Hokke

Ok, fair enough, I understand your position on this piece. That said, the one issue I have is that your explanation is only of utility when it "has" to be. If ALL tsuba were made in this way, where detail was purposely left out, then it would be a non-conversation. But I dont see that, not even for a specific time period or production house. So the idea that ANYTIME you see work like this, the explanation MUST be "room for thoughts and emotion", I find that dubious. Please understand I am not saying you are wrong, your explanation is certainly plausible, what i am saying is that your hypothesis is no more "right" than mine, because at the end of the day neither of us were there at the time it was produced. Some time ago I had a customer who presented me with a ring where the inside was devoid of any finishing work. Course file marks were obvious but only if you looked in the ring, otherwise they could not be seen when the ring was worn. I asked the customer if she had noticed these, to which she replied she had. She went on to say that when she brought it to the attention of the jeweler he simply referred to them as "jeweler marks". This tsuba is of particular note to me for that reason. There seems to exist a fine line between purpose and excuse.

That was a fine statement, if a bit ambiguous to the question of why the pierced portions of the tsuba lack detail. How exactly did we move to paintings exactly? If you question to me was actual, my answer is I dont have the first damn clue, I was unaware paintings were cast. Otherwise you are talking about a completely different genre of artwork.

While I am unfamiliar with the casting of iron, I am familiar with casting in general. On the one hand, I can see Dans point of view. He is skeptical that someone would only partially "finish" this tsuba. So many lines on that tsuba are nice and clean, but the holes are clearly crude. The problem with this idea is that if all the other lines of the tsuba are nice and crisp from the casting method, there is no reason why the holes he referenced wouldn't also be nice and clean. One would have to assume that the original mold would have to be poorly cut in order to produce a poor casting. So then the question would be, why would a craftsman go to the trouble of producing such clean lines in some parts of the mold and not others? It seems reasonable to me that what we have here is a an "unfinished" tsuba. Not unfinished as in incomplete, but unfinished with respect to the level of the finishing process. This could have been for a variety of reasons like cost, time, customer request or injury.

This is a sweet piece, I wish you were in the US. Hope it finds a good home.

Good to hear, I hope that is the standard and not just a mistake on someone in customs. We'll see what happens when mine comes in.

Although I would call this damage more of a "nick" than a chip, it will likely have to be removed the same way, with a polish. As mentioned by Adam, I have a hard time believing this damage was caused by shipping, UNLESS, the saya is improperly fit. Looks to me like someone bumped this blade up against something hard. This may have happened after the sale pictures were taken or at some point after you removed the blade from its saya. To answer your question, it may not be worth the expense to repair this minor damage if the cost of the polish is higher than the difference in cost between what you paid and what you can sell it for. I personally would just enjoy this piece as the damage is minor and worry about values when/if it comes time to sell it.

This is disheartening, but a needed warning, particularly to those just starting in this field of study. My question is this, how do you react when you encounter a Japanese replica being offered as authentic. Seems to me there are a couple options, but each has its own consequences. Let’s assume the seller is unaware their item(s) is a forgery. Not only is it bad for them because they were duped, but if other customers are around to hear the conversation, they may choose to stay away from everything the seller is offering. So, the other option is you inform the seller privately. But what if they are knowingly selling these fakes. This is impossible to know unless they already have a reputation which is unlikely, otherwise I would hope they would be denied the ability to participate in the show. They will act as if they are surprised and shocked, but when you leave they continue to pedal their wares to unsuspecting customers. So unless you become a sales cop and monitor the table it’s possible that forgeries will be sold at a legitimate show. This is not feasible so the problem remains. At the end of the day I understand caveat emptor rules the day. It’s the responsibility of each of us to be as informed if we want to make safe purchases. But I also know this field of study is a relatively small group and if enough fraud permeates it’s way in, fewer and fewer people will be interested, which isn’t good for anyone.

I would say that coin has two sides. It seems reasonable that yes, a smaller canvas will make any flaws and messy work more noticeable, however, the smaller the work area, presumably the easier it is to create a billet without flaws. It’s very much like a diamond. It’s very easy to find smaller diamonds that are flawless than it is larger, which is why two flawless 1ct diamonds will never be as valuable as a flawless 2ct. More area, whether it be steel, canvas or mineral, the higher likelihood for flaws. Additionally, it is far less time consuming to scrap a billet and start over on a small piece of steel than one which has been drawn out daito length.

At the end of the day I think it all comes back to charging what people will pay versus a scale based on attributes contained within in a length and weight. Im not saying thats right or wrong, just how it seems to me. Imagine though if nihonto had specific pricing based on the total length an attribute was present. Yikes

I knew I should have gone to that show

Perhaps, although I would expect to see even the slightest hints of a coppery color, if only faint.

The color doesn't bother me too much, I see silver this color all the time on 17th and 18th century treasure coins we find here in FL. Like you though, im more focused on the level of craftsmanship, given the likely cost of this tsuba if it were made from silver. The design looks stamped and not with great attention given to detail.

Interesting, just out of curiosity, how was the jeweler able to determine it was silver? Was he able to scan it with XRF and if so, what was the actual composition of this piece?

I dont believe so, just a perk of being the king. The was another matching dagger to the one posted only it was made from gold. Everywhere gold........this boy king was smothered in gold and riches. While gold was obviously coveted, glass was one of the other luxury treasures owned by this king that is often overlooked based on how common glass is in modern society.

well yes and no. Sure, gold will always be gold and as such carry value. However, investment gold is generally bullion. Anything fashioned from gold will never carry anywhere close to the premium of bullion unless its of historical or artistic value.