Buy, Sell, Trade, Consign

I am actively buying swords for inventory at this point in time, but am restricting purchases to unpapered blades, and top quality papered swords.

I can act as a finder for swords as well. For items I seek out and find, I charge a 10% commission, and 8% commission to repeat customers.

I do advertise swords for sale on behalf of other collectors, if you have an item you wish to sell, feel free to contact me. The way it works is as follows: the seller of the sword sends me photographs and a description of the piece, and I will review and add additional research notes, and create a listing on my site for the sword and the asking price.

The sword will be photographed with my techniques, at a 3% advance on the commission for the sword. This fee is non-refundable, but you will be entitled to keep a copy of the high res photos for any use, including reselling in the future on someone else's website.

The sword can at this time be returned to you, or held in the USA by my partner until a buyer is found.

I can assist in negotiating the price between buyer and seller, or I can put them in touch to negotiate themselves directly. If necessary, I act as an escrow agent, holding funds until the sword is accepted. When the transaction completes, a further 7% advertising fee is due after the transaction is completed, charged on top of the negotiated price (on the honor system) in addition to the 3% photography fee. The goal of this service is to provide a low-commission option (usually dealers charge 20% commission) for people to market and find buyers for their swords, and to make swords available to the visitors of my site.

Currency

All prices stated on this website, and discussed in email with me, are in US dollars unless otherwise specified explicitly.

Guarantee

All guarantees and terms of sale are made in direct agreement between buyer and seller. I am limited to the role of an advertising agent on commissioned pieces, and possibly an escrow agent, unless the item for sale is one of the items from my personal collection. In the case of my own items, I offer inspection periods after which the sale is final.

Authenticity

I do my best to determine that a particular item is authentic if it is on my site. If an item is noted to be accompanied by authentication papers issued by a particular individual or organization, I am considering it to represent an opinion by experts who are of higher ability than myself, and the issuer should be considered by you to be the responsible party for their written opinion and its accuracy. The reputation of certain papers, individuals and organizations varies depending on who you ask; you are responsible to make your own decision about how reliable the issuer of any particular document may be. I am glad to give my opinion on this if asked privately. My own judgment and decisions are open to error so please carefully conduct your own research into any particular authentication papers and issuing organization or individual.

In the case of items with no authentication papers, I will give my opinion as to the authenticity of the item. This is not a guarantee past the seven day inspection period, it is my own opinion and is subject to error and is subject to change as I am continuing my own study and advancement in this field.

Shipping

I prefer Fedex economy shipping, though you may choose your own shipping format for any sword. There are usually customs delays in sending over borders, and I feel that the additional cost of Fedex priority is not worth it because of this. Shipping however is a decision made jointly by buyer and seller.

Important: Errors

I do make mistakes out of either simply not knowing something, or sometimes I have translated something wrong, or simply screwed up in a "human error" kind of way.

I get a lot of email asking for general help, or asking about the pieces that are for sale on these pages, so I am working in the middle of a stream of constant Nihonto conversation. As a result, errors or misstatements may pop up in email conversations.

In any cases of typos or brainos I may make about the items I have for sale that form discrepancies with what is listed here on the website, the website will be taken by me, and should be taken by you as the authoritative and canonical statement. I take responsibility for incorrect descriptions regarding the condition of the sword, and historical information listed on the site and in what I may send in email, provided it is not one of these discrepancies with the website and not a subject open to multiple points of view and substantiated by expert opinion. For example, if I say, the price is $1,000 in an email I wrote at 2am, and the website says it is $10,000, do not expect to hold me to the $1,000 erroneous price. If I write in email that a sword I am selling is flawless, and it arrives with you and you discover a flaw, then this is the kind of error that I accept full responsibility for. In a case like that, you would be expected to be able to return the sword for a full refund within your inspection period, plus I would cover the shipping both ways because I gave you an erroneous description of the sword. Similarly, if I claim that a smith belongs to the Ichimonji school for instance, and there is no historical record or opinion of him being in this school, this would be a historical error and I would be liable again to cover the costs of return of the blade within the seven day inspection period.

I do my best to research and cross-reference whatever I can, but keeping in mind that not all authors of our reference works agree on most matters, one can determine that contradicting any statement in Nihonto can often be an easy task. You should always research and verify statements made by people on the sales side so that you are satisfied about accuracy and support of the theories put forth, and the seven day inspection period is meant to give you enough time so that you can re-visit a sword you have received in person and make sure that it is consistent with the description you have read that generated your interest in buying.

Goals

Collecting should be educational, fun and fulfilling. I love this subject matter and I hope it shows in the time that I take to write up pieces that I have for sale. I want anything you receive to give you the same joy that it gave the previous owner. It is no longer pleasurable for me if someone is not happy with what they receive, so please give me a chance to right any wrongs should anything unforeseen occur. Should an unfortunate incident occur outside of the inspection period, feel free to ask for my assistance and depending on the circumstances and at my discretion, I will see what I can do to help you or solve the problem. I am repeating myself, but for the sake of legality and absolute clarity, please understand I am under no obligations past the seven day acceptance period.