Curran

I am discovered.... I was going to bid on that kozuka. My feelings were Kyo-Goto (Waki-Goto). I didn't think Kaga Goto, but I could be wrong. My concern is the script is lacquer painted on, whereas the two mainline Goto ones I showed have it inlaid. I did archery a lot growing up. Not exactly Olympic level, but up there. Really loved it and am considering getting back into it. So- yeah, was going to try and pick this one up. Are you sure this is the same poem on this kozuka? The Goto ones are clearly Taira no Tadanori (or Tadahiro, is it?). I was less sure about this Waki-Goto one, as the script was hard for me to read and I had to dig up the Waka.

Well, we all start somewhere. My first tsuba about 33 years ago was a bit of a paperweight of a Choshu tsuba. I've also crossed the Rubicon into 5 figure USD$ tsuba. Yet recently I ebay bought a double lot and am keeping the item of greater value. The other tsuba in the lot turned out to be a surprisingly nice early Edo tosho (or katchushi, depending on how you look at it). Worth is probably only $100-150, and my intent was to turn around and sell it ASAP. Instead, I've had it a for a while now and am still enjoying it for its simple, clean, solid design beauty. I suspect I will keep it another month or two. It isn't a lifer, like Dan's collection, but it holds its place nicely at the back of the bus with the fancy dancy ones up front. It will probably 'leave the bus' sooner than the long haul heavies, but it is a kinda happy accident to own it for a while. Nice little guest that stumbled in from crap photos on ebay. Every one in a while, something decent does come off ebay. For me, it is only about 1 a year, but I still check ebay sometimes.

(1) A place to keep my magnets when not on the fridge (2) A balance point marker? 1 is not serious, and 2 is only slightly serious.

The menuki are very odd. Perhaps unique. Early on in my collecting, I took two menuki off a wakizashi. They were of gaijin clothed fellows somewhat drunk / passed out under cherry blossoms and street lamps. At the time, I had no idea they were unique. Sold them on eBay. While they were not high art, I wish I had kept the little unique buggers.

Ah yes, the famous fake "Dancing Skunk" tsuba that was mass produced and all over the market in the 0s...[2001-2009]. Milt Ong (RIP) really loved to have fun with these. Where'd you find this crapper? They are now increasingly rare.... like those Samurai Sword Letter Openers from the 1950s <-> 1970s.

Eh.... lousy photos, but looks like a good tsuba. http://www.nihonto.us/BUSHU TUBA GN.htm If he doesn't sell it in the next 2 to 3 weeks, I will probably cave and buy it myself.

Or why Aoi Arts koshirae often rattle a bit.... If you were ever wondering, when it is usually hard to get a blade and koshirae to match up- https://www.ebay.com/itm/274974333110?itmmeta=01K0YRFYQR98VTDRWGK1V44X9G&hash=item4005bf58b6:g:Cn8AAOSwoHJg8kW5 This is one of several tricks and tools I've seen used. This one looks a bit more aggressive than others I have seen.

I watched what looked like an Issei Naruki utsushi of a Yagyu [bamboo design]. Maybe it is real, but I had serious doubts. It went from $435 to $2613 in the last hour or so of bidding. As an Issei Naruki, probably worth about $1000? I'm largely just a spectator of the few I find interesting, but still some of them are going for far than my retro brain would think to list them.

Chicago NBTHK/AB display was under-advertised and overly incredible. San Fran exhibit of Aoe blades should be rather *wow* as the best Aoe blades I know of in the USA are all West Coast.

And I would have sold such a tsuba for 2k to 3k. I really need to divorce myself from sales and let free market take over. Thanks for the follow up. Good luck in your future tsuba purchases.

PM sent. Good Satsuma is difficult. Good luck kid... CCC_CPA

Hi Maurice, Tis late. I sold most of my Satsuma tsuba, but kept the best one. Will talk tomorrow.

Well... classic pretty rice plant design with some gold highlights. Either Choshu (West Coast main island) or Bushu (East Coast main island) and fairly solid for a first try. My first tsuba was a Choshu not as nice as this one. Several schools will have done this design. Because of some of the mimi geometry and general design, personally I lean more towards Bushu. Definitely better than my first tsuba or two.

It was multiple back in the day. Museums still open and museums now defunct did all sorts of things to them. Tiffany made a fireplace hood out of them. https://morsemuseum.org/on-exhibit/fireplace-hood-installation/ (look closely). Even more respectable museums like the Boston Museum of Fine Arts somehow managed to trash a lot of their sukashi tsuba. They look fine from the top, but an angled view shows many have been turned into swiss cheese. Who knows how they did that? Super special sauce to inhibit the naturally forming rust inside the sukashi? (my first guess) Yours got off lucky.

