Torrez

Hi Ray, nice kitseruzutsu. The signature looks Ikko to me

Thank you to all the contributors to this thread! I have a few Choshu landscape tsuba and have always wondered if they might've depicted specific scenes or even particular paintings.

Dear Yasaka san, I have found this post of yours and am very hopeful you will clarify if you suggest the shown pieces signed and attributed to Hosono Sozaemon Masamori are actually modern reproductions/fakes. i just happened to be the buyer of the F/K shown above and of another set attributed to the very same maker. Will greatly appreciate your honest opinion on both! Many thanks

Thank you! That was very helpful!

Thank you, John. Yes, I made a deal. Guilty, I often buy what I like before I figure out what that may be... May this picture help?

Hi Curran, sorry I missed your post! I got mine for $450 with shipping. Have you got more of those for half of that? I am interested!

Can somebody please help to attribute these? Not signed, but one has an NTK paper of some sort... Vertical from 7.5 to 8.25 cm. Thank you!

Just one

Same here, as with quite a few other pieces from this seller today...

Thank you, everybody who took time and effort to help! We have also identified the subject as Takenouchi in a netsuke group, Kyle, but couldn't find anything explaining him holding her son. Did he raise Ojin, did he save him from something/somebody? Do you know? The signature is also not listed in either of the netsuke reference bibles - MCI, Lazarnik, Davey. It looks like we have identified one other pretty good carver...

Sorry, not sword-related, but on a manju netsuke and a part of a smoking set. I have been strugling with this signature for quite some time now and hoped someone might be kind to help. It looks rather complicated for a chinese fake and with reasonably decent calligraphy and even with a kakihan, but I can't crack even one of the kanji no matter what references I use. Is it legible at all? Many thanks!

I thought I was off, but at least it did cross my mind! Thank you so very much again!

And this one seemingly reads as Yamashiro Kunifushimi Sumikinya. Does it make sense to you? Can it also read Kaneie?

Many thanks, Steve!

Dear frends, I have got these two tsuba not in best condition, but wearing signatures I am having trouble recognizing. I have made them as clear as possible, but still... Culd someone Please take a shot at them and advise? Many thanks

Thank you, Dale. Does it mean mine may actually be real, or were you a little sarcastic suggesting it to be a great set with the other two?

Another great piece of information, Dale! Much appreciated! One needs to spend years to be able to see and realize what I am getting here in a few days!

Tank you so much! This was very instructive indeed!

These are all great advices, thank you! I naturally lean towards the older ones, and I consider them still works of art. I also seem to like the ones with inlays and themes the most, but those seem to be among the most expensive at the same time, if combined with age, which is not a surprise. I come from a different area of Japanese art collecting and still have a lot to learn. Getting a magnet is not a big deal, applying it before buying may appear quit challenging, and mistakes may be costly, but I consider it paying for education, which is never free. With all this being said I wonder if you may further advise me on the age of several other tsuba I have acquired. I was assured they were all from the Edo period and not later replicas. What do you think and what can I do to verify, if further needed? Thank you very much again for your time.

Thank you, Dale. This makes perfect sense, but makes collecting so much more difficult, as it means that even if hand-made with all the necessary tool marks, it can still be a Meiji production

These were said to be Meiji reporductions, but I am not sure how can one tell an old fake from a new. If both were molded, as suggested by Jean, could it be the metal content? If not molded, but still chiseled in Meiji, the original question will stand...

I have recently come across the term Antique reproduction applied to a tsuba and didn't quite understand it. What makes an antique piece reproduction? Is it the design? but who can possibly know them all? This one looks like being at one point adjusted to a sword and actually used, or is it all just masterfully faked? But why antique then?

Thank you, Brian for taking your time to respond. I did not realise it was that hard. I have around 200 FK sets at the moment (only about half of them signed) and hoped to be able to classify them by schools. It was a too long of a shot, I guess. Even just comparing the Moon rabbit set reposted in a different thread and initially identified by someone as Mito work, and the Mito school tsuba from either the Long and Haynes collection on the shibuiswords.com, or the Ashmolen site, I have not been able to see much similarity. I guess, it is because, as you say, the initially different schools have all mixed up and melted together towards the end of Edo, but what still puzzles me is how was somebody able to still identify my rabbit set as Mito without signature and to get the NBTHK certificate for it... Or what should I do if a part of signature couldn't been read even by a Japanese person. like on this one? (X- Tsune with kao?) I guess I will just have to keep learning and trying. That's a big part of the fun of collecting, isn't it?

Here is my Moon rabbit F/K described as: work by MITO-School Material: Shibuichi(Alloy of Copper with Silver), Silver, Gold Fuchi size(inside): 33.2 x 16.3mm Kashira size(inside): 30.2 x 12.2mm Age: Edo period with NBTHK Certificate

Sorry, did not know about the rules. What about the schools, though? Thank you