Toad skin patina on tsuba

[JohnTo]

Can anyone give me information about the surface patina on a tsuba I have recently acquired? I bought the tsuba on-line and thought that it was just a rusty tosho tsuba. However when it arrived I realised that this was like no 'rust' I had seen before. The entire suface is covered with small bumps, resembling a toad's skin, or piece of same used on sword handles. It looks like the iron has been heated to a very high temperature and started to boil, before quenching. The surface has a shine to it, unlike corrosion and I don't think it has been lacquered or given a thin coat of polyurethane. I can find no similar examples in books or sales catalogues.

 

The tsuba has a simple , symmetrical, pierced design, possibly of four axe heads in negative silhouette, or four circles in positive silhouette around a central circle. The hitsu ana is plugged, probably with lead, or possibly a tarnished silver metal (pewter or silver).

 

Overall, the tsuba is large, indicating that it is old (before 1550?). The plate is not flat, but convex on both sides a shape is known as go-ishi gata (go stone shape) and appears skillfully executed as the convex surfaces are very even.

 

Height: 9.2 cm, Width:9.2 cm, Thickness at rim: 0.2 cm, Thickness at Seppa Dai: 0.5 cm.

 

Thanks for any information you can give me, John

[christianmalterre]

Dear John,

 

Sorry to say this,but this seems to be a typical modern acid/base treatment-applied on two steps/ first step-so to create an very fast growing crustation which shall look like naturally grown rust/second treatment with an other acid/maybe a base here(bluish coloration)-so to "decrust" weak,burnt spots in the surface crust resulted due the first application.

Depending on ground material and chemical differences in those applied waxes,fluids and so on...-you do get those typical crustation seen on your´s object here.

Have an look in metallurgical literature or online treats...

This is obviously no antique Patination at all!

 

Christian

[Ford Hallam]

I'd have to agree with Christian. I don't think this is a genuine antique. The nakago ana is very "confused" and the surface is not at all convincing. It probably was created in a manner such as Christian described.

 

Overall, the tsuba is large, indicating that it is old (before 1550?)

All it indicates is that whoever made it copied a large tsuba. It's perfectly possible to make large ones today too

 

Ford

[JohnTo]

Thanks for the information. You are probably right about it being a modern copy, but the surface is different from any etched examples that I have seen. It was cheap, so it still makes an interesting addition to my collection.

 

I remember being told of an old saying over 35 years ago 'Out of every 10 blades signed by Masamune, 11 are fakes.' Guess the same is true of tsuba to judge by the number of obvious fakes around.

 

John