Anyone who has been buying from me - about 15 years now - will realize that we know a fair bit about tansu. We presently sell quite a bit of what we like to designate as "samurai art" (armor, parts of armor, swords and parts of swords such as tsuba, or menuki) but continue to sell high quality little tansu, especially those which were meant to keep business documents, money and seals. Funadansu, or ship captain safes are the ultimate of boxes, beautifully crafted and made, but in recent years costs have risen tremendously (figure on anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 for a nice period funadansu), and because of that and the fact that they don't sell easily, one factor being the weight and shipping costs, the other being the purchase costs, we have focused on smaller boxes. Insofar as possible we prefer the ones which are from the late Edo or Meiji periods. The questions most asked of our clients are in regards to condition, authenticity and restoration. In regards to the first point, condition, we prefer to buy - even if it means spending a bit more - a box which is in good condition and prefer to stay away from boxes which have suffered water or bug damage. Some woodworm traces are sometimes inevitable, especially with pieces which come from the south, like Kyushu, and as long as these small holes are underneath the box and are inactive, we feel that this does not take anything away from the value of a piece. The second point, authenticity, is a matter of trust in the seller. If unsure, ask if the seller will take back the box if not of the time period he or she says it is in the description. Beware of some sellers - one in Kobe especially - who in their listings say "it is an old piece so we are unsure of the age", or lists every single item as Edo, even though a high number of them found today are from the Meiji period. Heavy use of copper hardware is sign that the item might be Meiji, as during the Edo period craftsmen used hand-forged iron for hinges locks and hardware. Beware also of the use of steel nails, which came into being well into the Meiji and Taisho period. earlier tansu used mortise and tenon, wood and sometimes ivory pegs and animal (horse) glue to join pieces, There are a number of tansu, especially the desirable ones, coming out of Korea or China, with machine-made hardware and joined with steel nails. Lastly, the subject of restoration. My aunt was in the antique business in France and fine pieces were usually restored. As she often pointed out, if one is to visit Versailles, for example, all of the furniture on display has been restored. Ditto for those in museums. The important thing is whether a given antique has been professionally restored. I have seen antique shop owners go to town on some tansu with grinders, sandblasters and sanders, and then "weather" the pieces with shoe polish, gun blue, spay paint and other terrible products. My own opinion therefore is that a restored piece is not less valuable, but it is better that an antique be left "as is" instead of being unprofessionally restored. In our case, we leave the antiques as they are, because that is part of their history. The exception to that are repairing locks, and/or finding period keys to fit the locks.