Medina San1 Posted March 31, 2014 Report Posted March 31, 2014 Hello to all, I have been having so much fun learning on this site. Today I had the fortune of acquiring a few more tsuba some might be old and others??? your help in ID of these is greatly appreciated.. And these are not for sale I want to learn... I have added both sides of the tsuba.. Again thank you for your help. Dan... Quote
b.hennick Posted March 31, 2014 Report Posted March 31, 2014 Hi Dan: You need to learn how to identify cast tsuba. I would suggest buying some tsuba books, decide the type that you like and then buy omne good one -a keeper. It will be better in the long run. Look at the tsuba for sale on messageboard and see what is bing asked for those. That will give you a standard on which to judge what is reasonable or not. Too cheap a problem, too expensive a problem. Quote
Medina San1 Posted March 31, 2014 Author Report Posted March 31, 2014 Hi Dan:You need to learn how to identify cast tsuba. I would suggest buying some tsuba books, decide the type that you like and then buy omne good one -a keeper. It will be better in the long run. Look at the tsuba for sale on messageboard and see what is bing asked for those. That will give you a standard on which to judge what is reasonable or not. Too cheap a problem, too expensive a problem. Thank you Mr. Hennick The ones on the bottom did look cast the one on the top did not am I wrong... Dan.. Quote
b.hennick Posted March 31, 2014 Report Posted March 31, 2014 Hi Dan: The last two for sure but the first one may be as well. Look for casting lines or bubbles of the plate to see casting. The surface is often granuler as well. Look at the writing on the second tsuba. It does not show chisel marks but looks cast. Not all cast tsuba are modern. You might put a picture of the tsuba in google and look for other images that are the same. If there are a lot you know that either you have a popular theme or a cast tsuba with many copies. Quote
Soshin Posted March 31, 2014 Report Posted March 31, 2014 Hi Dan, All of the examples you posted were fairly poor in quality and the last two of them were cast reproductions. Barry H. makes a good point not all modern tsuba are cast reproductions but all cast reproductions are modern. Here is an example on my website of a modern traditionally made tsuba that is not a cast reproduction: http://www.tsubaotaku.com/#!ebay-sales/c6jy. I hope you find this information helpful. Don't feel like you need to buy anything right now. Please do some research on this and other websites and purchase a few inexpensive beginners book on the topic of tosogu and study before you buy. Quote
kaigunair Posted March 31, 2014 Report Posted March 31, 2014 Medina san, FYI, not all cast tsuba are reproductions & therefore modern. This is actually a topic that has "exploded" a few times on the forum. To keep things short, kinko or soft metal (non-iron) tsuba were known to be cast pre-edo. Some types of Namban tsuba may be considered cast. And maybe some enterprising or backwater tsubakos experimented with casting in their spare time or during times of war. Anyhow, the caveat to the idea that cast = modern should emphasize iron tsuba; make that any desirable iron tsuba from the known schools. That being said, the examples which you are posting which appear iron and cast, combined with their style, are most likely modern copies. It also seems that determining whether something is cast or not is not as easy as you'd think. It looks like you're using flash when photo'ing your tsuba, which will wash out a lot of the all important texture of the iron surface (if it had any in the first place). Try using better ambient lighting or take them outdoors for sunlight to keep the camera flash off. I think there may be a tsuba from your second set that looks cast but might not be if the lighting were better. The artifacts made by a camera's flash really does not help when you're posting for identification. My $0.02... Quote
Medina San1 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Report Posted April 1, 2014 Medina san, FYI, not all cast tsuba are reproductions & therefore modern. This is actually a topic that has "exploded" a few times on the forum. To keep things short, kinko or soft metal (non-iron) tsuba were known to be cast pre-edo. Some types of Namban tsuba may be considered cast. And maybe some enterprising or backwater tsubakos experimented with casting in their spare time or during times of war. Anyhow, the caveat to the idea that cast = modern should emphasize iron tsuba; make that any desirable iron tsuba from the known schools. That being said, the examples which you are posting which appear iron and cast, combined with their style, are most likely modern copies. It also seems that determining whether something is cast or not is not as easy as you'd think. It looks like you're using flash when photo'ing your tsuba, which will wash out a lot of the all important texture of the iron surface (if it had any in the first place). Try using better ambient lighting or take them outdoors for sunlight to keep the camera flash off. I think there may be a tsuba from your second set that looks cast but might not be if the lighting were better. The artifacts made by a camera's flash really does not help when you're posting for identification. My $0.02... Thank you.... you are right I did take the photos in a dark room with a flash and reg room light... I will retake the photos in day light and try to an educated guess at which ones are not cast. Dan... Quote
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