Tosa Myochin Toshio Tsuba: Gimei Or Not?

[andreYes]

Please, help me to figure it out.

 

The tsuba is signed: Tosa Kuni Ju Myochin Ki Toshio (土佐国住　明珍紀利雄).

The overall shape of kanji looks similar to the pictures from various books, but the style of lines looks strange for me. They are like dotted lines. Ke-bori is also made in same style. 

 

[christianmalterre]

it is certainly not congruent to the both book exemplaires mei for shure...

 

do have a close look to the ankle some of the strokes are punched in the "question Tsuba" and compare with those others, on the book´s reference pictures!

 

the kebori lines equally look a bit "fraudant" (least for me here)....

 

either a late copy....or even worse...

 

i would not buy, keep or hold it. (that is but just me here!)

 

Christian

[Gordon Sanders]

I read somewhere that the best way to forge a signature is to turn the signature upside down and then copy

 

Seemed to work pretty well for doctors notes at college way back when :-)

[yogoro]

Original signature in the picture below

[Ford Hallam]

The 'arrow-head' marks you can see on your example, and in fact in the mei samples also, are the result of the chasing technique called geri-bori. This is the same technique swordsmiths use to sign the nakago with.

 

The same technique is seen on the works of the Kaneie, Nobuie, Yamakichibei, et al workshops.

 

Here's Pierre Nadeau demonstrating.

[andreYes]

Thank you very much for your opinions and comments!

 

Ford, thank you for interesting information about "geri-bori"! I haven't saw (or noticed) this chasing technique before.

So, the "dotted line" mei isn't an indication of gimei itself...

 

Please, look at the general view of this tsuba, what do you think? Old copy, modern copy?

 

Didn't think that Toshio is one of "big names" that are copied by someone. All the more so his original works are copies of Akasaka and Higo

 

 

[Pete Klein]

Ford -- now that we can see the whole tsuba I am wondering if the issue here is that it has been over-cleaned.  The greenish haze in the sukashi leads me to this query along with the Sasano like reductions in the carving depths.  I'm not 100% on the mei (kuni is a bit off) but the taganei mei looks good.  Probably OK?

[Ford Hallam]

Pete

 

I'd have to agree with you. There's a thinness in the patina that looks wrong. It does look as though it may have had a bit of an over zealous clean and then some sort of 'instant' patina applied. There are areas of very smooth iron that are simply too smooth to be an old finish. And the patina does show some patches of obvious hazing and a very tell tale bloom indicative of the use of something like these products.

 

It does worry me that there is the notion that all that iron tsuba need to restore them is for rust to be somehow rubbed off and some sort of patina re-applied, with little understanding of the qualities of an authentic patina and the varieties of iron texture.

 

There are more than 30 species of rust, not just the red and back types frequently discussed here. Old patina on tsuba are a complex arrangement of any number of these varieties of rust. It's this complexity that gives the subtle tonal variations we admire as well as the depth of tone. The patina colour is also very much dependant on and effected by the physical qualities of the iron itself, it's finish and degree of 'openness'. Traditional patina development is a process of converting the outer layer of iron into a protective skin. In the process the surface is physically altered in ways the reflect the actual composition and structure of the iron. Simply polishing a tsuba with some emery paper and slapping a stain on to give it a bit of colour is not going to replicate anything like it's original appearance.

 

I want to point out another really important aspect of restoration that is rarely considered and which is, for me, the most important step. The very first thing to do is to try and establish, through the grime and rust, what the original finish and patina might have looked like. It's really important, I believe, to use what evidence remains to build up as an authentic appearance as possible. There are so many clues that can so easily be obliterated by even superficial cleaning, particularly on soft metals.

[andreYes]

Pete, Ford, thank you for your posts!

 

Concerning the patina you are completely right! Looking on the tsuba closely, especially with good magnification, it can be seen that the patina is uneven on all the outer surfaces. It's extremely thin near the sukashi edges and on the mimi: the iron is well visible. The inner sukasi walls looks much better, without signs of "cleaning". It seems like the tsuba had been machine polished with some abrasives...

 

Is there any way to save this tsuba? 

Could you advice, what to do with it? Try to restore it (with a help of specialists, of course), or it doesn't worth it?