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Mantis dude

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Everything posted by Mantis dude

  1. figured I add the outside picture (both sides of the fuchi). Size is a small 6/16" X 1 1/2" -tanto size. Looks to be well done with nice nanako and gold inlay.
  2. Hi All, I have this fuchi that has 2 stamps on the inside. I have never seen this before and was hoping someone can help me id it. I appreciate any comments. Thanks!
  3. Just about every kanji is written differently and is not matching up to wakayama and the kinko meikan (I think is the other reference I used) examples, Plus when looking online a few examples I did find did match a lot more to the book examples given. I am by no means an expert in reading Japanese but the characters were written so differently that I really didn't see anything matching ie the curvatures of lettering are way off & the direction of the tops of kanji aren't matching, so I don't really think even stylistically it matches. The kanji used perhaps matches but how each is written is very different. If I just had a reference book of how it was signed and not the an actual signature picture, I could see thinking it might be ok. But that is why I asked, just to double check. I don't use price especially since it is early in the auction. However, when I do see lots of early bids it actually makes me lean to a more valid signature (the number of bids is more indicative than the early price achieved) . Really though prices don't start rising until the last few days or the final day in my experience. I think most bidders want to try and keep the price down. That's my rationale so far. Thanks.
  4. A mantis where? lol. Thanks Pete, the mei looked so off, I was thinking maybe I was missing something but I guess it is just a gimei done with no reference to the original mei. Thanks.
  5. Hi All, I have been looking at this tsuba http://page3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c320884726 and according to my references I am coming up with this mei as gimei for shoami ietake (supposedly of Iwa shoami school). I would appreciate any other opinions confirming or denying my analysis. Thanks.
  6. another one with the same punch patterns for sale but when I inquired if they knew the school - they said they didn't know http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0827981791 The Akao school definitely has masculine look for lack of a better word. Has a stout/strong look to them. Whether the tsuba I am inquiring about are Akao or not, there is a definite pattern covering many different looks although there seems to be a good amount of geese depicted. I really would love to find out about who made these.
  7. Thanks Paul. I don't exactly remember how I got this but it is older and the 2 sheet version. I have to fold it in half to fit on a book shelf. I was impressed with the pictures and info, even if the pieces are gone which of course would be disappointing they still must make good reference material. I can understand why they took it to one sheet- it must have been a pain to mail out. Anyway, thanks for the quick reply and Happy New year.
  8. Hi All, I have this large page catalog from Japan but I don't know the name of who sent it out. The photos are great- it is book like quality photos. Attached is the top of catalog and I am hoping someone can translate it or recognize it. I appreciate it. Thanks.
  9. Very interesting and I am sorry quoted the wrong catalog - it is from Haynes auction catalog #9 number 262. They obviously liked that design element.
  10. Hi, A long time ago I had seen a tsuba from a board member that was unique made out of unrefined copper (aka mountain copper) and it had an applied copper rim. Then I found a tsuba in compton's Catalog attributing a depicted tsuba to the Akao school which was similar. What I found interesting was that the plate of both tsuba were decorated with a small punch but on the seppa dai a large dot pattern was done. I then found a geese tsuba (different then the pictured compton catalog) that was done in the same design with the punch marks. Recently on ebay there was a shakudo tsuba that also followed the same pattern. I am curious if people would agree that this is the work of the akao school and I thought people might enjoy just seeing all these tsuba. Thanks for looking and any comments appreciated:
  11. so it is just a dragon that exfoliates & moisturizes. The opposite tale of the ancient chinese legend of the dragon with the giant zit. Happy holidays and may you all get facials for presents (I tried to up the weirdness factor)
  12. since I am not an expert on metals I can have trouble ascertaining what type of metal something is, however, iron vs copper should be easy.. I would assume a magnet would answer that question. I don't think I ever saw that type of menuki although I was thinking dragon, just the head is unique. What is a rain dragon or what is the legend behind it? thanks and Have great holidays.
  13. I can't tell sometimes items like this might be pouch clasps although I still classify them as menuki especially when they are mantis (thanks for posting by the way). I am not familar with Goto using inlays like that- Goto typically uses gold as its primary inlay. There are some schools that do other inlays although I am not sure about the actual stones in this one being used in their pieces. There is the Hirata school, I think there is another school or two names that are escaping me at the moment. A little story: There is a Hirata tsuba that has been up for sale and I thought the asking price was crazy until I was able to see the piece better as well as did some reading on the school, discovering that they used different materials and the actual tsuba I was looking at was done with enamals, very nice. From the picture I thought it was just simple normal inlay techniques, but when I was able to see the inlay (or overlay may be a better descriptor) work better, I understood. Here is a little blurb about the school and some examples. http://tsuba.jyuluck-do.com/HirataSchool.html http://www.silk-road.us/hirata.html http://www.scholarsresource.com/browse/ ... 2142569339 I don't know enough about the school though to know if your piece fits stylistically as a hirata piece. From my understand Hirata pieces are rare so you don't see them often. I would of course keep it for you if you wanted. Thanks for posting, nice little piece.
  14. Nothing new with fakes all over, even yahoo.jp is invaded with "chinese crappers". One must remember also that when dealing with Antique dealers, they usually have a specialty and when they sell something outside that specialty they have about as much knowledge as any joe schmoe off the street. Sometimes their exposure to old items can help so they have a sense of what is an antique item just by their hands on experience, however with something like our very specialized collecting area they may know nothing. Case in point, since I started collecting over a decade ago there is every so often what appears to be a water dropper offered from what look like to be genuine dealers. However, this water dropper is made up of a tsuba that is signed, it has a mantis on it (of course) and is a complete fake. I have seen the tsuba alone, as well as, many times made into the water dripper (or is it dropper?). I have seen it sold at auctions, on ebay, and on dealer sites- prices have ranged from the hundreds to thousands. All of these dealers think they have a genuine article. So if you are going to buy from a dealer for added security, try to make sure that dealer has a focus in Japanese items, otherwise, you may actually know more than him/her and not really adding any security to the transaction other than if reputable they may have a money back guarantee. Isn't this hobby scary... haha. Good luck and remember to have fun.
  15. sometimes when I am up to it, I research yahoo.jp sales. I see some interesting pieces go for not a lot of money. A few days later while scrolling through ebay, I see the same piece being sold to the US. Makes me laugh, it is as if some Japanese dealers have found an arbitrage situation.
  16. Those are definitely the scary ones! Even in hand it may be hard to discern, you should become familiar with telling points for cast tsuba. Adding some rust/artificial aging to tsuba like that can up the hard to tell issue. Also, you might just have to take peeks at websites that sell these hard to tell repros/fakes. Just knowing what is being repro'd out there has saved me before. Here are some websites http://www.n-p-s.net/tuba101.htm http://swordstore.com/sword-furniture-1 ... mit=30&p=3 http://www.sekiryu.co.jp/komono/05.htm http://tsubaryuken.com/ A Japanese site that has some handwork That's a start. Hey Let's be careful out there!
  17. Not to be an elitist (not sure that is the correct word I am looking for) but as soon as I looked at the "tsuba" I said fake. I know I don't have a great deal of knowledge and have huge gaps, but if you can't see that is a fake right away, I think you would greatly benefit from looking at as many websites and books as possible to develop your eye a bit more (assuming you don't have access to the real thing). I am trying to say this respectfully and in a non-offensive way. The sooner you eliminate these "crappers", you can focus on the real pieces that do appear online. Unlike some, I don't view online as evil, just have to be able to quickly filter out the junk. However, I will agree there is nothing like holding a real piece. I wish I had more examples to actually hold and help develop a true eye for quality pieces. If you ever get the opportunity to hold a true quality piece, it does amaze me how there can be such a different feel to the item. I am constantly amazed at how different a same size tsuba can feel, including weight and/or density of the metal. I can't remember which article it was, might be from the compton auction catalogs which are a reprint of something else (might be from the Tsuba. An Aesthetic Study). Anyway, the point of the article was discerning a quality tsuba from the "junk", a poorly condensed summary of the article was, "its the plate stupid" (me being the stupid one). And since reading that early on, I have tried to understand that concept or at least work towards that understanding. A suggestion might be to go on Richard Stein's iconic website http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nihonto.htm and click on the commercial websites ( english & Japanese). Instead of looking at ebay, at least spend time looking at pieces that you know are real. That will help develop your eye. Wow did I just ramble, anyway, good luck and have fun! I won't tell anyone you are looking at online pieces- just make sure you can do a decent job at eliminating the more obvious fakes from the real pieces. You can then move to being able to discern better tsuba from lesser ones.
  18. Curran, Very interesting, even if not kozenji work, I am not aware of this school or the Id tip of kaga and mino. I will read up on the school. Thanks!
  19. Hi all, Searching the internet I found this kozuka but it had no info about it. I was curious if anyone has a guess as to which schools it could possibly come from? The metal is shakudo with gold inlays. The nanako and inlay continues on side of piece. It is 3 28/32" long X 17/32" wide X 8/32" at its highest point. My guess might be Kaga because of the plant inlays but not sure of that at all. Because of the insects I could also say mino or mino goto. Having no signature certainly makes assigning a school much harder. Appreciate any guesses out there. Thanks. Ken
  20. Mantis dude

