NTHK question ?

[Link]

I've been searching for a sword & have a question about the info. or description given in NTHK papers (I'm new at this) I've seen more than a few swords for sale that have the NTHK or NBTHK and then a written description from the seller that says "appears to be" or "I think this or that" or something along those lines. these are all signed swords I'm talking about province,town & smith So what could be left to question ? I would think the NTHK would verify all that stuff ? From what I've seen it appears that there there are rankings Toko, NPO, Kanteisho and more common Hozon-Token and a Hawley rank which dosn't seem related to the NTHK cert. So I guess a sword can be cert, but not have a ranking? I know that a some of the smiths would sign with someone eleses name for various reasons but I would think that if such things were in question the NTHK cert would include anything that may be in question on the sword. I know that in a room full of experts you may end up with more than one description of what a sword really is. So I've been assuming that if a sword had the papers and rankings there wasn't much left to for conjecture. So if you can clue me in that would be great .

Thanks

[leo]

Hi, Larry!

 

To give you some basics about the content of both types of papers see this link:

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/origami.htm

 

Thanks to Richard Stein a very helpful information for beginners. As you will see NBTHK Hozon and Tokubetsu Hozon Papers give you (except basical data about blade and tang) smiths name and/or school, province and sometimes (in brackets) whether its the shinto or shinshinto generation.

NTHK papers provide the same data and additionally the nengo(year name)

As many smiths signed with the same same throughout several generations, it is usually up to the expertise of the owner to judge by himself which generation made the sword.(smart sellers usually name the smith with the highest rank ). Hence the comments that you mentioned.

Best advice is to seek assistance by more experienced collectors, aquire as many books as you can and read them before you start buying.

 

all the best,

Martin

[Link]

Thanks Martin

[Jean]

http://www.nihonto.ca/ratings.html

[Link]

http://www.nihonto.ca/ratings.html

That pretty much explains it, thanks

[Dick Tait]

Another Link, although this is specifically about NBTHK papers, may be useful for you.