I agree with you that the blade is far better than those mass-produced tourist piece in the market. The sword was custom made not long time ago (I means 50 yo or less) for an unknown purpose . It 's not very new either. Newer blades are mostly made of old leaf spring or carbon steel but old sabre seems to be the material for this one. And the black lacquere on the handle 's not popularly used anymore. In short, only the price 's not right. I would pay only a portion above "buy it now" stuff for this piece.
