Gambler's Dice Tsuba
TS0494
CHRISTMAS SALE $500
SOLD
Now and again these things happen. The person for whom I was holding the tsuba, lost his job, and can not continue with the purchase. So outside of the fact that this has been off the market for almost three months, which is inconvenient, --- as in dead money, I am just going to relist the tsuba, and hope that he can get back on his feet in short order.
An unusual tsuba, of a pattern that I have never come across in the past fifty-two years of dealing with these things. A heavy gold nunome over a copper base depicting dice. 6.92 cm x 6.7 cm x 3.6 at the seppa dai, tapering to 2.3 cm. at the edge. The gold is worn down to the copper underlayment in places, especially were the seppa rubbed against it. This is pretty obviously not something that a samurai would be wearing, but likely a wealthy gambler or underworld figure. As per Robert Haynes: "A very rare design, I have only seen two or three. Probably Umetada, and the dice are original to the tsuba". $750
395