Although I don't think it was the intent of your post Rivkin, allow me to point out that the forum rules do not permit appraisals here. Any such appraisal "service" would not be sanction by Vikingsword, and would need to be conducted elsewhere.
One of the problems I see with such an appraisal service is the limited market for many of the weapons we collect. Generally, the potential buyers of an item are (or should be before spending a large sum of money) experienced and educated. It is a learning process, which each of us has travelled through with varying degrees of sucess and fortune. I learn more and more everyday.
Personally, I would still engage in my own "appraisals" prior to buying a weapon, even if accompanied by formal papers. The NBHTK works particularly well to establish provenance, which is almost always lost or suspect in most other ethnographic weapons, so I would question the usefulness of such appraisals.
Of course, something like that might serve to drive prices ever higher.
