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gschemmel
15th September 2009, 03:11
Greetings all...

Would anybody be able to recommend someone is the US who would be a competent and honest sword appraiser?

I have a katana that my father brought back from Japan after the Korean war, and I am curious as to whether it has enough value that it might be worth restoring. He never did say where or how he got it though. Unfortunately, my father had no idea on how to care for it, so he let us whiney urchins get our grubby hands on the blade when we were kids (it's a miracle we didn't lose any body parts in the process), so consequently after many years, the blade has some rust on it now.

I've looked through some literature on swords, including John Yumoto's "The Samurai Sword", and it doesn't look as if it was military. This sword also has two rivet holes in the tang, which Yumoto says implies that it's old.

I would appreciate any guidance offered.

Thanks

Grant Schemmel
Penrose, CO

Black and Blue
15th September 2009, 04:31
David Pepin will give you a free evaluation. He has done it for me a number of times www.samuraisword.com

Phil Scudieri

pgsmith
15th September 2009, 17:34
Hi Grant,
My advice would be to take pictures of both sides of the tang, both sides of the blade, and both sides of the tip. Then, go over and post those pictures on the Nihonto forum at Swordforum.com. There are a number of collectors that check in there regularly that should be able to give you some insight, and can direct you to someone in the Japanese Sword Society in your area that is competent to advise you as to whether it has restoration value or not.

Good luck!

gschemmel
16th September 2009, 14:22
Thanks guys, I'll look into both suggestions.

Grant Schemmel