Tsuba restoration. Why not?

[obiwanknabbe]

Hi everyone,

 

I am curious why it is not an accepted practice to have a professional restore Tsuba while sending a sword to a polisher is fully embraced by the collecting community? Or is it? I realize that for some it would not be feasible, but in other cases, I would think that it would be (as in the case of a simple pierced iron Tsuba). I am sure that there are some that would say that it would make the item more difficult to date, but I would assume that it would be possible to leave the area under the sepa unaltered, much like the nagako of a blade? Am I missing something or is it just not a practice that has caught on yet?

 

Thoughts? Comments?

 

 

Kurt. K

[kaigunair]

My guess is that many dealers probably already restore tosogu. I'm thinking as long as it gets papered, if the craftsmanship is good no one cares, at least with kinko stuff. Iron and patina is a different beast. So it would be interesting to know if the NBTHK or NTHK papers restored tosogu....

[John A Stuart]

You can be quite sure tsuba are restored. This usually is a matter of repatination. Ford Hallam repatinated a sentoku tsuba for Brian (I believe) that turned out fab, for example. Even removing active rust from iron tsuba and pocket buffing them could be considered restoration, yes? John

[Brian]

I think it is perfectly acceptable to professionally restore kodogu. However the keyword is professionally. And I suspect there are FAR fewer qualified people like Ford around than there are decent polishers. Hence why so few are able to have this done.

 

Brian

[ROKUJURO]

.....I am curious why it is not an accepted practice to have a professional restore Tsuba....

It depends on what should be done, who does it, and how is it done.

 

In the correct meaning of restoration one would just save the original look of an item without changing the intended appearance. It is not making it shiny and looking 'new'. In many cases competent restoration will just remove dirt and active coorosion and prevent further damage for a while.

[w.y.chan]

I have repatinated old WW2 buttons with mix result. Does takes a lot of practice to get it spot on. I won't try tsuba unless it is a cheap one you let your kids have in their collection.