    Tsuba Panels

    I have seen them used in tsuba a few times, I don't think they are that uncommon. I have seen them used in iron and kinko work. I have handled some iron pieces attributed to Shoami. Enjoy.
  21. just ran across this on yahoo.jp a moon and star constellation menuki mounted on a tsuka with no wrap. http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g102932109
  22. It seems that in additon to sharing the same last name, Henry also has great taste, Mantis (kamakiri) rule!!!!!!!!! Okay, I may be biased but I am the Mantis Dude after-all. Here is one that I wish I owned an inspite of trying to find the owner I never was able to. From this website http://www.ncjsc.org/item_tsuba_shonai_shoami.htm
  23. you can also look at jewelry supply stores to find a variety of workable solutions that are customizable to fit tsuba in. i.e. travel cases that are designed to hold trays, etc. I have seen hard cases, soft cases, ones on wheels. they also have storage bags that might be useful. The trays are customizable with different inserts- there are just a lot of configurations you can come up with.
  24. Ok I am running into all these items. I think these are good size owl menuki http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g88068070. No more until I find female fittings, did see some but they are "repros" so those don't count.
  25. I think so far we have proven that every theme has been used except geisha and strippers on fittings.... wait, I can't remember but have I seen real shungru sword fittings? They might have been modern, I didn't pay attention. Some of the older collection books like Naunton and a few others have some great menuki pictures along with others where I have seen a lot of different themes. I remember seeing snakes in one of those (one mentioned before). Maybe a set of menuki straight bars I saw were really stripper poles! Poles http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/130801640
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