Sword findings at a gun show
Dec 14, 2008 18:13:34 GMT
Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2008 18:13:34 GMT
Ok so I headed off to a local gun show to look for guns. As such I came to the horrible realization that every gun I wanted had doubled in price from my last gun guying spree. That being the case I found myself not having enough money to buy what I wanted and decided to look around the show.
What did I find? Swords!!!! Lots of them actually although there were only 4 vendors selling swords. I also ran into a few sword collectors - one of whom took my number and called me later on that night to get together with me to talk swords. He showed me in his home a Bizen era katana and his pride and joy - a blade he claims was papered back in 1979... and was a 13th century tachi. It looked great. I asked if he was selling that or just showing it off. He said it wasn't for sale - the papers he showed me from 1979 stated a value of just shy of $12,000. I'm no expert on old blades so I couldn't tell if it was true or not. He also didn't allow me to take photographs as I was hoping to post the pics here and see if anyone knew anything of it.
Anyway I diverged from my original idea. Ok I found 4 vendors selling katana. I won't mention their western style swords because they were all stainless steel machine stamped junk.
I found Masahiros in large quantities. The lowest priced Masahiro I found was $125 - and the dealer said it was on sale from $199. I found that same blade on Trueswords.com for $69.99. What's worse was that they were all claiming that these masahiros were the best blades you could get for less than $300. One guy was selling some Cold Steel katana... for $375 on up to $500. He claimed they were THE best katana available for $1000 or less.
One guy was selling some katana made by a company he claimed was called Bushi Katana. He claimed that a local kenjutsu instructor had destructive tested these katana through steel drums, 4x4 fence posts and car hoods. I asked for the instructor's name so I could find him as a reference the name "Klann Sensei" was given. To my knowledge there is nobody in the area by that name. Aside from the name of the instructor who was supposed to have tested the sword, there was nothing else to support his claims.
I find this... deplorable. Taking blades that we would consider mediocre at best and claiming they were the best under $300. Then claiming that Cold Steel made the best katana for $1000 or less. The guy who claimed his katana had been destructive tested had no evidence to support his words.
I understand that it is normal business practice to promote your products to the best you can but I see this as fraudulent - lying about the quality of the swords. I had one vendor tell me that the masahiro I was holding in my hand had authentic japanese silk ito and the ray skin was real. In fact it was fake same with fuzzy cheap cotton ito. Sad.
I apologize for my long rant. I'm just finding the marketing hype at events such as these to be... deplorable - especially since I plan on being a vendor at events such as these in time.
-Sam
What did I find? Swords!!!! Lots of them actually although there were only 4 vendors selling swords. I also ran into a few sword collectors - one of whom took my number and called me later on that night to get together with me to talk swords. He showed me in his home a Bizen era katana and his pride and joy - a blade he claims was papered back in 1979... and was a 13th century tachi. It looked great. I asked if he was selling that or just showing it off. He said it wasn't for sale - the papers he showed me from 1979 stated a value of just shy of $12,000. I'm no expert on old blades so I couldn't tell if it was true or not. He also didn't allow me to take photographs as I was hoping to post the pics here and see if anyone knew anything of it.
Anyway I diverged from my original idea. Ok I found 4 vendors selling katana. I won't mention their western style swords because they were all stainless steel machine stamped junk.
I found Masahiros in large quantities. The lowest priced Masahiro I found was $125 - and the dealer said it was on sale from $199. I found that same blade on Trueswords.com for $69.99. What's worse was that they were all claiming that these masahiros were the best blades you could get for less than $300. One guy was selling some Cold Steel katana... for $375 on up to $500. He claimed they were THE best katana available for $1000 or less.
One guy was selling some katana made by a company he claimed was called Bushi Katana. He claimed that a local kenjutsu instructor had destructive tested these katana through steel drums, 4x4 fence posts and car hoods. I asked for the instructor's name so I could find him as a reference the name "Klann Sensei" was given. To my knowledge there is nobody in the area by that name. Aside from the name of the instructor who was supposed to have tested the sword, there was nothing else to support his claims.
I find this... deplorable. Taking blades that we would consider mediocre at best and claiming they were the best under $300. Then claiming that Cold Steel made the best katana for $1000 or less. The guy who claimed his katana had been destructive tested had no evidence to support his words.
I understand that it is normal business practice to promote your products to the best you can but I see this as fraudulent - lying about the quality of the swords. I had one vendor tell me that the masahiro I was holding in my hand had authentic japanese silk ito and the ray skin was real. In fact it was fake same with fuzzy cheap cotton ito. Sad.
I apologize for my long rant. I'm just finding the marketing hype at events such as these to be... deplorable - especially since I plan on being a vendor at events such as these in time.
-Sam