Marius

Ian, I thought this was a synthetic representation of a hunter, hence no arms, legs and details. But surely, you are right, thanks for the info The person who has got the deal is a real gentleman whom I like and respect. I am glad it was him who got it :-) Since I will not be able to ship before Wednesday, I may take some close-ups and post them here. Brian, maybe you would like to move this thread to the "Tosogu" section?

This lovely, little tsuba is now sold. That went fast :D Thanks for looking

Boohoohooh, sniff, sigh Curran has ignored my soft metal stuff OK, here is another try....

Ian, I would say this is a fisherman, dressed in a straw rain coat. But the scarecrow version is very appealing. This would be a sophisticated scarecrow, mimicking an archer. Perhaps to scare off cormorants?

Keith, you are not :-) I was thinking earlier than Edo, too, but the inlay looks Edo, at least IMHO. I will try to do macro pics, but not earlier than next week, as I am away now.

Nice, deep patina and well executed mimi. Inlays in silver, gold and shakudo, representing a hunter shooting a bird. Small, granular tekkotsu on the rim. Could be Edo, maybe earlier with later added inlay. 6.8 x 6.5 cm. Thickness 2.5 mm at seppa-dai, 4 mm at rim.

I am afraid that Toru has just disappeared. I have sent him a PM (unread) plus an email with a list of books. No reply, no "thank you", no "buzz off, I don't need your advice" or any other reply. I am afraid we have wasted our time here.

Pete, many thanks, again I have learned something :-) Great tsuba

Just to break the monopoly of iron tsuba in the thread - here is a soft metal tsuba, which is on of my personal favourites. Not a great work, just an ordinary tsuba for the ordinary samurai...

edited by myself.

Pete, What do you think it is? The motif taking up a large part of the seppa-dai.... ?

Paul, I used to own an absolutely splendid Bungo Takada wakizashi, which could be taken for a Hizen-to, were it not signed. I wish I would have kept it. Veli, whatever your sword is, it is gorgeous Definitely something to keep and to study.

Bungo Takada?

Yes, I have lost my head for the sword

I can confirm that Kevin is really an excellent seller. I have bought an excellent Shitahara wakizashi from him - everything was flawless, execution was excellent.

Especially Microsoft

Keith, while not disagreeing with you, I would like to add that some interesting thoughts about mumei blades have been recently expressed in Nakahara's book (which is widely seen as very controversial). The only review of this book I could find online is unfortunatelly mine, so I hope you will not regard me as uncouth if I post it here? http://gomabashi.blogspot.com/2011/01/r ... s-and.html @ KM Henk-Jan, Your preferences will possibly change the more exposure to good swords you get. This is an experience I have made, when, to my own astonishment I have rediscovered a forgotten tanto as my best piece (yes, you've guessed correctly, it had a suguha :-) If you allow a word of advice - try to see the blade as something separate from the koshirae. I know this is difficult, given the European tradition, but most koshirae you can buy with a blade are a haphazard affair, regardless of how well the tsuka is wrapped Making a good new koshirae is an art involving several artisans and it does not come cheap. I recommend you do not get distracted by the koshirae when buying a blade. The mountings will be ususally nearly worthless, but you will be asked to pay a premium, because only a mounted sword is a "real samurai sword" in the eyes of so many inexperienced enthusiasts... Sorry about the OT

Joel, your tsuba looks real enough, first of all. Most likely a late Edo piece which has lost much of its inlay. It used to have inome zogan (check the meaning of the term here: http://www.shibuiswords.com/glossary1.htm). This has been lost possibly due to low quality of the work. BTW, your pictures are really too big. They take long to load and take up valuable space. You could make them smaller with maybe one hig-res cropped pic as an addition. Enjoy your antique tsuba on your sword. Don't clean it, don't oil it, just leave it as it is.

Location does make a difference. Tang or Sung antiques, sold for $50 or $100 from China. Would you buy them as genuine?

One big ko-katchushi with gorintou ko-sukashi and Amida yasuri?

Not bad for the first tsuba Actually, I like it. The iron looks good on the picture, the tsuba must feel good in your hand. Do I see traces of gilding and black lacquer?

Thanks for the pic. This is completely different and the signature here shows that it was done in a very confident manner. It is strong indeed.

Micha, thanks, this was the sort of answer I was waiting for - you point out precisely what you see as a deviation from known signatures. To be honest, I haven't studied the signature much - as already said, this is a yari from the collection of a friend... I should be grateful if you could indicate which generation the forger was trying to mimic? I know this blade will be submitted to shinsa, and I will be happy inform about the results.

Micha, one pic is attached to the first post. Gimei? Maybe. What is the reasoning behind your statement?

Dear All, A friend of mine has acquired a fukuro yari. What do you think of the signature? It has some history and is accompanied by an origami by Hon'ami Koson. There was an article in the JSSUS journal recently, showing various generations. What do YOU think?