Ken-Hawaii

Yes, definitely report him, Curran.

That's one heck of a collection you had, Ron!

Oh, my, Stephen. I hope I don't feel like that in another year!

RIP Larry.

They will only seem cheaper until you gather enough info to want the "good stuff." Welcome aboard, Tim. quite a few us have done historical martial arts training, so you're in good company. Hit those books, & start asking questions. You're in good company.

Not unusual with Bonhams. They're good people to work with.

Would have loved to have a chance to buy that blade. Quality koshirae, too.

It looks almost thick enough to be a yoroi-doshi.

80.7 X 66.5 mm is very large for a seppa.

Very impressive tanto.

Possibly sunnobi tanto?

It's very hard to hold that tight a suguha! Quite impressive!

OKay, Quinn, I found your post. Not all of your Google photos would open, but I can see enough to comment. There is actually a method to kantei (evaluating) a blade. Let me refer you to https://markussesko.com/kantei/, which is a university-level post by our most-prolific NMB member, Markus Sesko. The first feature to look at is sugata, or shape, which will tell you the jidai (age) of the blade. Yours looks to be late Muromachi to early Shinto, but you'll have to dig in, & start learning both the individual terms, & the history of how & why blades changed. Yes, I think WOU is near Salem, but I havn't been out there since my grandson started college, so I don't know much about the area.

How does one value such a find?

Welcome, Quinn. My grandson attends WOU, but I haven't gotten him started on Nihonto, yet. Please post photos of the entire bare blade, which will tell us a lot, including whether you should spend money on restoration. As far as where to post, I suggest Nihonto, under Nihonto Discussion.