Bad advertising? Or deception?

[Spartancrest]

    Openwork wrought-iron tsuba maru-gata with horse bits - Edo period (1603-1868).  

https://www.proantic.com/en/1763527-openwork-wrought-iron-tsuba-maru-gata-with-horse-bits-edo-period-1603-1868.html     https://www.antikeo.com/en/catalog/militaria/swords-bladed-weapons/openwork-wrought-iron-tsuba-maru-gata-with-horse-bits-edo-period-1603-1868-156512

This screams cast to me - just concentrate on the top left of the guard to start with, then check the right hand chain section with no openings all the way through. 

 another view shows a crack through the mimi - not even close to the value they are trying to achieve 380 €

 

A similar one from Instagram  much better piece.

 

 

 

   I won this little rusty example this week and a similar horse gear one about a month or more back   No dispute, they are not in prime condition. However I appreciate them both and paid next to nothing for what I think are interesting pieces. [and not cast!]

Edited July 20 by Spartancrest
typo

[ROKUJURO]

Dale,

I think you are correct. If one looks carefully, many small defects - probably from casting - are detectable, and the crack in the MIMI is not even the only one.

Even among cast TSUBA, this is not a prime one.....

[Kiko]

Too much metal on the left, not enough on the right—you’ve really dug up a textbook example there, Dale!
If only all cast tsuba were this obvious, it would make life so much easier for us collectors...

 

[Dan tsuba]

Don't get me started again on Edo period cast iron tsuba!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, etc!

[Kiko]

[Spartancrest]

In English? Or with subtitles? - Is it available on DVD? I am old school - Not into "streaming" [unless it is by doctors orders! ]

[Kiko]

These questions will only be answered once the crowdfunding campaign concludes—a campaign for which I hope for the total, unquestioning involvement of NMB Gold members.
But if it were up to me, I’d be quite keen on an original-language version with cursive subtitles and a collector’s edition LaserDisc entirely engraved in the katakiri-bori style, coated in a thin layer of transparent urushi lacquer, obviously.

Edited July 20 by Kiko

[ROKUJURO]

....and a user's manual as multi-colour woodblock print?

[Kiko]

Well, a four-color moku hanga booklet on washi is certainly a possibility, Jean—and a most tasteful one, I must admit, especially with mica inclusions—but I imagine that version would cost an extra ichibuban, effectively putting this major work out of reach for the forum’s ronin.

[Lewis B]

Does it have one of these?

 

 

[Kiko]

Nope, but there's no doubt it will deserve one like this!
 

Edited July 20 by Kiko

[Robert S]

8 hours ago, Dan tsuba said:

Don't get me started again on Edo period cast iron tsuba!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, etc!

 

Definitely not .  I was doing some research on early iron casting the other day, though, and was stunned to find that there is archaeological evidence for iron casting in Japan going back almost a millennium.  I didn't think they were using technology capable of generating that much heat until more recently.  

[ROKUJURO]

They were making very fine TETSUBIN in EDO JIDAI, but casting items from iron is a lot of work and requires special knowledge and equipment. It was NOT an easy and fast method to produce numbers of objects, as some seem to believe. An improved serial casting technique - die casting - only came up in the 19th century.

[Dan tsuba]

Hi Robert!

Off topic here.  But the technolgoical aspect if the Japanese had the capabability to generate that much heat in the Edo period (and before) to make cast iron, was discuseed in that other thread (which shall remain nameless here!).  As well as the possibility that making cast iron tsuba was easier and faster than making hand forged tsuba (which was also discussed).  But once again, that thread will remain nameless here!

[Spartancrest]

5 hours ago, Robert S said:

capable of generating that much heat

The whole subject of cast tsuba - seems to generate enough heat all by itself!    [If only we could use that energy for good and peaceful purposes we wouldn't need so many nuclear reactors! ]