Curran

Hoahn has this beautiful one up for $112. [tsuba #2] http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/21312-two-tsuba-and-a-kozuka/ The gold plugwork alone costs about $250. While he is right that it would probably paper to Shoami, it also does feel somewhat Sado Island or northern Japan. I find it a nice tsuba and very much a bargain to anything else I am seeing in Japan or on the web right now. Maybe, just maybe, if eBay is fished long enough- a better bargain can be found.

I should have refrained from posting before. I came back to delete it, but too late. "Ugh" was crude, yet honest response before morning coffee. I never understood the appreciation for Kaneiye until seeing more than a dozen as one of the displays at the DTI. Now I understand. I just don't have the ease of funds to afford them. On the affordable end, I've owned some exceptionally nice tsuba for $200-$250 I sold a nice one to NJ for that amount when/while paying off my Jinbei purchase. That Jibei cost more than the value of the old small Jaguar I drive, so you might say my priorities are screwed up. Save your money and buy one of those good yet affordable tsuba in the $200+ range.

ugh.

Accountant-bushi. [Papercuts clean through two bodies]

I have seen this tsuba design several times, with several different attributions from the NBTHK. I also believe one of this design is in one of the bettern western catalogings (Boston Museum?, Oxford Ashmolean Museum?, Baur Collection?). Please consider most western museum cataloging second to NBTHK opinions. Never having held any of them in person, I cannot explain why even the NBTHK runs so far spectrum on this design. Different shinsa teams in different years, challenged by a mumei tsuba not offering up particular tell tale clues? As to my opinion, from these photos I would be inclined to say Kyo-kinko some times in the mid to late 1700s? That is just a best guess. It is far from Sherlockean deductive reasoning. _Nor_ is the tsuba remotely by Omori Teruhide. Thus = nice tsuba with very bad gimei.

Second one is a nice tsuba with very bad gimei.

Grev, Sorry- No. Both are mumei and required some knowledge, though I was surprised to be the only bidder. Neither is for sale, nor will they probably be for years- but I learned my lesson years ago from a wealthy collector. That experience has made me not willing to discuss price on an item, unless I intend to sell it. Even then, nothing is gained by sharing whether I overpaid or underpaid for it. My loss or gain is my business, and I've certainly had both. --Once Yahoo!Japan was a good place for bargains, but it has gotten overrun with shills (apparently not policed very well, to the point of being borderline legal) and other weird manipulations of prices. Even with our $USD very strong now, I've largely given up on it. I bookmark things there for practice and study, but I've bought little to nothing from there this year. After currency and intermediary costs, many of the items end up being more expensive than negotiating with a dealer or buying from here in the USA. I figured I'd step up, in that Yes there are some good buys on eBay. Largely due to time constraints and how difficult it is to filter out all the Chinese and other junk- I rarely check it, but I had to greatly struggle not to pick up a very good Owari the other month. It isn't the place to find an undiscovered Juyo tsuba, but I have had ones get TH papers after buying them from eBay. I currently don't have an agent in Japan, so haven't bothered papering anything the past year or so. And NBTHK moving next year, so probably not going to paper anything then either.

Ebay has changed a lot over the years. Frankly, I consider it a good place to buy and a lousy place to sell. But you must dig through tons of garbage to find the good buys. I rarely have time. Since 2014, I haven't looked often. Too many Chinese fakes and coffee coaster grade tsuba. But I have had at least two ebay finds drop into my lap. Both came from USA antique shops and sold to me at about 25% of the Japanese dealer selling prices. I was the only bidder on both.

Thanks gents- Stephen in particular. Post grad school I've been off chasing other pursuits and obligations, including some exams I'm finding onerous. Hopefully this will all be behind me by mid next year and I can be back with NMB more. I started using eBay around 1998? It has certainly changed significantly from then. Because of the flood of 'arbitragers' and copies, I haven't used it much for Nihonto in at least 2 years. It seems to be even more overrun now. It is hard to find, "the needle (or two) in the haystack", and very easy to get lost in the crush. We'll see how things go. At this point I am only about $1000-$1500 out from paying off my pre-Christmas Nihonto gift to self.

Thanks Stephen- One down and one to go. After trying to contact eBay, I waited several hours for it to fix itself. -- No luck --. So I post here, go take a shower and #3 pops up. Hopefully #4 will pop up in the next few hours. I'd thought some word I had used in the listing might have put them in Limbo. Some of our European members have stressed that certain words keep antique weapon related listing from being visible in listing available to them.

