To date I have always replied to emails such as yours to the best of my ability and for free, but I now find the time being consumed to be too much to bear.

Let me explain my current situation:

I get hundreds of visitors to my many sites and thus many emails. 

WIthin these emails are a number of communications requesting assistance with dating or authentication of various Japanese Antiques including Helmets, Armor, Swords, and much more.

I am now 56 years old and have been collecting, buying, and selling Japanese Antiques for 38 years, basically all of my adult life.

I have attended over 300 major international Antique Shows, Auctions, Conventions, buying and selling tens of thousands of Japanese Antqiues of all kinds' my reference library contains over ten thousand books on two continents; and just one of my airline mileage clubs is over 2,000,000 miles since THEY started counting back in the 1980s.

The knowledge I have gained in the last 38 years has cost me my entire life and millions of dollars in expenses to accumulate.

Therefore, although to date I have replied to most if not all emails asking for free information and appraisal, I find that I can no longer do this due to the time consideration involved.

Consequently, I would like to ask a $20 contribution, or fee, by PayPal, for a brief email appraisal, for my time used looking at photos sent to me by email and my reply.

This is a very nominal amount, as I cannot even pay for a small meal in Tokyo with this amount of money.

My experienced and knowledgeable reply will not be a full extensive appraisal, but will indicate age, genuineness, condition compared to the usual condition for such an item, and then retail and wholesale value and where one might try to sell.

I will not be trying to buy your antique as I am offered dozens each month from dealers and collectors worldwide, more than I can sell.

(In those cases where people only wish to sell but have not yet seen the above, send dimensions and selling price and I will reply with a simple yes or no.)

For a full formal appraisal I would charge $150 but prefer not to do this unless you insist: for this you would receive a type written Appraisal Letter with photo attached useful for insurance replacement or other purposes.

I would send this appraisal to you by mail.

If you wish either the email appraisal ( $20 ) or the formal mail appraisal with letter and photo ( $150 ), please let me know and I will invoice you using PayPal and you can use your credit card with them to pay.

After paying send to me notification and photos with dimensions and any other information that you have and I will need from one to five days to complete the work on my end.

Please note that there is no way to determine "history" of an object, unless paperwork comes to me telling me its origins and use. Japanese Clan Mons are very vague as many are shared and changed over time and most families used two, but I will look up in reference books to see if your  Mon is listed and give you that information.

Sincerely,

J R Miller

Tokyo Japan