Jake6500

Just picked up this Guan Yu Tsuba from JAUCE, looking for opinions on this piece! I bought it for the historical associations in the design/theme more than anything else but I'd be curious to learn about the style of craftsmanship or how you guys would value this piece. Probably overpaid for it a bit if we're talking strictly financial value but I ain't mad at it... https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1105115244

Good point lol Maybe if there are tsuba you refuse to sell you could use those

Only 1 way to find out, post those good items and the prices you paid! Let the rest of the forum veterans appaise or evaluate them.

Wow, San Dan is already quite strong. I didn't really have a teacher, a friends brother just showed me the rules and I basically learned the rest from playing thousands of online games.

This can be pretty difficult as I have discovered Just to clarify before the thread kicks off, there are many types of value from sentimental, to artistic to monetary which I assume is the one you're referring to for the purpose of the thread. Is that a safe/correct assumption?

No worries Dan, I have not had the chance to read that thread yet but will definitely take the time to do so in a few hours when I get home. (Currently at work writing from my phone haha)

Nothing wrong with cast molded tsuba. Someone could write an entire thesis on the development of cast mold production techniques in medieval Japan, I think it would make for a very interesting read! What is the exact design of this new one though? Is it an open or closed work? Does it depict anything specific? I am curious! Will you be adding it to that same thread?

Does this one have a particular theme?

I took this to mean "knowledge makes the collector not volume" as opposed to the interpretation of "don't have a budget". I can kind of see why you've taken it the other way but I really don't think that was the intention.

I didn't take it that way Dan. I think what Okan was saying is simply that collectors learn about what they buy and know what they have. This is different than buying for the sake of buying, without the impetus to learn about tsuba. If you have that desire to learn for a sustained and extended period and to know what you have, you are a collector not a hoarder regardless if your collection amounts to 1 or 1000. Additionally I think part of his point is that the quality that defines a collector IS the extent of that knowledge, hence the reference to a collector with a collection of 1.

Wait and see what some of the forums veteran experts say, but I think you picked up a great tsuba with a beautiful style. I always love this sort of black and gold contrast when it's done skillfully.

A quick search turned up your piece, so I'm assuming it came with certification: https://sword-auction.com/en/product/14561/af22531-鍔：河野芳邦（花押）（保存刀装具）/ Another Kono school work of similar style:

Yea, I wasn't surprised it got that high (that is, once you confirmed for me these things are real!) 132,000 yen is good money but not for 2 of those. Imagine if they came with NBTHK certification

I can definitely see some of the signs of damage and could see it going in to the bidding, but I actually rather like the artistic style of this thing, particularly the front side. The shishi on the back (in the image above) does seem a bit stiff but I feel like the ones on the front side (viewable in the link) look better and I'm a fan of this type of line work. Then again, you would be the expert here not me! Maybe I dodged a bullet! If the eyes are gilt that would also slightly diminish my interest. Keep in mind I was about to win this thing for 10,000 yen, which is a pretty low price. (Or maybe not )

Rank and online server Clive? I'm a 3k on KGS

So yesterday I participated in an auction for a tsuba on Jauce. I was the leading bid and was about to win this awesome tsuba when the seller ended the listing seconds before the end of the auction. Given how low the bidding price was, I can understand why the seller ended the listing. There are 2 things I don't understand though... 1) Why didn't the seller just list this item with a higher starting price? 2) Why wasn't anyone else willing to pay for this thing? Looked like a beautiful piece to my eye.... And I would have paid a lot more for it. https://www.jauce.com/auction/w1147637774 What particularly caught my eye about this tsuba, aside from the nice Lion design, was the lions eyes..... Whilst both lions on the front have both their eyes intact, the lion on the back is missing an eye, and it looks like the eyes were embedded stones? From my recent reading, this is an unusual technique in tsuba that only a couple of schools practiced (correct if I'm wrong). All that being said, what do you guys think about this item that escaped my grasp and what school would you attribute it to?

Thanks for posting that Geraint, you can clearly see the stylistic similarity here. Near identical.

Don't say Shishi today, it makes me remember yesterday's auction I was gunna win a really nice tsuba and the seller killed the listing in the last minute lol

You're definitely right, but I'm also sure it will go up in the last 5-10 mins so we'll see where it ends up.

Interesting, I hadn't learned about this style of tsuba yet. Definitely a lot of gold on these things, even compared to the examples in that thread but you can definitely see the stylistic similarities! Now I kind of want to buy these things, but I'm sure the price will go up a lot by the end of the auction. I still want redemption after I got burned on that other auction yesterday!

So as the title suggests, Here are some cool looking gold tsuba: https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1147963384 Figured this listing could be a learning opportunity and wanted to ask the experts on the forum. Never seen a listing quite like this one and the title says these are Meiji Period. Do you think these are legitimate Meiji pieces or modern fakes?

8x40=320 Sounds about right

For me, I currently have 8 tsuba in total. It didn't take me long to get a taste of the mid to higher price range stuff. *EDIT: Basically now that I have a bit more of a sense of quality, I have started aiming for quality. Otherwise I would have more tsuba than 8 by now. I have started to purchase more expensive items than when I started. I also collect based on design themes. For example I have a collection of Noh theatre tsuba I'm building, a collection of Hollyhock leaf, a collection of Japanese gods, etc. Planning to start a Lion tsuba set also, though my attempt to kick start this backfired last night...* I got my first tsuba only at the start of this year but my academic interest in Japanese history long pre-dates this and my interest in tsuba sort of came from there.

Hi Dirk, Thanks for your helpful response. I have done my best to read as much as I could on this topic over the past few weeks. I'll definitely read the article you sent through and some of the older threads and Ford's posts have been very helpful. With regards to the auction, no stress as I was not actually planning on bidding on this particular item. I love the Murakami style, but I am not a huge fan of insects as theme for my own personal collection (although some of the Murakami Jochiku works I have seen have ALMOST changed my mind!) The reason I made this thread is to search for help in identifying other, non-insect themed Murakami works. What I have read thus far is that the Murakami school was one of only a couple that featured embedded stones, and that inlay level with the base was a common feature of Murakami works. I read a lot about the history and the artisans of the school already also. It is actually the works of Jochiku's daughters, Jotetsu and Josui that I am more interested in (but appraised examples are a bit harder to find). Thanks again for the article, Jake

Looking further into it the anatomy of the two appears to be similar but the thickness of the inner dentine layer and general shape does some to indicate Walrus tusk. Would this presumably mean that we could expect the tsuba to come from Hokkaido or Sakhalin, based on the natural habitats of these animals?