Gold inlay tsuba mei assistance please. new pics

[jason_mazzy]

Please excuse the photo. The photo is a dirty tsuba which has livened up quite a bit since I have received it. I did a simple cleaning and the mei is actually gold (leafed?) of some sort. Its not wire inlay but looks mercury style. The photo here is not my photo but the one sent to me before I purchased the piece. I just received today and cleaned with some oil and light nylon work and then drying off with cotton. If you could translate for me and perhaps point a finger in the general direction of the maker/school/etc... I would be much apreciated. Thank you my friends.

 

 

 

edit: the tsuba is magnetic

[jason_mazzy]

[John A Stuart]

Start looking for Soten 床 典 examples. John

[jason_mazzy]

do you have a resource where I might look? The internet is not being helpful.

[John A Stuart]

If you enter 'soten tsuba' in Google or in the NMB search engine you will find lots of information. Otherwise there are books available with info, but, that will take time and money. Compare your tsuba with examples in the links I have provided. John

 

http://www.arco-iris.com/George/soten_tsuba.htm

 

http://www.arco-iris.com/George/tsuba.htm

[jason_mazzy]

Yes thank you. I have seen these tsuba and they are quite nice. I was hoping to find a signature that was close to the one on mine. Thank you again.

[John A Stuart]

Jason, If you want to find a signature that matches yours you will have to search for Soten copies for the export market. Soten hamamono. John

[jason_mazzy]

I'm leaning towards Edo copy. We know alot of these were copied as a very popular design. I lean that way because it cam on a very nice Edo Koshirae with some superb looking fittings. It would be odd to have these Edo koshirae and then a meijei tsuba.

[ROKUJURO]

....... We know a lot of these were copied as a very popular design. I lean that way because it cam(e) on a very nice Edo Koshirae with some superb looking fittings. It would be odd to have this Edo koshirae and then a meijei tsuba.

You mean MEIJI TSUBA?

 

There is no reason why somebody could not have replaced a nice TSUBA with this one, perhaps before selling the whole. TOSOGU have always been mixed or interchanged, and you can feel lucky in case you find a matching KOSHIRAE together with a good blade.

 

Compared to many EDO SOTEN copies I have seen, this TSUBA is especially crudely made, so it might well be a late tourist piece.

[Brian]

Jason,

That sword looks to have a composite of different fittings. Nothing matches, so likely it wa sput together later from parts. The kojiri doesn't match the tsuba or the fuchi. Usually the fuchi and kojiri would at least be similar.

Still, nothing wrong with that...you have some nice fittings there from the little we were able to see.

 

Brian