Okay- I feel like wearing a dunce cap for asking this, but it has been a long time since I used eBay to list anything. I listed this Umetada School Tsuba 'No Reserve Auction': http://www.ebay.com/itm/322351590140?ul_noapp=true As it is labeled, it is #5 of 5 tsuba that I listed today after lunch. However, when I click on "See Other Items" and expect to see Tsuba #1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 - I am only seeing Tsuba #1, Tsuba #2, and Tsuba #5. When I search on them by name such as Hazama Tsuba or Higo Seibei Tani Tsuba- they don't appear. Any way I try and find them other than inside 'My eBay', they don't appear. Question: Can anyone else see those tsuba? I tried researching it via eBay, and also tried contacting them- but was dead ended by their flowchart to contact them. Any ideas on why buyers cannot see my other listings through the "See Other Items" button? Or why Tsuba #3 and #4 don't pop up in search queries? Any help appreciated. PM if you prefer. I'm stumped so far.

-T Ainu tsuba for you: http://www.kusanaginosya.com/SHOP/37.html 14mm thick.

Beautiful tsuba. It is always with a sigh of envy that I look at your photos and the tsuba Herr Prof Kremer has shared. While I think I have a nice collection, Herr Prof Kremer certainly has a nicer one.

3,800,000 yen- you might consider this one: http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2016/16586-2.jpg Operating from memory without dragging out the books- The Oei no San Mitsu and maybe Iesuke went through a period where they seem to have been employed or it was worth their time to make a lot of wakizashi with dates on them. I think the concentration was something like 1415 to 1425, with many many times more waks than katana or tachi. They are much more affordable at a fraction of the price of the tachi or katana. I've seen at least 3 (or 4?) waks Morimitsu has done with the grove and that particular horimono at the base. I like them and seriously considered the Aoi Arts one, especially as the $USD rises in strength. Self employment means screwy cash flows, so sometimes I cannot buy what I would like to buy when it becomes available. As it is not likely to correct on my end for a few months, I hope the Aoi Arts one finds a good home. I would welcome it or the Nobuiye on Darcy's site (nihonto.ca) if Santa is feeling very generous.

Amen brother. -Saran Wrap-. Simply driving from NJ to eastern PA over rough Interstate, the vibrations did a number on the kissaki of a blade in shirasaya. Since then..... learned heavenly appreciation for saran wrap and a few other shipping do & don't. As Barry said, Ted Tenold has taken it to a higher art form. Got a sword back from him once and slowed my unpacking of it to learn and appreciate the packing. ________________________________________ Chris: from 20 years of sending things here and there, I would say Germany is my LEAST favorite place to ship. For decades, they have been the most brutal on packages and had several go missing, unable to track, or stuck in customs. This is shared purely as empirical experience. Mailing to Germany has been much worse than other places I would think might be a problem like Russia, China, or the Middle East. In my experience, Germany has been the #1 problem country.

Learning something new. Thanks Brian, Ford, and for the info from John too. I'd seen examples in Auction catalogues, but never read up on it until today.

Thank you Peter. This is of interest to me. If I had known in 2014, I would have made an effort to engage them and see some of the collection- fittings specific. Should I be there again in the next year or two, I will try.

I thought the same too, seeing the "hawk feather" nakago-jiri. The late John Prough did a good write-up on Kaga nakago-jiri for the NYMetro club.

His first link in his first post worked for me. There are blade photos there. I was actually looking for images of the nakago and didn't see he'd posted a link to them in his second post.

The two NBTHK Hozon papers in this thread are from 2016 and 2015. I said before, "These papers are dated 2016, so this may reflect one of those changes I believe came to pass in 2014". I would have attributed the one in Mauro's link as Kaga Kinko, and would have been confident NBTHK would concur prior to 2014. Mauro- thank you for the link.

Yes. I'll leave it at that.

Papers say Kaga Zogan. I'm not particularly accepting of the NBTHK hozon opinions that are dated 2014 onwards, but I would stick with what the papers say over what this particular seller is saying in selling this daisho tsuba set.

As to Kaga Zogan: I can only give my opinion in that it is a variation of a zogan technique. I have seen what I thought to be the same technique on some Umetada works. Is it exactly the same?--> That is really a question for Ford. How old are the papers? NBTHK Green or White papers? I understand why a tsuba like this might be called 'Umetada' at one point and time, and 'Kaga kinko' at another. Different judges at different times.

The listing says 'Kaga Goto'. I've reached the point where my eyesight is not adequate to accurately see the last two characters on the attribution and confirm it. [Edit] One of the quiet wise gents with better eyesight than mine confirmed what what I suspected- The papers say 'Kaga Zogan'. I don't recall seeing 'Kaga Zogan' attribution before. Usually it has been Kaga Kinko or Kaga Goto. These papers are dated 2016, so this may reflect one of those changes I believe came to pass in 2014.

+1 I regret missing that display.