Solid Silver Tanto Tsuba

[cluckdaddy76]

I came into the majority of my nihonto collection all at once, from a collector who was most active 1950’s -1970’s. I have posted a handful of times, but have mostly been studying these last few years to decipher exactly what I have in my collection. I had put this piece aside as nothing special but am now asking for opinions as I just discovered something about this piece. I realized it had been set more than once , and put a magnet to it. It was not magnetic and I saw no signs of copper upon inspection this morning , so I took it to a jeweler today who told me it was basically solid silver ( except seki gane). Assuming this is old, that amount silver back in the day is respectable as a fitting for a sword. I am just curious of opinions and information at all someone may have on this. The nakago ana has seen some use, but I also can see where once set and only the engravings are seen, it would look nice on a tanto. Just for perspective , this is a tiny tsuba, roughly 4.2 cm X 3.7. I appreciate any feedback.

[Hokke]

Interesting, just out of curiosity, how was the jeweler able to determine it was silver? Was he able to scan it with XRF and if so, what was the actual composition of this piece?

[FlorianB]

I have doubts, too. Silver becomes bluish-black while tarnishing.
The colour here looks mere like shibuichi, a small amount of silver at least.

Moreover I think the use of solid silver is only to be found on top level handicraft.

[Kurikata]

Could it be yamagane ? Please refer to : https://varshavskycollection.com/collection/tsu-0331/

[Hokke]

6 hours ago, FlorianB said:

I have doubts, too. Silver becomes bluish-black while tarnishing.
The colour here looks mere like shibuichi, a small amount of silver at least.

Moreover I think the use of solid silver is only to be found on top level handicraft.

The color doesn't bother me too much, I see silver this color all the time on 17th and 18th century treasure coins we find here in FL. Like you though, im more focused on the level of craftsmanship, given the likely cost of this tsuba if it were made from silver. The design looks stamped and not with great attention given to detail. 

[Hokke]

3 hours ago, Kurikata said:

Could it be yamagane ? Please refer to : https://varshavskycollection.com/collection/tsu-0331/

Perhaps, although I would expect to see even the slightest hints of a coppery color, if only faint. 

[cluckdaddy76]

I told the jeweler I did not want it polished, I wanted to keep the patina, so the first thing he did was he used a cloth of some kind and lightly rubbed the entire piece. He then went in back and did something with the cloth or used something to inspect it. He also took measurements and weighed the piece, ( I did point out there was some copper in the nakago ana) and I believe he used some formula to check the size vs weight for some sort of rough estimation. I am taking his word for it, but he seemed confident. I would also expect much nicer work on solid silver, but do have one random theory. Perhaps a newly rich merchant who had money, but no connections had this piece made. I have an older  saya in the collection that is similar in that it has a good amount of silver work, ( this silver has been polished) but the work is also not spectacular. I just happened to be poking at some of my less exciting pieces this weekend and found the tsuba interesting once I realized it was not iron and that it looks to have been set at least twice. 

[Curran]

Please consider shibuichi as a material.

 

Given the ko-kinko appearance and possible age of the tsuba,

you should consider the possibility of shibuichi that has an imperfect silver-copper ratio.

 

Very glad it was not cleaned by the jeweler, as it might have taken a long long time to get the correct patina back.

 

[Exclus1ve]

I agree with Curran. I am well acquainted with the patination of silver from numismatics. Pure silver oxidizes in a different way, even if you artificially apply a patina of this color to pure silver - one way or another the metal would appear (on the edges and impacts), such a patina is unstable. Alloy shibuichi seems very logical to me. The patina matches. And since the jeweler wiped the top layer on a rag, he just took silver oxide, which is certainly present in this tsuba, I think, at least 30%.

[ROKUJURO]

Silver does not oxidize under atmospheric conditions. The brown-blackish patina is silver sulfide, a result of the chemical reaction of silver with hydrogen sulfide. 

[cluckdaddy76]

Thanks for all the feedback, there is endless knowledge to learn with this hobby. I see that shibuichi is usually a 75/25 % ratio, but silver content can go as high as 50-60%. I have a Victorian hand mirror from sometime in the 1800's that is solid silver and is a very similar color as it has not been polished in the last century. I know this tsuba  is nothing outstanding, I was guessing it may have some age once I saw it has been set more than once which is why I decided to look at it in more detail. Curran, do you think this one could be 400+ years old as you mentioned ko-kinko? Most of my studying so far has been iron based tsuba as they are what attracts me most and the majority of my collection is iron.  I do have around 15-20 soft metal tsuba in my collection, but all of those are much more intricate in the design, which is why I had assumed this one was iron until my discovery last weekend. 

[Curran]

@cluckdaddy76    yes, I do think it is a ko-kinko that has been repurposed a few times. It was probably "in service" a long time.

The kozuka ana was cut through the design work, implying it happened later.

The nakago ana has been reshaped-  expanded, then later filled with copper sekigane. Sekigane 1, 2, possibly 3.

 

This tsuba probably started out as a tanto tsuba has probably seen several blades of various sizes and shapes over a period of ???

 

There is a simple honesty to some ko-kinko works that is unintentionally Zen when you think the little fellow has survived how many centuries and seen how much mileage on various blades with various samurai or soldiers.  The ratios of metals in the shibuichi are less than perfect, and the designs are simple but often slightly hypnotic. The not quite ideal metal mixes, patinas, and colors create quite a kaleidoscope of works that are quite a beautiful gallery defying the more codified classifications we give most Edo era works.

 

Note:  if you are taking it to a bench jeweler, very few of them are going to have any knowledge of some of the exotic mixes and patina formulas used in Japan. While they pick up books on the Japanese metalwork, very few actually have experience. Consider their opinions as "educated guesses".

[Tim Evans]

Silver or silver colored kokinko kodogu  turn up occasionally, particularly on tachi. Apparently it was a fashion at one time. Ezo style fittings have a silvery look to them. Below is a kokinko kashira which has a heavy foil "silver" cover over a copper base. Your silver alloy tsuba is a rare item. 

 

 

[Iekatsu]

Ko-kinko for sure, a nice little example. With out an XRF test there is no point speculating on the material composition, observations based on the colour only goes so far. Definitely don't have it cleaned.