Marius

Mark, first of all - what is "period correct"? A Kamakura tachi would have been typicaly re-mounted several times, and its last koshirae could be from the late Edo period. Same goes for your late Muromachi blade. Ribbed saya - I have browsed "Uchigatana no Koshirae" by the Tokyo National Museum (1985 - a rare and very good book). This book features several great koshirae from the Muromachi as well early Edo period. There are only two or three with ribbed saya. One used to belong to Yuki Hideyasu, Tokugawa Ieyasu's second son. Since Hideyasu was born in 1574, the koshirae is from the Momoyama period. I hope that helps. BTW - do you want to have a koshirae made?

Congrats on your memory :-) I happen to have the 100 Aspects print with Yorimasa, after having shot the Nue. And I love the 36 ghosts series, though I do not have the Hayata print.

It has actuallly been shot by Minamoto no Yorimasa but his retainer, Ii no Hayata finishes it off. Famous work by Yoshitoshi: http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/gallery ... 03_SE.html OK. I know. Everybody knows that :lol:

Is it the one that has been offered some time ago on yamabushiantiques.com? And that went into a collection? If I may ask, that is.

Good point, Kunitaro-san :-) The shape looked right, with expected wear in the sukashi and hitsu-ana, but the patina was, well... fake. But, of course, I am not a shinsa, I might be dead-wrong. It might have been a newly made tsuba, made to look like a ko-tosho.

I have had the opportunity to compare a repatinated ko-tosho tsuba with one that seems to have the patina intact. The difference is immense. And the former has been repatinated by someone whose job is considered very, very good. There will always be that dull look to a re-applied (read: fake) "patina". I have one tsuba that looks to be ko-tosho. I guess if it were ubu, I would never be able to afford it. The patina on it is gorgeous. I will probably state the obvious but patina is one of the most important factors in determining the age of a tsuba.

Don't you have the impression that "before" looks better than "after"?

Boner? Sorry guys, I know, that was cheap, cheap, cheap

Pinned?

Yes, you are referring to page 45 of Sasano's golden book. The Bonham's tsuba is "ubu" and although it is extremely hard to judge from their low-resolution pics, I would say it looks like a later piece. I do not like the round, thick rim, and I do not like its size. If it were an ubu early Muromachi katchushi tsuba, the price would easily reach $$,$$$. If the price goes that high, I might be wrong. Japanese collectors would fight for such a piece, I presume. I suppose it is a 19th c. revival piece.

David, I hope you won't get a nasty surprise. I know it looks like the one in Tosogu no Kigen, but it seems a revival copy.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/Cleaning.htm

No simple answer here. Read this: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/shaping.html

Ford, I beg to differ. No match for your work. Not even remotely. At least as far as this particular tsuba is concerned.

Hairsplitter :D Thanks, good avice :-)

This is a story which shows that it pays off to buy from honest people. A member of this Forum, Aaron Justice, has recently sold me a sword, a sue-Bizen katana. It came in nice polish, a flawless piece. I gave it to a sayashi and lo and behold! It turned out that the blade had a hagire. I must admit that the hagire was almost impossible to detect, it was below the machi and very tiny. Aaron has immediately offered full refund. I just sent him macro photographs of the hagire. He accepted it and I got the money back. Needless to say, with that kind of attitude, I would not hesitate to buy a sword from him again. I am sorry that he had to take the loss, but his behaviour was professional and honest. I thought I'd post this to cheer you up after some struggles with some eBay sellers

Laurent, as other members have already advised: stay away from eBay. My only remark is: a shorter sword, like wakizashi, is also nihonto. Just that it often comes with a better price/value ratio. There is an excellent article by Paul Bowman in the "Articles"-section, titled: "Size doesn't matter!" Get it and read it.

Thanks Brian, I believe what you say. I should stir some controversy regarding the tanto and tsuba I hope to sell I shut up now

Sorry, but even in this picture I seem to see a later copy. Everything is just to crisp, too new. Such a tsuba would be worth $$,$$$ Oh, well... auction houses...

There is also one large, ubu katchushi, identical to the one in Sasano's Tosogu no Kigen. If it is real (and not a later copy), this one might reach a lofty price.

Nothing wrong with the files, I have just downloaded them and opened them. Possibly some problems with your Internet connection and a partial download?

I have used the services of Yasuhiro-san. And I was very happy - excellent customer service. His email: mail AT menukiya.com

Oops! That shows that one should not comment on stuff that one has no knowledge about. Better to shut up than talk nonsense I give myself a ban as a punishment.

It is difficult to compare the mei on your pics, but I mus remark that the horimono seems very high quality. Hopefully this indicates that the sword might be genuine. No guarantee, though...

Dear Jean, I could not agree more I was just afraid, knowing the quality of some of your swords, that you would say shingane spots and a softened hamon would disqualify the blade....