Alright, What Am I Missing Here?

[Logan09]

I was bidding on this on eBay. It was at $32 with 5seconds left. All of a sudden it sells for $900?!?!

[Curran]

Very nice example, if you enjoy that school.

Without pulling out the related book that one of the blessed members of NMB gave to me a while back, I am going to assume it is one of the bigger names in the school.

[raynor]

Its the weekend.. someone had a sip and REALLY wanted it so they put their max bid as $900

[Curran]

Link to the auction?

[Logan09]

It was just me and two other bidders. Here's the item#123672148946(on phone hard to post links)

 

I am assuming it's a well known Smith. But I was not expecting it to sell for anywhere near that.

[Curran]

ANTIQUE Japanese IRON / TSUBA SWORD HILT - w/ Writing

 

Heck of a nice Tosa.

That is about as good as that school gets.

Without standing on my head, I cannot read the last character in the name. I just assume it is a biggie.

 

Someone didn't get it cheap, but it was a nice one.

[ChrisW]

That's one heck of a large caliber snipe job there!

[Pete Klein]

[Logan09]

I wonder if anyone here bought it? My last bid was so pathetic it didn't even count..ha

[Ford Hallam]

Based on the close up Pete seems to be directing our attention to I'd suggest this is a cast copy.

 

Note that the seki-ane on the nakago-ana and that on the kogai-hitsu are all apparently of the same metal as the body of the tsuba.

[Brian]

Ford, if the fakers have gotten to the point where they can cast them so well, and the prices are at that level, I fail to understand why they wouldn't take the obvious steps of filing out the old sekigane, and adding new ones? I mean this is a tell tale of a cast fake, and apparently is well known, so why leave such an obvious giveaway there? Not too much work to remove and alter the nakago ana and inserts. Then add proper ones.
Also, is there no patination solution that could be colouring the sekigane the same colour as the iron? I doubt it, but just checking.
Scary when all that differentiates fakes to the average eye is a small feature that is easily removed.
 

[Blazeaglory]

Not to distract from Brian's points, to which I agree, but I also wanted to address the OPs info about last minute price jump.

 

Considering this is a possible fake, and using the assumption that the owner knew it was a fake, he or someone else working with original seller, placed the last minute bid with no intention of paying. They used that figure so it would stick in all of the bidders/watchers psyche so for future sales on similar or exact fake items, buyers subconsciously remember that 900$ figure and might bid higher than 35$. In other words, they were setting up future scams by falsely bidding high in the present.

 

That's my opinion anyways. Only other option is someone paid ALLOT of money for a possible fake?

[Hoshi]

Have to agree with Dwain.

 

Remember, there is a lot of shill bidding going on there. Seller is anchoring price perceptions right there, hoping to get the future suckers to up their willingness to pay on future catches. It reminds me of pump and dumps, and other similar schemes. 

 

Brian, I think there are a lot more fake Tsuba with proper copper Sekigane than we all want to imagine. Think of this one as an outlier, where the sekigane wasn't properly redone in copper after the cast. This paints a grimly picture. 

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Brian

 

it is relatively straightforward to fit sekigane, perhaps not exactly easy. The casting technology being used today for small scale steel casting isn't particularly difficult to use so doesn't imply any specific metalworking skill and certainly not fine hand work abilities.

So on balance my feeling is those additions do present a bit of a challenge to non-specialists, and even in Japan restoration in metalwork is very basic, in my opinion anyway. 

 

But it's that lovely authentic copper and shakudo patina, in situ in iron, that very very difficult to achieve. 

[Ganko]

I bid on that piece and was stunned by the final price. The maker is Toshu Ju Myochin Ki Munehide who has a yoko (good) rating in the meikan. The signature did look good. The sekigane are in fact copper as they should be, and are much more apparent in the other original photos on Ebay. I thought it would look good on a wak I have and bid $150 and the bid didn't even show up. Seems over priced for a late Edo yoko rated maker IMHO. 

 

  TomC

[Logan09]

If you bid $150 I don't feel bad. I bid the same as well! Of course my bid didn't register.

 

I appreciate all the replies. Really nice to hear from the more knowledgeable people here. This is why I try to ask here before I make stupid purchases. But at the same time I don't want to be a nuisance.

[ChrisW]

I don't think anyone could fault you for getting knowledge here. If you're sincere and polite, no one would ever deem you a nuisance. This is a place to share after all.

[TheGermanBastard]

It was just me and two other bidders. Here's the item#123672148946(on phone hard to post links)

 

I am assuming it's a well known Smith. But I was not expecting it to sell for anywhere near that.

 

No #metoo

[Surfson]

I was the underbidder on that tsuba and was sure that I would get it.  To my eye, it is a classic Tosa Myochin guard, though I struggled a bit with the last character.  I think that it is beautifully cut and a gorgeous piece of art.  It was at $30 and I put in a bid of $888 with 8 seconds left.  It sold at the next increment ($898) two seconds later.   I was just getting over it, and you had to bring it up again?   

[Surfson]

I do hate to spoil your conspiracy theories by the way!   Here are a few more closeup photos from the listing.  Cheers, Bob

[Pete Klein]

Robert - I suspected this was the condition reality.  I think you made a good attempt and that's all any of us can do.  That sniper bid could have been $1500 for all we know.

 

Pete

[Curran]

I do hate to spoil your conspiracy theories by the way!   Here are a few more closeup photos from the listing.  Cheers, Bob

 

   Agreed. 

I don't think I've ever owned a Tosa, but this would have been a nice one to have around for a while.

[Surfson]

If I like something enough, I don't worry as much about my ability to sell it later.  Let my kids sell it when I shuffle off this mortal coil!

[Surfson]

By the way, I expected to get it for less than $300, and if it had cost me more than $600, I figured that I would have been in it at full retail.  Had it cost me $888, I would have had a tinge of buyer's remorse.....  Oh well, I'm over it now (sobs...)