The Problem With Papers...

[Pete Klein]

http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u9339851

 

This is an interesting example of where you need to keep up with your research. This tsuba is apparently by Araki Tomei, renowned for his method of creating millet heads in gold. It has old Tokubetsu Kicho papers and the mei to be found in the old kinko meikan. However, this mei is no longer in the new meikan, and if you study the form of the millet heads they do not have the typical Tomei characteristics. I am bringing this to your attention as good reason to be skeptical of the older papers and to always double check you references, and to keep abreast of new literature. Opinions change with new research so never be afraid to question. IMHO.

Haynes pg. 1951-2

NCJSC Kinko Meikan translation pg. 72

Old Kinko Meikan pg. 255-6

New " " pg. 215

 

BTW -- the last tsuba I saw by him cost $40,000 and it was mumei!

[Rich T]

This has been up and sold on Yahoo previously. Last time I think it sold for about 130,000 thought I might be wrong there. I ran this by some friends in Japan last time I saw it and it was pooh poohed pretty quickly.

 

I also seem to remember a lot more images last time. More detail.

 

That old Kinko Meikan is a bit of a catch, a list of what has been removed may be a good future project, to list as a word doc for free download.

 

Cheers

 

Rich

[Pete Klein]

I think it would be best to just buy the new edition of the Meikan. If you have the old one you can compare notes between them but the new one correlates with the Haynes volumes and descriptions and has added pictures, not just deletions so trying to do a corrections write-up would be difficult at best.

[Bungo]

" However, this mei is no longer in the new meikan "

 

page 215, far right ( the one on the fuchi and the koz ). To my " un-trained " eyes, the mei compare very favorably............. but then , hey, what do i know ?

p.s. the reason that particular mei example is taken out of the new edition COULD be due to " space limitation " devoted to each artist........ afterall he got one full page while others get less than that.

 

milt the ronin

[Pete Klein]

Hi Milt -- the Kao is wrong -- look at the bottom right curvature. There are two variations and the one on the Yahoo site isn't the same.

BTW I have talked to Jim on this subject and the meikan was updated to reflect the latest evidence on authenticity. They weren't dropped for space limitation. This is also one of the problems with earlier hako gaki. They didn't have the meikan forty years ago (and earlier) so a lot was done by feeling and overall workmanship. Unfortunately that doesn't always work so well.

[Rich T]

for 453,000 JY, that's about US$3700 + and the cost of a good Ko Akasaka, or a nice enough Kogai or Ko Kinko tsuba. Well below the cost of a genuine Tomei ( anywhere up to US$50K, maybe more )

 

Send that one off to the NBTHK and see how it goes I guess. Or else love it as it is.

 

Rich