Curran

That is shitte. @#$%^&! Sorry. Busy week traveling, and I'm thinking about work tomorrow. I figured I would check in on NMB before bed. This is ____ news. Brian- Thank you for letting us know. Yet, I'm angry about it. We've had some painful losses over the years, including Jeremiah last year. I cannot believe Brian (Winchester) is gone. He and I had some fun correspondence and too much in common. We traded a few things, just to play. I have two Benchmade pocket knives from him- one for home and one for car/field, that I traded for a tsuba just to have some fun. I didn't know that he was younger than me. This is wrong. Condolences to Sarah. He is certainly missed by me. He was fun, and correspondence from him was welcome any time. I will miss it.

Why? If he wants to shotgun sell it, maybe. If he wants to learn more about the pieces, he'd do better here or with the help of some of the private forums that exist around. Ed is more likely to help him than Bonhams. I have the greatest respect for Jeff Olson at Bonhams, and I have sold with him both there and when he was at Christies. When you walk into an auction house to sell something, you should really know before hand what it is that you are bringing in.

agreed. Like the offspring of a Haguro tsuba and a Namban. Definitely more on the Namban side with that seppa dai and general execution.

The kozuka with the large tiger on it is in Sekibun's style. It is probably signed on the back with a sloppy looking signature. Ie. Not as neat as the signatures on the back of Hamano kozuka.

Welcome to the Tosogu section. That is quite a mix of kozuka. There are several nice ones in there. Personally, I like the Edo Goto one of black [shakudo] crabs. There are also two or three Hamano, a Kaga kinko, and one or two others. Signatures on the back might help produce more information, though there were a lot of "added signatures" done in the late 1800s to make them sell better to the visiting foreigners. Still, we can judge. If you feel like going through them one at a time... Some of us welcome the challenge. Also, visiting Ed M. over in Louisiana should give you some quality answers. Curran

Great observation. I was going to say that the shi-shi menuki had a more complex mane than most I had seen. Then you linked it back to a Ko-Goto set with similar complex mane. Good example of later generation pulling from earlier generation example. I have a good example of 7th gen Kenjo copying one of his father's (Tokujo, the 5th gen) designs. Very similar, with small differences.

I disagree with that. While there have been several big mumei ones like the Miyamoto Musashi tsuba and the Hayashi Matashichi, there was also a huge signed one that someone managed to buy before auction ended. I think there is a fair chance that one will make Juyo next year. Unfortunately, not mine, so it has to stay at that for now. I've papered a few signed ones like Jochiku Murakami. Like Norisuke, Ikkin works seem to be at whatever level someone was paying.

There are some very well curated tsuba in there. There is one I very much want, and 4 or 5 that I might lowball. If the Tariffs weren't in the way, I might have a much better chance of getting what I am after.

They've been around a very long time. Widely respected, though their site hasn't changed much in nearly 25 years. They post less items each year, so I worry about their age. While I don't think I have every bought from them, I have seen some purchases from them. Usually it is pretty good stuff. I am still trying to buy a tsuba from someone who purchased it from Tokugawa Art. I wish I had seen it and bought it when they had it listed. One of my neighbors beat me to it. Every now and then, they surface some gems.

Cheers back at you. I was surprised to see an older thread pop up. It is nice to have the continuation now. Best wishes.

The cost of NBTHK papers just went up recently. Not that it matters much in this small financial debate about the restoration of a Yagyu. I have seen them cleaned up before, worked on a bit, and then off to NBTHK for papers.

Thank you for posting that. I geeked out on reading it. I had not known Fred W. had such an article tucked away on his site.

Great explanation. Thank you.

It looks legit to me. I have no idea what you paid for it. The auction was a bit of a stretch to equate it with the Bonhams one. Nearly 30 years in, I still make a mistake from time to time. I made one last year when I got a tsuba a bit too cheap. Not a travesty, but the condition was not as expected. Curran

The large format Goto book is all Japanese. I think it was a limited # run. However, there is Markus Sesko's Tosogu Classroom book with quite a bit in English about the Goto boys. As for Goto Tokujo Mitokoromono, well- I don't know if I have ever seen a complete set before. I have seen mix n match between him, his father, and/or his son, but never a complete set by one guy.

I like this post by Tim. It sums things up well. I largely collect (school) + (High Quality) of Owari and Higo schools. The two general groups are about 80% of what I own. This doesn't mean that I don't buy outside of these groups. The other 20% does really fall into category collecting (one example of various schools) There are some that collect entirely certain themes. I've walked into households where there are 1000+ tosogu of a certain theme.

I thought a good chance that it was. I couldn't remember what level papers, but learned towards more likely Juyo than not. If you see enough of it, you can learn to identify the makers by things such as composition and certain tell-tale details. For me, the nanako made me think = Tokujo. But I think I can only reflexively recognize a few generations. The big format Goto book [I forget the author] also helps a lot at times.

I find this VERY funny. The mon on my Goto Tokujo menuki are also suspiciously close to that of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Talk about casting shade. If I can find it, I am going to link an article written by our esteemed Markus Sesko @Markus https://markussesko.com/2013/04/23/goto-chojo-the-secret-saver-of-the-goto-family/ It makes for great context. Kojo's two kids, older brother Tokujo vs younger brother Chojo = Toyotomi vs Tokugawa

Some like this one are a lot less of the sandy variety. TH to Yagyu. Theme is the 4 Classes of Japanese (Edo) Society This one might have been a special commission. Very unusual theme, and not evident it is Yagyu at first glance. The mimi and other evidence points to Yagyu. Tsuba really need an angled view for kantei traits.

Generally they tend to be more sandy, like this one. This one passed Hozon to Yagyu last year. Chrysanthemums in a Bowl of Water, or something like that. Fluidity in life? Good mindset for fencers.

Okay, Steve said it first. This is what I was thinking. It reminds me of the early efforts of a contemporary artist I know.

My opinion is that it is None-of-the-Above . It doesn't fit the textbook definitions of any of those schools. Quite a challenging thing.

I agree with Victor. The Mito umbrella is huge, with a lot of spin off Mito influenced schools. This feels more in that direction. For me, the plant leaves on the Tiger side point that way. This is probably Mito+(School#2) work, so probably a Mito spinoff school. It looks like it will clean up nicely with a little TLC. Maybe some "in a museum drawer" neglect, since the rust is older and yet more prominent on one side.

As much as I'd love to see it- don't do it. I did it with my first love: the other o-tanto I own. It took maybe 8 years and is almost certainly a money sink. There are some in Japan that can do it much more economically than outside of Japan, but it is a difficult road.

Goto Tokujo = my favorite mainline Goto dude. His son Kenjo is my #2 pick. Tokujo lead quite a life clashing with the Tokugawa, ending up ronin for a while, AND he did it with daughters En Tout. Elements of the Lone Wolf n Cub story from his life, and he was a top notch artist on top of it all. I saw this recently with someone who I thought was based in Japan. If you picked it up from him, well done. Scoring a complete set of Goto Tokujo work is.... very hard. I haven't been able to do it. I've been searching for one of his rare tsuba for several years and had one or two near misses.