What a dogshit video

I purchased swords from Huawei, Musashi, Bushido and Hanbon. My favorite maker is Huawei so far.

Wanna hear something funny? Its prolly a 5 times better steel than the original steel

Very nice pattern in the steel of the blade !

I liked the way they had you measure your arm length to make sure your katana fit you.

It's an amazing blade. It's only worth it if you dont have leftover debt or you can justify it in your budget. Basically ONLY if you're very well off financially

Thank you for another great review. I understand not wanting to take this sword to destruction, but if you come across another S5 sword to test to destruction, I'd be interested to see how it does. If S5 is tougher, it may not hold an edge as well. Do you ever do "edge destruction" testing where you test how well the cutting edge holds up to abusive cuts, as opposed to destruction by breaking the sword?

I would not even try to justify it I'll tell my girlfriend he truth, that i battle other immortals on the weekends its a tax write off or somthing.

Apart from all the things already mentioned by plenty of other people, there is also a case to be made for individuality. A custom piece may gain value by virtue of being the only one of it's kind. If you buy any old Albion from their website, what you will get might be a high quality product, but it won't be unique. My own collection is rather modest with a distinct lack of high end custom pieces, but I can definitely appreciate that aspect of collection as well

No longer available.

Merry Christmas Matt

Very beautiful.

That sword, selling for 5,000$ 20 years ago. (2005?) would sell for 8000$ in modern 2025 buying power.

So you think you can have great value and not paying 3k? Just so that i get that right...

In economics they have a term called "opportunity cost". Like if you spend all your money on A, you can no longer pursue B, C, or D. I just don't see the value when you could buy some sandpaper, leather, wood, and an above-market reno for a fraction of the cost. I'd rather my truck be 100% paid for, and only then explore sword options. Nice swords and vid, just my opinion

We are living in the apocalypse…

This would look nice if you replaced the scales with ones made of walnut

As much as I am a budget sword guy and very much a notorious cheapskate I'd say 3,000 for a very intricate handmade sword from the ground up is reasonable if it was done by a really great Smith with lots and lots and lots of detail. That being said I do know there are still some excellent Smiths out there that can do very good work with good amount of detail and sometimes include a skyward for a lot less than that it depends on where you go to and what you want done. GGK still makes great stuff at a great value from what I understand another good Smith that seems to have reasonable prices will be Wesley beemus lonely wolf forge I believe.... Add Sterling armory makes good stuff but I don't think that they take commissions anymore. As a matter of fact if you want to see some cool stuff with cool seats and scabbards definitely look up wes's stuffed on a partnership with Steve huerte.... I could be spelling that wrong sorry but anywho there's stuff that they've done together is really nice.

Value is an important aspect of sword collecting. Value needs to be determined not only by what you get but also by what you can afford. A $3,000 sword might be a great value but if its way out of my budget then its a moot point. The Mateusz sword seems to have it all but as you demonstrated there are other swords that are also great values with a much lower price tag. Good video. Thanks.

very nice explanation on value. As someone who has just started their collection I was really happy to hear you say now is a good time to be in the hobby. I couldn't agree more, I have always loved swords but they were always just so expensive for ones that I like. Now there are a lot of budget choices for decent looking and feeling swords out there. I am really excited to to collect more in the following years. One of which is that Royal Armories sword you have there, I absolutely love that one. Some day I would love to have a sword by either one of the Sulowski's.

Econ voice: A sword costs $3,000 when the maker would have too long a backlog at $2,500.

As a fellow collector, novice practitioner, and enthusiast I feel the market has a growing range of excellent options in multiple price points from different smiths and brands. It is nice to have options.

I think there is a income/value scale. If you are living in the EU and make 2,000€ a month, you will probably be much happier with six 500€ swords purchased over a period of time than one 3,000€ sword and should do that instead. However, if you make far more a year and your sword budget is tens of thousands a year you should feel almost obligated to buy at least a few swords for 3,000. Sure, also start a Landsknecht Emporium collection with all of the fancy options. Buy some Albions. However, at that level you are a patron of the sword making arts and should absolutely be buying custom swords. Order magnificent scabbards. Order sharpening and polishing. I love LK Chen and Windlass for bringing us cheap swords. And, people with the budget should aim higher.

So who are the top 5 smiths in the world? (exculding Japanese smiths who are in a different class of their own) thanks!

Now do a 30,000$ Peter Johnson! :D

Every time you leaned one against the wall I got twitchy. Maybe something like a multi- instrument guitar rack, cheap, compact, freestanding, and has padded pegs to lean blades against. Good video.

For me, the argument is more perspective. A musician will easily pay that kind of money (if they have it) on a musical instrument. A photographer, hobby or professional can easily spend that much on gear. People into RC vehicles could also spend that on gear quite easily. The value of a thing, well that is to an extent subjective. Depends on the person and the object.

If it had a faceted tear drop pommel i would be happy to pay 3k for it. And purple and black coloring 💜 i love the satin on really wide blades ..

That is a beautiful sword. 😂 you pulled out the conan sword.