption mixed up. I will start from scratch. James

Thank you very much. Morita-san. I think it is referring to the covering of the tsuka being leather instead of the traditional ray skin. James

Thank you.

Cheer up, Marcello, I still like the look of it. James

Or bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item at the "get go" and let the e-bay automatic incremental bidding facility take care of the rest. In that way you won't miss out on the item due to some unforseen circumstance. James

Actually I find that using Black Pearl and Disabling Page Colors via Firefox Web Developer gives me the best Board browsing experience -- the text and images (including board headers, avatars, thread indicators, etc.) stand out nicely against the white background. James

I kinda like the look of it, Marcello. Could you post a pic of the other side? James

It seems to me that a large number of, how should I put it, "startling" ? (in appearance and by description) swords (with display stands and bags thrown in) originating from Korea are now being listed on eBay. http://www.ebay.com/sch/Swords-/66841/i.html Is this a new phenomenon? James

Brian: My tired old eyes are simply not up to using the default Board setting -- not enough color contrast -- I use Black Pearl which makes for much easier reading for me all around. James

Here is the tsuba that accompanied the fuchi/kashira/menuki ensemble pictured above: Engraved weeping Wisteria (sagari fuji): James

Here is a neat reference to shi-shi and peonies that I found, Curran (and I am really envious of the great Tsuba depicted there) .......... http://www.printsofjapan.com/Lions_and_Peonies.htm .......... I couldn't find any pertaining to shi-shi and Daikons however. James

Thank you very much for the excellent link, John. James

And would you also elaborate on that please, John? James

Could you elaborate on that please, Curran? James