T533. Iron tsuba with gold and silver inlay. 7.7 x 7.8 x .4 cm on the shakudo fukurin. The nakago hitsu-ana is .9 x 2.5 cm. The front side has raised relief of characters (anyone know what they say?) inlaid with gold; the back side is flat with extensive silver nunome zogan: small arcs (waves?) and a large ring around the outer edge. Another head scratcher; I have no idea which school this comes from. Not much of the soft metal is missing; condition is excellent. $495.

This just in from an authority on Nanban: Your tsuba. T533. Is probably NOT of Japanese origin. It appears once to have been decorated with champleve enameling (now lost), with reside of the blue-green enamel coloring the sunken relief on the recto. The disparity of treatment between front and back, and the linear inlay on the verso point to a Hushou (hand guard) of the late Ming era (1600-1644). Hirado maintained close ties to Korea. Hiragana Donin learned cloisonné from Korean artists working in Hirado. Kunishige used the champleve technique in some of his guards. Given all those clues, you could call it a “Hirado” style guard exhibiting Chinese influence