A skinner on Skinner Auction house.

[Brian]

Quality of the work was high...not tourist quality.
But agree, that is too much to spend on unknowns.

[TheGermanBastard]

26 minutes ago, Brian said:

Quality of the work was high...not tourist quality

 

I am not an expert but I do not feel that this was high quality work. The lacquer work was good as it is seen with many late Edo to Meijiu periode pieces but the mounts and especially the Tokugawa mons are poor quality. Whenever you see these poorly Tokugawa mons, most probably made at a date when they had been obsolete then it is a high indicator or a tourist piece or lets better say a piece for export. There are great quality pieces that were made for expert as many high profile artists had run out of work but I am most doubtfull about the qualiyt of this one and think the price is way over the top.

[Brian]

Consider the size of those mon. The pics make them look large, but in reality they must have been a few mm across.
 

[TheGermanBastard]

Well, maybe some Kodugu Guru dares to make statement on the quality of the Koshirae? For me these mons and the qualiyt are a red flag.

[Surfson]

That piece went for a hammer price of $8000.00.   Big bucks without seeing the mei!   Could easily be cut down with an ugly tang or what have you.  Or, could be Kiyomaro (or so the hopeful buyer may be thinking....).   If anybody on NMB bought it, please share results when you get it in.