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This Tsuba is up for auction


Caracal

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Robert if you see ten that look the same - run. The Chinese fakes are everywhere. You just don't get signatures like that on a real tsuba. 

 

This one is also up for auction - any idea of the mei?  https://www.jauce.com/auction/r443391065

It looks very modern. The design is by Goto hokyo Ichijo who may have used a woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada for inspiration.

image.thumb.png.802dd3f89d1dd4383b806b6749e765f7.png

Goto Ichijo's original design below. The proportions are way off in the copy above.

image.thumb.png.70c115a76778bd3eb575634193af97ee.png

These steel reproductions are closer to the correct proportions, these were factory made in large numbers and in other various metals, all are the same rounded shape rather than the subtle mokko of the Goto original. They also lack any celestial body rising on the horizon, [There is at least one example with a silver 'moon' in place of the sun]

image.thumb.png.757edb1bd3c62c0205412717db88c6ee.png

So what do we make of the first example currently up for auction?

 

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On 2/13/2021 at 2:26 PM, Spartancrest said:

This one is also up for auction - any idea of the mei?  https://www.jauce.com/auction/r443391065

It looks very modern. The design is by Goto hokyo Ichijo who may have used a woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada for inspiration.

image.thumb.png.802dd3f89d1dd4383b806b6749e765f7.png

 

 

 

 

The first kanji looks like a cursive 正 (Masa/Sei/Sho) to me, but I can't figure out the second one. Maybe 弥 ? This would make it Masahiro/Masaya/Seiya, does any of these names ring a bell? Or maybe it's 侏 ?

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The auction site translates the 'signature' as 正保 = Shōhō  I don't know of a smith or tsuba-ko with that name but Shōhō (正保) was a Japanese era name after Kan'ei and before Keian. This period spanned the years from December 1644 through February 1648. [I cannot see this tsuba being made within 300 years of those dates]


 
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