MaxT

Thank you for the tip! I will definitely check out both events

Thank you for the offer, I really would like to visit! Although Manching is a lot closer to where I live than Solingen...

Thank you for the tip. This has been pretty much my modus operandi up to now... and still the above tsuba looks really nice to me (I honestly don't mind the minor gilding errors all too much). Can you pinpoint what would make this tsuba "lower quality"? To my layman eyes the detailwork looks impressive still, and to be honest I quite like the composition... Also this might be a stupid question but isn't shakudo like 3-5% gold? If so wouldn't there be some value in the material alone? (Not that I would ever melt it down, of course - just out of curiosity)

Tank you very much for your answer. Well that is in the ballpark of my bid... I honestly expected it to be worth a little bit more, since it looked quite elaborate for me as a layman collector and the material is quite nice. I really should study more and buy less .

Thank you very much for your evaluation. I originally made an offer for 350 Euro which will be about 450 after taxes and fees... I honestly did not fully expect to actually win the auction as this looked like quite an impressive Tsuba for me as a layman. Overall there were several Tsuba in this auction that sold for little money compared to listings from Japanese dealers. I guess I have to do my homework next time before bidding. Here is a picture of the entire Tsuba for reference:

Also, could someone enlighten me on the manufacturing process of these Tsuba? Is the raw Form cast? Does this look like leftover cast flash? ?

Thank you all very much for your insights. In conclusion I can assume this is a traditionally made antique Tsuba made from Shakudo? In your opinion, what would be an acceptable price range for this piece?

Hello everyone, i made a bid on a shakudo tsuba at an auction in Vienna today: https://www.zacke.at/auction/lot/1648-a-soten-school-gempei-wars-shakudo-tsuba/?lot=95268&sd=1# I thought it looked quite nice, but did not actually expect to win it. Before I make a payment however, I want to make sure the discription is accurate and it is not a cheaply made copy/ cast. The condition looks suspiciously good and The price estimate is also a bit low. any help is greatly appreciated

Well that's quite a bummer... If the original goal was to sell it to gullible foreigners they surely succeded in the end.

Sorry, the part about paint was just guesswork as I have only pictures to go by. I thought it might be paint because you can see it "spill" at the tail in the picture above and how detailed it is for gilding. But I have no idea about these processes. Please excuse my ignorance.

Thank you for your answer, I seem to have been somewhat blindsighted by the details and fine lines. These should not be possible with a simple casting process - so I really hope it is at least not a modern copy. Any insight on how these were made? the gold color is obviously painted, but were these struck/ pressed like coins? Some parts like the river lines definitely look like they were carved/hammered...

Dear Geraint, thank you very much for the explanation! That is indeed quite disappointing. I was optimistic about this tsuba because the details looked to be much too intricate to be from a cast (see attached photo) and I naively trusted the sellers description. Aside from the cheaper material and fake Mei, is there any higher craftmanship involved? How are these details achieved? thank you for any further info

Hi, I'm a new, and honestly quite clueless collector. Early this week, I bid (and won) on a tsuba at a Japanese auction site. I really liked the design and intricate craftmanship - and I thought I paid a reasonable price. Now, just one day later, I see an almost identical tsuba with the same Mei for sale at the same site and (coincidently?) same price. There are some small differences but overall the design looks like a direct copy. My question now is if this is common and nothing to be concerned about, or if this tsuba is just a "mass produced" item without any greater artistic value. (pictures attached) Any insights are greatly appreciated. kind regards Max

Thank you, that makes me feel a lot better. I really like this blade so I am relieved.

wow that's grim.

Thank you, this makes me feel better about it. The wakizashi was not super expensive, but I was still surprised because it looked almost flawless in the pictures. I wanted a long nagasa naginata naoshi wakizashi and this one ticked all the boxes (good polish, tasteful koshirae, NBTHK papers...), so I was glad to get a seemingly good deal.

Yes I bought it on the ebay site but I don't really consider returning it now. Your feedback makes me feel better about it so thank you.

Thank you, I am glad to hear that. I am new to collecting, so it’s still a bit difficult to asses things like these.

Thank you. Yes it is a Japanese dealer. This is the video that was provided by the dealer: as you can see, the damage is not apparent.

Thank you for the answer. The shirasaya fits quite firm, so I doubt the blade can move a lot. I do not intend to sell it anytime soon, but I am a bit worried that I may have overpaid for a flawed blade. I really liked this particular sword, as I am a big fan of the naginata naoshi shape and it came with a beautiful koshirae and hozon papers. I paid about 2k (before taxes), which I thought at the time was a great deal. At that pricepoint however a professional polish will definitely not be worth it (also the condition of the polish as of now is quite beautiful). Thank you for any further insights.

Thank you for your answer. The sword was shipped in shirasaya, wich fits quite perfectly. There is no movement within the shirasaya, so I was also wondering how something like this could happen. Judging by eye, it could easily be polished out, which is unfortunately not an option because a professional polish would probably cost almost as much as the blade itself.

Hello fellow enthusiasts, I am a new member to this forum and started only recently collecting nihonto. A few days ago I took delivery of a muromachi period wakizashi. To my surprise however, there was a tiny chip in the hamon that was not apparent on the photo/ video material of the online store I bought it from. The store owner assured me, that this must have happened during transport. As this is a papered and polished blade, I was quite bummed about this. My question is, how bad is this damage/ kind of flaw and how detrimental is it to the value of the sword. Any opinions/ help in this matter is highly aprreciated. Thank you all and have a nice week.