# Communities > Modern-era Swords and Collecting Community > Modern Production Katanas >  Anyone want to guess what this is worth?

## Andy L.

Hey guys, a friend let me see his pride and joy today, thought i'd share, and maybe get your opinions on it.

Forge/Folded
30" / 14" 
Chu kissaki, bordering on O Kissaki
REALLY deep/wide Bo-Hi
deeper Sori 

one-of-a-kind fittings.....

and all made by Paul Chen  :Smilie: 

so what would you guys say is a realistic value for a piece like this?

----------


## Paul Loatman

$500?

More pictures would help.

----------


## Travis Nicko

"Worth" is such a subjective term...I agree with Paul...if its chinese, it can't be a whole lot more than $500 bucks...maybe a grand.

----------


## Paul Loatman

> "Worth" is such a subjective term...I agree with Paul...if its chinese, it can't be a whole lot more than $500 bucks...maybe a grand.


Well, there are some good smiths in China, but if it's made as a production sword by Paul Chen then i don't think it's worth more than a grand, but if it was actually forged by Paul Chen himself then that's another story. I think i read somewhere about Paul Chen's son learning from a Japanese smith, or Paul Chen himself.

----------


## Andy L.

sorry for my poor pictures. 

as you can see the mune is flared at the kissaki. (i do not know the term for this)

the fittings depict the swirling universe on the Fuchi and Kashira, the Menuki are the planets (Earth, the Moon and Mars on one, Saturn, mercury and Venus [i'm assuming] on the other). the Tsuba again shows a swirling universe, but with small gold specs representing humanity interspersed throughout.

the blade reminds me alot of the Tsunami or Wind & Thunder, but slightly longer. 

this piece has the "Life" and feel of other custom pieces i've seen.

and to clarify, this is NOT a Hanwei piece, its a Paul Chen piece, done by paul (or under his direct and attentive supervision)

not only the longest Katana in my shop right now, but the lightest. It's TRULY amazing.

----------


## Andy L.

heres a couple more.

the kurigata and koiguchi are definately Horn, the show a bit of grain and some brown color. 

the saya is Rattan Wrapped and textured in a way similar to, but different from the PPK saya.

another fun note. this piece of Same was used at the customers request apparently. they had a conversation in which the cust. said he wanted larger nodes, and Paul broke out his private reserve stuff  :Smilie: 

and i don't see why a piece by a smith in X country is worth more than a smith in Y country. we're talking metal craft, not politics.....

----------


## Travis Nicko

I was, it seems, to quick to respond...I took "made by Paul Chen" to mean Hanwei. If its a custom, one of a kind sword maybe "General Discussion" would be a better place for this post.

And when it comes to japanese swords, it goes without saying that swords from that country will be "worth" more. As it would be with jian made in China as opposed to another country.

----------


## Andy L.

> If its a custom, one of a kind sword maybe "General Discussion" would be a better place for this post.


it is, feel free to move this.

----------


## Paul Loatman

> sorry for my poor pictures. 
> 
> as you can see the mune is flared at the kissaki. (i do not know the term for this)
> 
> the fittings depict the swirling universe on the Fuchi and Kashira, the Menuki are the planets (Earth, the Moon and Mars on one, Saturn, mercury and Venus [i'm assuming] on the other). the Tsuba again shows a swirling universe, but with small gold specs representing humanity interspersed throughout.
> 
> the blade reminds me alot of the Tsunami or Wind & Thunder, but slightly longer. 
> 
> this piece has the "Life" and feel of other custom pieces i've seen.
> ...


Can you get a pic of that mune over something white? I see that the mune flares out, but the blade below it is thinner, which isn't right. The shinogi should be just as wide if not wider than the mune where the shinogi ends. The ko-shinogi rising up to meet the mune is what makes the mune flare.

----------


## Timo Qvintus

I recommend you have that horrible excuse for tsukamaki redone, it's dragging down the aesthetic value a lot.  :Gag:

----------


## Jonathan Frances

I'd have a hard time putting a dollar amount to it, but from what I have seen of other Paul Chen prototypes he is capable of doing really good work.

A good friend of mine has one of the first naginata Chen did.  It is a beautiful weapon, and performs admirably.

When they care about what they are doing, they can be surprisingly well done.

