Number Stamped On Tsuba

[cluckdaddy76]

Can someone tell me why the number 342 seems to be stamped on tbe bottom of this nakago ana? This is for learning purposes only, this is an auction that just came out on Yahoo Japan. Already it has multiple bids and is over $3,500 USD without papers. I also am not blown away by the quality considering the current price tag. Can anyone fill me in on anything I am missing, I completely understand this could just be a style of a certain school which demands the price, I just do not see it myself

[cluckdaddy76]

Front

[cluckdaddy76]

Back

[cluckdaddy76]

Mei

[Curran]

Old museum catalog numbers?

Quite a few of my tsuba have old lacquer or other numbers somewhere on seppa dais or inside the nakago ana.

 

Old carved or stamped ones like that are not commonly seen.

It is a bit of defacement, but I don't think anyone is going to belly ache over this one where the design more than overshadows that little bit of scar.

[Jake6500]

Agree with Curran, I have also observed this same auction listing.

 

The numbers are undoubtedly very old museum catalogue numbers indicating this tsuba has been around for a long time and is probably in some very old book somewhere.

 

 

[cluckdaddy76]

I was thinking it was museum related, but have only seen chalk, I did not think a museum would actually stamp on the iron itself. 

Here is the link to the auction for better pics.

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1192601501

 

 

 

 

[Jake6500]

18 minutes ago, cluckdaddy76 said:

I was thinking it was museum related, but have only seen chalk, I did not think a museum would actually stamp on the iron itself. 

Here is the link to the auction for better pics.

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1192601501

 

 

 

 

 

i highly doubt that any museum would do such a thing today but in the past, say in the 1890's or something? Absolutely.

 

The city of Troy was excavated haphazardly by an amateur (at least by modern standards) with dynamite. He literally blew a huge hole in the middle of the ancient city without a care in the world in pursuit of gold and treasure. Compared to that a couple numbers on a tsuba is nothing!

[Spartancrest]

Hi Jason, similar thread here: Also on some impressive pieces.

See also: [ title needs an 'S' removed !]

The link to the auction in the thread does not work anymore but I tracked down the auction records.

link here to the 2014 tsuba auction:

https://www.batemans.com/catalogue/afb4f32c61312999f80895cc7c754b1c/9f72c1814b6f84555a7fe5bc5d559a1b/two-day-sale-of-fine-art-antiques-collectables-to-include/?view=grid-wide&searchTerm=tsuba&searchOption=1

Four have punched numbers added - unfortunately the provenance does not tell who or where they came from. Two show consecutive numbers, so it is likely they are all from one collection originally.

 

 

Images even at the time, were very dark and hard to see the numbers. Image is enhanced with numbers shown. 

[cluckdaddy76]

Thanks for all the replies, there is an endless amount of knowledge to learn when it comes to this hobby.  I will go down the rabbit hole and see if I can find out which museum did this or was it multiple back in the day.

 

Jason

[Curran]

2 hours ago, cluckdaddy76 said:

 I will go down the rabbit hole and see if I can find out which museum did this or was it multiple back in the day.

 

It was multiple back in the day.  

Museums still open and museums now defunct did all sorts of things to them.

Tiffany made a fireplace hood out of them.  https://morsemuseum.org/on-exhibit/fireplace-hood-installation/

(look closely).

 

Even more respectable museums like the Boston Museum of Fine Arts somehow managed to trash a lot of their sukashi tsuba.

They look fine from the top, but an angled view shows many have been turned into swiss cheese. Who knows how they did that?  Super special sauce to inhibit the naturally forming rust inside the sukashi? (my first guess)

 

Yours got off lucky.