Quote Originally Posted by KenWeir View Post
A katana/wakizashi from Yoshihara runs about 35,000 USD for only the blade the last time I saw one for sale which is extremely rare, even for his older work when he was younger. Then again he's considered a living national treasure by the Japanese government & on his own rediscovered many techniques that were lost over the centuries. If you want a lacquered & decorated handle/scabbard it can easily add another $10k to the price.

That sword polisher I met was at a dealer shop there in Tokyo. I forget the name of the place but it's only a couple of blocks from Sengaku Ji if anyone is familiar with that area. They had one of his that he made back in the 70's & it was asking $32k.

Depending on the skill/popularity of the smith a newly crafted sword in a plain white saya can run between $5k and $25k I believe. Add another $5k-$10k for the decorations. The $5k swords won't have any fatal flaws, but they will be pretty boring to look at compared to others.

I've been a little out of touch the last 4-5 years though, so things may have changed.

Edit: Does your brother have any info on the sword? I'd love to see some photos if you could email or pm me.
I'll dig up the images...I got a new phone...and they are on the old one.

It has the tang rubbing and some paperwork that I cannot read (I only read English ). It has the wrapped handle with (I think) a gold dragon in the wrapping. The stubs is not highly ornat but is interesting regardless and patina renders it black. The pommel? is more ornate and has gold inlay and appears to be a dragon or some other beast.

The scabbard is black lacquer with bits of shell/mother or pearl mixed in like glitter. And the whole thing has a silk bag that it goes in with a sash that probably is supposed to be wrapped a certain way...but none of us know how.

It is impressive. I'll try and find the pics and send them to you.