I have a sword that was given to me by an elder in the chinese community, it belonged to a general

[macimichaelo]

in the Japan army who's life was spared was spared for several reason's, what I'm asking is eBay the place to sell this kind of thing or is there a better place to list it, someone said it belonged in a museum , I'm not disagreeing with that, but the person is selling it because they need money and I'm not sure how to go about asking a museum if they even want to buy it, really I'm kind of lost so any help would be great, thanks in advance Mike.

[judithsjewellery]

It would be considered a weapon and I highly doubt eBay would allow you to sell it on their platform.

As the previous poster said you need to get it appraised and authenticated before you approach an auctioneer to sell it for you. Usually, these swords are marked by the maker and often the family owners. There are a number of places that specialize in authenticating Japanese swords. Google them.

[reallynicestamps]

Often museums are more willing to give tax benefits than actually buy with money, since they have limited budgets.

In antiques and collectibles, provenance is everything, so you would need paperwork to track the possession of the sword to get the best price.

You may find a Vancouver or Victoria auction house more useful if you have that provenance. I was at a Lund's Auction a couple of years back when the family (accompanied by their translator) who sat in front of us bought a white jade cereal bowl (for size) after a lively bidding war, for over $100K.

But eBay does have a decent Chinese and Japanese market. And in these plague days, people don't fly in for live floor auctions.

If you believe it to be very valuable, get it appraised. You will pay for the appraisal. It will be on the appraiser's letterhead.

Include the appraisal with the sword in your listing.

If possible include both the Chinese and the Japanese information in the description. Use Google Translate if you can't find an actual translator or if you don't write in either language.

The name of the general would be the first bit of information.

[a51split]

According to Canadian law, a sword is not a weapon, so it shouldn't be banned from ebay.

A sword is a piece of sporting equipment (fencing), a ceremonial tool (knighting), a costume accessory (halloween), or a wall decoration.

In order for it to be considered a weapon, it has to be used in a threatening manner or used to injure someone.