Steves87

I love it Grev, well done. I'm very passionate about up cycling, I have have literally hundreds of examples I've done, although I don't have pictures of many on hand (two pictured below though), I have done at least 5 other storage boxes for Tsuba sized collections. I don't want to deviate this thread from your excellent drawer, but one of the last up cycles I've done has been for my wife. I won a 1910 Australian Wertheim piano, but full restoration was prohibitively expensive, so instead of re-selling for parts or scrap, I decided to retro fit a new casio s150 digital Piano into it. Up cycling an old piano to a newer old piano??

excellent Grev, very good job! I am also another fan of up cycling. I did my own version with an old cutlery canteen I won at auction very very cheap. I removed all the old linings and re-installed some new velour replacements, created some timber partitions and then sewed up some little fabric baggies (light blue shown under the guards). the front was "decorated" with a few metal Tsuba looking things too. admittedly the Tsuba are on display most of the time, but it has been great for moving the collection or safe housing when needed. not as nice as your own, but it does the job cheers

There is an excellent book coming out very soon on this collection, I suggest not frustrating yourself with the website and to purchase the book :-)

I have this Sakura themed guard in similar fashion with the water carvings in the seppa dai area. The centres are ten zogan. There is a similar version in one of Gary Murtha's books too

someone named Irina Solo claims she has won this on the Facebook?

Stephen, your example is one of the better conditioned Jakushi Dragons around, so congratulations! Don't mind my example in the link, as a bit of a joke I upped the price considerably when I saw Dale had linked it (all my stuff is overpriced for a reason which I won't post about right now). I have been looking for a second as good as your example to form a daisho, but actually, thinking more about it, the guard I have is too small, more of a Tanto size so I'd have to get a full Kat and Wak size still. My problem half the time is having the excess funds at the right time!! Again, nice pick-up

I guess to close this out, here is the last piece I purchased/they sold, cheers!

It looks like a centipede, possibly the story of Tawara Toda?

That's it! looks like they are done, no items for sale. I got one last item from them, there was still another two I was going to try get... wonder where they will end up now, maybe an auction house?

Best one so far Bruce, gourd sukashi on double habaki. Thank you for sharing!

They may be struggling, I made a purchase after some semi persistent (but I was nice and respectful) messaging and now they seem to have pulled all their Soten/Hikone items. Hope I didn't cause trouble!?

$22 from Amazon is a bargain, jump on it asap

Just a quick update, I have no further answers to my questions (which are just for my info anyway) but I have had replies from them, which is great.

I see some (flattened) ten zogan (and some areas where missing). This looks like one of Artur's pieces he has for sale. If you decide to buy I can confirm he is excellent to deal with

SIGNED Wave KATANA TSUBA Japan Original Edo Sword Antique | eBay Looks like the last link of Yas's post (#131) is being re-sold by a reputable (imo) dealer. everyone is being fooled these days!