----------


## T. Middleton

"Mune flared at the kissaki..." Indicates a high shinogi.

----------


## Paul Loatman

> "Mune flared at the kissaki..." Indicates a high shinogi.


Yes, and high shinogi indicates diamond cross section. The entire width of the blade isn't supposed to flare at the kissaki, just the point where the shinogi ends.

----------


## Leighton T.

Not sure why you are asking the forum to put a price on the piece, but if you really want us to, you have to give us pictures that are in focus and pictures of the blade.  The blade is where the meat of the value is.  Fittings are nice, but don't make a sword.

From the pictures I've seen, I would say sub 1k for sure.  Can't really tell though, pictures are not detailed at all.

----------


## Andy L.

i got your drift, Ansel Adams or GTFO......

i'll get some better pictures and try back.

can i take from the fact that you think it looks mediocre then that you guys don't see alot of Paul Chen customs?

----------


## Timo Qvintus

> can i take from the fact that you think it looks mediocre then that you guys don't see alot of Paul Chen customs?


I don't see a lot of Paul Chen customs, but I see a lot of crappy tsukamaki, and this is one of them. Makes it look cheaply made.

The thing with pricing "custom" pieces is that they're worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for them. At the moment in US, that's very very little. I see custom pieces of esteemed smiths like Lundemo and Barrett go for $1500 on eBay, and sometimes not even for such a ridiculously low price. So when you say it's a Paul Chen you basically put a roof for the price of the sword into customize-Bugei-range. Production Bugei's go for $500-800 on eBay at the moment, BTW..

----------


## Leighton T.

> i got your drift, Ansel Adams or GTFO......
> 
> i'll get some better pictures and try back.
> 
> can i take from the fact that you think it looks mediocre then that you guys don't see alot of Paul Chen customs?


Honestly, I have never even heard of PC customs.  PC is known for their production pieces, which are nice for what they are.  For under $1k PC makes some nice swords, don't get me wrong.  But the fit and finish also shows.  You pay for what you get as long as you do your research.  If you want a functional piece that looks pretty nice, then PC is pretty good.  If you want perfection, expect to pay $10k for a katana.

That said, Bugei sells semi custom PCs and they look pretty nice, I'd buy one if I have $1.5k to spend on decoration.

----------


## Timo Qvintus

> That said, Bugei sells semi custom PCs and they look pretty nice, I'd buy one if I have $1.5k to spend on decoration.


You can get a custom Bugei Wave on fleaBay for around $750 these days..  :Hyuk!:

----------


## Leighton T.

Its only custom if I get to design it.   :Wink:

----------


## Aaron Justice

> I don't see a lot of Paul Chen customs, but I see a lot of crappy tsukamaki, and this is one of them. Makes it look cheaply made.
> 
> The thing with pricing "custom" pieces is that they're worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for them. At the moment in US, that's very very little. I see custom pieces of esteemed smiths like Lundemo and Barrett go for $1500 on eBay, and sometimes not even for such a ridiculously low price. So when you say it's a Paul Chen you basically put a roof for the price of the sword into customize-Bugei-range. Production Bugei's go for $500-800 on eBay at the moment, BTW..



Well, eBay is the WORST place to price a product because prices have always been seriously undervalued there. I say that as a buyer and seller. I let a Kami katana go for $700 or so back then the market was good. That wasn't a happy day for me (over a $400 loss after the leather tsukamaki).

To me, it look like a prototype, it has the Kami and Oni katanas ribbed saya, a ishime finished, a Kami katana style blade but more slender looking, a longer tsuka, and some interesting wave style fittings. Nice, not jaw dropping gorgeous, but a nice offering.

----------


## B. Stamper

Looks ok to me, I dont want to diss someones pride and joy but that tsukamaki does make the casio look like a precision time piece.

----------


## Andrew W. Priestley

Which Paul Chen?  Is it Paul Chen of Hanwei or Paul C hen of Cheness or some other Paul Chen , or someone claiming this is a Paul Chen piece to trade on the famous name?  

Without this one c;larification and some proof, this piece is worth relatively little.  I agree that the Tsukamaki is poor.  This is a general fault of pretty much all the Chinese sources. Quality improves with price, but you still see high cost Chinese made swords with less than good tsukamaki.

----------

