Spartancrest

For a small patch of rust you can use something like a bamboo tooth pick or a bone awl or ivory but be most careful near any inlay or nunome. You need to stay away from those areas as much as possible. I know it can be difficult, the rust often has a habit of building up right next to the parts you need to avoid. Just as an example of bone awls - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/225507029530 I am sure you can find something in France or make your own from a piece of cow bone. The bone will remove red rust but won't destroy the patina or damage the metal. Sometimes when the rust is over a larger flat surface a 'spatula' shape can remove more at one time than a needle point version PS . Welcome to NMB

Yes there are small variations, I like the perfection of your wasp's eyes and the gold ten-zogan in the fruit which the MFAB doesn't have [I still can't access the site to have a better look] I can't be sure if the sizes are the same either? Could they be a pair?

Also from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Tsuba with design of biwa fruit. Japanese. Edo period. mid-19th century. Tanaka Akiyoshi. School Haruaki School. So at least we know what the wasp is hanging on. For some reason I am unable to open the museum's site tonight to give you the reference numbers - perhaps they might be accessible from your end?

Never doubt there is another one lurking about - this took me 35 seconds to find! It is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston IMO yours is better! Looks like an identical mei. "Tsuba with design of wasps and fruiting branches"

Well I can find a similar design. But I can't be sure of the Akasaka attribution on either of them http://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/d9.html Reed Grass a Wild Goose Tsuba Signed : Oite Sanshu-Nishio Kunitomo MASAYUKI-saku Round shape, Iron ground, Masame forging surface, Ji-sukashi Open work, Kebori carving, Round contoured Maru-mimi rim 76.3mm x 76.7mm 5.7mm thick (Mimi) / 5.4mm thick (Seppa-dai) NBTHK(Tokubetsu Hozon) certificate

They look in good order to me, just use a soft cotton cloth to remove any dust but really they look just fine!

Lots of goofy tigers getting about!

I vote for cast as well, the mei looks thick and rounded. I would have expected the wing veins on the wasp to have been sharper. There are no obvious cast seams so it was likely re-worked and not just a token amount either. The ten-zogan gold eyes and fruits testify to finishing touches done very well. The more you look the more difficult to be sure! I would go 60/40 for cast. I would be happy to be wrong.

Glen is correct there are various 'grades' of these Aoi design guards. They are in fact still being made! Vitaly the one you are looking at is probably mid range? It does have the gold accents and it looks in good condition but I also agree with Brian that it has not been mounted, so that could well account for its good condition. I am not totally convinced with this ebay example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144836055028 There is a lack of nunome on this one and the price is well above what you are being offered. You can get a brand new - made yesterday- one for the same sort of money you are paying for a genuine piece but why would anyone! https://www.jauce.com/auction/p1084261501 One of Glens cast examples with the cast in tagane-ato is found here: [though the owner seems unaware that it is a cast piece] https://www.sakuramatsuriantiquariato.com/en/tsuba-and-kodogu-for-sale/tsuba-Japanese-for-sale/tsuba-aoi-echizen-kinai/ A selection of Kinai tsuba are found here from the A.H.Church collection: http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10237/10354 Specifically the Aoi designs here: http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10237/10354/19950 http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10237/10354/19951 So you can see it is not all that easy to tell a good one from a great one - little easier to spot the 'new' fakes but it is sure easier with experience!

I'll post an image of my crab sukashi - I think it is a modern hobby piece, the rim and legs are very thin and the whole thing is very lightweight. It didn't set me back much so no big drama.

I think the Jittoku is fairly late Edo, it doesn't appear to have been mounted [I could be wrong] Have you noticed the 'Fuji-san" likeness to Jittoku's head? I wonder if this is deliberate or just a coincidence? I have blurred his features to show the shape better.

Yes we were supposed to have "paper free" offices by now as well - where did that go wrong! PS. Where is my personal robot and flying car - fifty years and still waiting! - "They lie to the fishes" favourite quote from "Falling Down"

Darren tells me it is made of resin - very convincing iron look though!

A stand that adds a bit more style - excellent workmanship. Rising star!

Same design as this [but not as good! ] Matching paperweight - https://www.jauce.com/auction/1081919825

Still works - it is a very recognizable image. This guard by Goto Hokyo Ichijo 1791-1876 has the same orientation as yours does. It must all depend on where you are looking from? But the design does fit better having the small rock on the left.

Me too! I have six of these "Beauties of the Floating World" - my camera just ran out of batteries #*#*#! Added one like this single example decorating a wall in our "Granny flat" I had to find a similar image on the net since my camera wants to play up! #### Did you notice the Kunisada image has the taller rock on the opposite side to the one on your guard? One image must have gotten mirror reversed at some stage?

Bookends https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1085576207

this could very easily be the number 3 copy! https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1085360736 The patina is off and the sekigane look like part of the body, not an added feature as does the ategane. Someone will not be happy when they get it!

What is advertised is not what you get! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/314449795999 Antique Edo Kumihimo Obijime Goto Goto it is not! Try Kinai? With the accessory of the obi it is still cheaper than without it! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/354617105984

You never see a happy Shachi - what got them so upset!

Yes watching it go past my play money limit!

I could not help noticing this dragon 'tsuba' - https://www.jauce.com/auction/s1085765929 or https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/s1085765929 I am sure it will attract some attention and is reasonably convincing. However it is one of four designs put out by the Hachette model company of Japan [this is issue 1] - sort of "buy one every week/month and build the entire set". It has become an item taken out of its original context once it has been removed from it's box. The original premise was that collectors could accumulate a large number of replica tsuba and finally house them in a tiered display box. Sales were so poor that the editions were cancelled after four issues. - [There must be a warehouse somewhere with a lot of nice storage boxes gathering dust.] So don't be too surprised if these replicas start to turn up on auctions or for sale. PS. the Hachette company no longer sells the items. I will keep my example in its box - much like Star Wars figures it might actually be worth something if kept that way for the future!

" Takase Yoshitoshi was a talented tsuba maker from the Hitachi Province working as part of the Mito School circa 1800. His pieces can be found in museum collections around the world. See the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, access. no. AK-MAK-1140 for another tsuba signed Takase Yoshitoshi of similar design on loan from the Royal Asian Art Society of the Netherlands. Also, see the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, access. no. 13.2696 for another tsuba by Takase Yoshitoshi featuring crashing waves purchased from Chikami Kiyoomi (1856-1916), former governor of Kagoshima. Cf. R E Haynes, The Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists, no.H12191; also see B W Robinson, The Art of the Japanese Sword, p.81, pl.88." He seems to have had a predilection for doing waves as these examples and the fuchi would show. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/13779/tsuba-with-design-of-waves;jsessionid=6BA31578AAD07C41893E94B21D9CADDE Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, access. no. AK-MAK-1140 Also a previous auction with almost the same design as that in the Rijksmuseum. https://www.lotsearch.net/lot/an-impressive-Japanese-shakudo-takase-yoshitoshi-tsuba-54045298