ZH1980

Many thanks, all, for the insight! Well noted. I will check out the Tosogu/Tsuba dealers mentioned. Thanks again!

Gentlemen and Ladies (are there any ladies on this forum?) - First time poster here - I recently purchased this tsuba off Mercari.com. The tsuba has what appears to be machine-made divots around the nakago-ana. I recognized this before purchasing the tsuba and simply bought it because it was inexpensive and I like the cherry blossom pattern. I'm posting this because I'm curious if any forum members have seen this before and, if so, if you have any idea what these divots are/were for. I suspect that the divots are a pretty good indication that the tsuba is a modern-day cast, and/or was perhaps attached to something else at some point as some form of ornamentation? Any ideas? I have not seen this on other tsubas, including those that I have looked at on this forum, so am really quite lost about what these divots are. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. I am a fairly new tsuba enthusiast and collector, living in Japan, and doing most of my browsing and shopping on Mercari and the occasional antique/junk shop, but have also purchased some papered tsubas from some of the Tokyo vendors discussed on this forum. In short, I have benefited quite a bit from this forum, including a number of the tsuba/nihonto-related texts recommended by many of you. Thank you!