Curran

Your reading has been impressive for a while. I doubt I could have ever figured out that 繁 (shige). Interesting tsuba, far away from the schools I know the most about. Decently executed, so Steve is probably right on his attribution to the Edo artist.

I didn't realize the menuki were that large. I considered bidding on them myself, but am fighting with myself to save up money for another purchase later this year. Doc Kyle's writeup is spot-on. My first thought was Ezo, but the longer I look at them the more I agree with Edo revival. --Still, nice posts on the backside point towards older. Nice set.

Seeing this thread, my though was "Gorinto". It seems you guys had the same thought.

Both flipping impressive, and rare as unicorns. I and another NMB member were late to that Khorin. Congrats on getting it. You know me and love for Ko-Mino.

Going from a good little show of Akasaka and turning into an interesting display of Namban. Nice to see collections not as concentrated in Higo and Owari as I have been these last few years. Happy New Year to All. May 2022 be -Strong like the Ox-

Ford's imagined response, "I'm a doctor... not a necromancer!" (Ford in the voice of Dr. Bones)

He's dead Jim. (-Star Trek, Dr. Bones)

Most excellent tiger tsuba for 2022. Personally I love the rendering of the pine tree and rain above.

It was a busy year with not much time for Tosogu, but I came away with 3 or 4 things that I will enjoy for a while. I do not currently have photos of the ko-goto kogai, but it came from a friend... as most of my pieces seem to do these days.

Start with Jim Gilbert's article linked by Dale. Antler vs Ivory have their different advantages. I have old scraps of both. A little ivory shard or pencil like sliver lasts a very long time, and can be had from old busted piano keys or old scraps from knife makers. Note: I cannot remember the last time i boiled a tsuba, though I did try that long long ago when I first read the Jim Gilbert article. As Ed said, that can lead to a lot of other things. In general, Less is More or Keep It Simple . Don't overdo anything. Harder to un-do it.

Thank Jim Gilbert. I wish he were still updating the blog. Many many good articles there.

Jim is quite the authority and knows much more about these than I ever will. It was just better to cite him. The other times I have seen them, they have been in Japanese text only and my ability to read is Elementary school level.

https://tsubakansho.com/

Seiyudo.... If you can get a fair deal from them, then you are skilled. In 20+ years, I think they are one of the few dealers with whom I have never had a single transaction. Lovely example of a very healthy Omiya Morikage, but price is probably more than the new car I buy in 2022 or 2023.

I suspect he was bidding against you. I broke my "don't bother with Yahoo!Japan" rule this morning and bid on an unsigned Hazama of a design I like. Thought I had it, and then someone outbid me. I think I raised my bid about 15 times and there were no other bids or bidders than mine, but I never got above the Nuke Bid. All I did was drive it up several hundred $$$ on the winner, who also seemed to be using a proxy service. Westerner vs other non Japanese bidder. If it was you... sorry about driving up the price. Congrats. Kirill probably feels the same. Lots of NMB people bidding on Yahoo!Japan these days.

For the last 15 years, I've only owned two blades. One of them is a partially signed Omiya. I had it out last night and was appreciating it. Beautiful balance. Opinion: Omiya + 1

Generally this is a Saotome design, though yours doesn't feel Saotome. Tosho - Katchushi is probably the right ballpark. It might get a Myochin, Haruta, or Saotome attribution from the NBTHK depending on their mood that month.

In my experiences, BUYEE did a particularly crappy job declaring for Customs. I quickly came to realize I'd be paying an extra +10% to +18% on items. Any attempt to file against it was met by a DHL service charge almost always equal the amount I was fighting. Lose-lose, so avoid Buyee.

I like this one very much. We've had a number of these threads over the years. Mine has been up a few times before, and I might was well post it again. -Signed and dated 1754 on the bottom.- Spartan, which is more my aesthetic.

One is a liar. Many [not all] of the eBay seller listings from Japan are jerks arbitraging items that can be found for less in Japan. I managed to avoid them for years, but got caught by one earlier this year. I hit his Buy It Now. Yet then I discovered the item listed in Japan with 7 days to go on the item. The Faux Seller kept putting me off as he tried to bid on the other item. Ultimately, if they can arbitrage it- they will and screw you. If not, they cancel and say "Item no longer available". IN my case, I began copying messages to eBay while catpawing with the faux seller to please send the item. The seller ultimately claimed that I asked to cancel the transaction [I did not]. --I ended up winning the item in Japan for about 55% of the price I had hit on eBay. Despite being caught, eBay still lets the Arbitrage scammer list items. It is unclear how they justify it, but they basically take the attitude that you must be mistaken...even if you send them an image of the item in your hand held over a physical hardcopy of today's local newspaper. The short version: other than maybe Matsukaze and one or two others, avoid sellers out of Japan. The majority are Arbitrage scammers that eBay continues to permit. Curran

Yes.... Make sure the headline of the thread says exactly what you want to focus on. I rarely read all the thread these days, but a dedicated thread can generates some interesting discussion. I do wish I had studied the theme of that tsuba a bit more before selling it.

For future reference, careful with the angle of lighting on that "salt bucket" Nishigaki. To others, in that odd angle photo -they will mistakenly see patina loss. In addition to the similar Kanshiro one in the Sasano Silver book, I also recently came across this Kamiyoshi one: https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumeiunsignedkamiyoshi/ Sasano said it referenced a famous Noh play of the 1600s. Have you been able to find out more about it? Possibly this one? https://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/data/program_043.html George on this list is quite good with such themes.

Great Kote and great information on books.

Brian, Hughes-san, Thank you for the news. Guido, " To fight with tempests anywhere, And in the grinding shipwreck stand and not despair" Please get better soon. Later you can make fun of me quoting Goethe's Faust to you.

Bathing Crows is almost always a Goto design. I have no idea why it wasn't knocked off or copied by other schools.