Old museum catalog numbers? Quite a few of my tsuba have old lacquer or other numbers somewhere on seppa dais or inside the nakago ana. Old carved or stamped ones like that are not commonly seen. It is a bit of defacement, but I don't think anyone is going to belly ache over this one where the design more than overshadows that little bit of scar.

Ditto. When it comes to silver, I absolutely agree with Colin. Translated through Gordon Robinson, a shinsa judge showed us a koshirae where he had cleaned the silver when he was much younger- not knowing better. With shame face, he pretty much said "don't do it". Ford was Ford. Unless it is with someone at that level, don't touch it. Even then, think about it for a long time before doing. It is hard to go back.

And some other Kaga works. f/k are Kaga Kinko. Lots of inlay work, and high polish almost as if it were finished with a painter's coat of gloss. The gold menuki are mine. I like the myth behind these two well known characters. The tsuba is not mine. I've sold all my Kaga tsuba, kinda waiting for a really incredible one to come along. I would love one of the multi-butterfly examples. Common to almost all of the Kaga Goto and Kaga Kinko works is a mix of gold, good to great shakudo, and silver. Every one of these pieces has a fair bit of silver either obvious or not so obvious. Some of it is heavily oxidized, and I wouldn't dare to clean it.

As Ken said, the Kaga Kinko Taikan is one of the best [Tosogu Porn] books. I have to say I paid a lot more for mine than the one Grey Doffin has on his website. The book is good enough that I thought of buying a second copy. @Charlie C You are correct. Top one is Goto Kenjo and bottom one is Goto Tokujo. Though of the same design, when you get to study them closely (at different angles), you begin to sense patterns in terms of how they 'framed' the design and executed it. One thing that I will share about Goto Kenjo is that he liked to recess his works more. If you study these two kozuka at an angle, you will find the walls of the frame of the kozuka higher and the design set a fraction deeper. I am not sure if I have a picture of this, but will post the best one I can find. It should be attached to this reply.

It depends. It can be a hold out "crazy uncle" judge (a bad session or such). @Lewis B you can have all my 7 or 8 Horyu result tags. So far, all have papered the next shinsa where I sent them in [usually the following year]. Many were Middle Weight to Light-Heavyweights. One Horyu is in shinsa_2.0 now and is a heavyweight. When a heavyweight, odds are probably more against a pass. So let us both see. My Horyu were all for fittings.

Goto Kenjo Kozuka next to his father's verion of the same theme. I'll take a quick pick of other Kaga Goto examples later today or tomorrow.

@Charlie C That is a very interesting topic, punching more deeply into the subject than the average thread here. The Kaga Kinko Taikan was one of the first Taikans I ever bought. As you have laid out, the school is an evolution of imported influences as the Maeda gained strength. It is not like there was one center for metalwork in Kaga. The differences are often technical and usually: (1) based upon the technique, [ex. say nanako work for instance] (2) the metal purity [ex. shakudo], (3) difference in reagants for patinas, etc, (4) framing and execution of designs. Just like unsigned paintings, you can tell a lot from various ways of doing things. [I personally believe this to be very true of Goto Kenjo's Kaga work] I have 3 Tokubetsu Hozon works that are: Kenjo, Kenjo, and Kaga Goto [very sure it is Kenjo too] I also have a nice Hozon f/k that is to Kaga Kinko that is more reflective of the painting style inlay that Ken described. If time allows, I will post pics of some or all this weekend. C.C.C.

You can tell a lot from the central peg and the walls of the backside of a menuki. My first impression is that the back of the menuki doesn't look consistent with Goto Kojo work. I will try to remember to look more later today. It is a nice menuki where I think 'authentic' vs 'gimei' doesn't matter much. My gut says 'Goto' much later in the school, with a spurious mei added later.

I posted this several years ago, from an article by an Admiral Edwin Layton and Alan Harvie. According to my old notes, it was originally sourced from "Soken Kodogu Yogo lo Meisho no Kaiselsu". Certain types of nanako are associated with certain schools, and I was trying to learn the differences between the nanako of the various Ko-Goto masters up to Goto Tokujo. I think it is one of my projects that fell by the wayside some time ago.

What I have is probably in excess of your needs. It is very high end kinko and NBTHK papered. Nor did I particularly want to sell it. Since Owari is one of my two preferred areas of study, I will think to throw you a link when I see anything. I see less and less Owari kinko these days, but sometimes something pops up. My interest is more tsuba.

Umetada Duck+Waves tsuba still available. _____________________________________________ Ko-Kinko FK and Kanayama tsuba now sold. --Donation to NMB when transaction is completed.