Appraisal guidance please

[Paul Godfrey]

I have a sword brought back from Japan after WW2. How would I find someone to appraise it? Thanks in advance.

[Ron M]

Hi, you can amass a ton of info here! Post the pictures of the blade as best you can, then members will chime in to help get the ball rolling and may even have some contacts for you.

Let’s see what you have.

regards

[John C]

I agree with Ron. Post the sword here first to get honest, unbiased feedback before taking it to anyone.

 

John C.

[Paul Godfrey]

I clearly do not visit this website very often. Apologies for the very late reply. I will post up some photographs. Thank you.

[Paul Godfrey]

I’ve tried to upload a video, and then several pictures. But it keeps telling me my file size is too large. Frustrating.

[Paul Godfrey]

Tried uploading the pictures one at a time. Still telling me my file size is too large. 🙄

[Lewis B]

Load onto a Google Drive folder (no file size limits) and post the link. 

[Kanenaga]

There's a sword show in Chicago at the end of this month. If you are serious about wanting the best info about your sword, bring it to the show and get appraisals from multiple dealers and experienced collectors.

http://www.chicagoswordshow.com/

[Brian]

File size limits are completely adequate. We don't need 1 meg pics taken straight from a phone. Just Google free image resizers. Drop the dpi, you should easily get the file sizes down to under 1 meg. We are at the point where phones want to upload billboard size pics to the internet.
 

 

[Paul Godfrey]

[Paul Godfrey]

It’s terrible to be totally computer illiterate. I was just about to give up, and then miraculously at least some of the content that I was trying to upload seems to have posted. 

[Paul Godfrey]

[Paul Godfrey]

I will try to get additional pictures posted. I have a very good, and relatively short video but I’m not sure I would ever get the video posted here. This blade has an overall length of 34.5 inches and a cutting surface length of 28 inches. It is bright and shiny. 

[Paul Godfrey]

[Ray Singer]

Paul, it is best if you can show the entire inscription in a single clear, straight-on, vertical image. Please see below for an example. Do not do anything on your own to clean or polish the blade.

[Paul Godfrey]

[Paul Godfrey]

Yes thank you. Let me see if I can get one clear picture of the handle with the writing.

[Paul Godfrey]

[Ray Singer]

This looks quite spectacular actually. Appears to be a ginzogan (silver inlaid) 3 body cutting best dated 1652 (承応  - Jōō gannen). I am traveling at the moment, I am sure someone else will respond with a more detailed translation. Please be sure to care for it well (do not handle the blade with bare hands and keep oiled to preserve the condition and avoid rusting).

[nulldevice]

This blade is very interesting. Looks like a quite stout and healthy blade that has been shortened. As Ray mentioned was used in a cutting test from the 1600s which is a really cool thing you don’t see too often. It could be an older blade and I’m curious to see what the cutting test inscription translation says in full.
 

Was there any paperwork on this? I’d bet this blade could be a really nice candidate to send to Japan for shinsa. 

[Paul Godfrey]

No papering unfortunately.

 

The inlay material appears gold in person if this matters.

 

It does look silver in the picture.
 

 

 

[SteveM]

Same sword as the one in this thread

 

 

[Paul Godfrey]

Yes.

That gentleman did examine pictures which were submitted by my attorney some time back. I would now like input from the group. 

 

 

 

[Ian B3HR2UH]

With pictures being submitted by attorneys it looks like you are wanting to sell this and are picking our brains for information ?

[Rivkin]

Usually I feel this answer does not add anything except shifting the responsibility, but... eventually this blade will end up with shinsa anyway.

In this sense its all the same what is said here. It has potential. I am not even close to be competent to be judging tester's signatures, especially with such photos.

Submit it.

[Paul Godfrey]

The blade is not for sale.

I am totally ignorant on the subject. At this point, I want to find out what I have and what its potential value could be.

In the event I wanted to send it to Japan for evaluation, what is the procedure? And what would be the advantage to doing that? 

[nulldevice]

2 hours ago, Paul Godfrey said:

The blade is not for sale.

I am totally ignorant on the subject. At this point, I want to find out what I have and what its potential value could be.

In the event I wanted to send it to Japan for evaluation, what is the procedure? And what would be the advantage to doing that? 

There are a few members here who can facilitate that for you. Robert Hughes and others come to mind.

 

Theyll handle the paperwork getting the sword into Japan where it has to be registered. Then the sword will be submitted at the proper date to the NBTHK (a Japanese official sword appraisal and preservation body) for a shinsa or “judgement” where they’ll look at the sword and its quality and attribute it to either a school or a smith if there is enough detail to attribute the work to a specific swordsmith.

 

This will come with a paper serving as an appraisal and judgement of the sword. Truly exceptional swords are usually submitted again for an even higher level of recognition (Juyo) which is a competition where only the top blades pass. Whereas for the lower 2 levels (Hozon and Tokubetsu Hozon) are a guaranteed pass if certain criteria are met. 
 

Without a proper shinsa and judgement by somebody who is properly knowledgeable and can inspect the sword in person, it’s very hard to assign value. 
 

Some swords are worth a few thousand bucks and others are worth hundreds of thousands depending on who made it, when it was made, and most importantly, the quality of the sword in hand. 

[Paul Godfrey]

Thank you. 

[AlexiG]

5 hours ago, Paul Godfrey said:

The blade is not for sale.

I am totally ignorant on the subject. At this point, I want to find out what I have and what its potential value could be.

In the event I wanted to send it to Japan for evaluation, what is the procedure? And what would be the advantage to doing that? 

Hi Paul,

 

Robert Benson can also mediate sending your sword for shinsa. He helped me with mine. The total cost was ~ 1k per sword, and it took 6-9months to get my blades back, at least that was my experience sending 3 swords for Hozon/ Tokubetsu Hozon shinsa in 2023. You can find schedule here (https://www.touken.or.jp/shinsa/schedule.html). If you target 2025, June, August, September, November and Dec may be viable options.

 

All the best,

Alexi

[Rivkin]

Bob Benson is one of the pillars of American nihonto and if he takes it on its great.