How Much is a Sword Worth?
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- Опубліковано 26 бер 2024
- IT DEPENDS... on the condition, rarity, materials, and labor involved in making it. Also supply and demand of course, back in history when swords had practical value in warfare and dueling.
Let's take a look at the most expensive examples (like a Japanese Tachi worth supposedly 105 million dollars), some real-life market values in medieval England, and what causes price differences in modern reproductions.
Being a collector is always a costly endeavor, but some of these are FAR beyond the reach of "mere mortals".
If you're interested in real-life "gunblades" and other historical combination weapons, check out these videos too:
• Yes, Gunblades Are Rea...
• The Weirdest Combinati...
How the "Skalchion" was made:
• The Skalchion - Making...
** Sources / credits **
$105M Tachi
worldart.news/2021/11/04/100-...
mediabiasfactcheck.com/forbes/
Sword of Chinese emperor Qianglong (18th century), sold for $7.7M
wealthygorilla.com/most-expen...
Napoleon Bonaparte’s sword
worldrecordacademy.com/busine...
Examples of heavy corrosion
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
10th century Viking sword
www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...
Longsword from Arsenal of Alexandria collection, before 1419
www.vipartfair.com/most-expen...
Italian or Spanish sword, 1500
www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...
3000 year old bronze sword, perfectly preserved
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...
Ax-Pistol of Grand Duke Ferdinand I de' Medici, 1580
www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...
Sword with wheellock pistol, 1575
www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...
Medieval prices and income
thehistoryofengland.co.uk/res...
The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer
Paperback: amzn.to/3IRwl7Y
Audiobook: amzn.to/3IO2BZA
Ceremonial sword
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Background music:
"Winds of Stories" by Horror Pen
opengameart.org/content/winds...
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0)
"Wandering Merchant" by Tausdei
opengameart.org/content/wande...
CC BY 3.0
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www.kultofathena.com/?koa=259
Where to get HEMA gear and practice swords:
www.woodenswords.com/?Click=1799
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#skallagrim #sword #history #value #collection #medieval #katana #saber - Розваги
I like swords
I don't believe you
Yoooo me too!
Me too😊
Hell yeah.
I like trains.
Given that the Skalchion was custom-made as a gift, it could be argued that it's priceless.
Would you find less value in a 1-to-1 copy of the item, commissioned using the money from the sold original item?
I understand the sentimental value of "this is the original piece with all the nice feelings attached to it", but i personally wouldn't mind just. Making some free money and using the rest to get an identical copy of it.
@@Verchiel_ Honestly? Yes. Even if it was an exact point-for-point replica, it would still be just that: a replica. Not the sword that Matt and Ilya put their time and effort into (more or less for free).
Not saying that under no circumstances would I sell the original and get a (less expensive) replica made, but I wouldn't value the replica the same as the original.
@@Verchiel_Of course the 1-to-1 copy would be less valuable. After all, the original belongs (some day far from now it will come "belonged") to a well known sword celebrity Skallagrim, making it highly valuable. Copies, not so much.
I nearly forgot how astonishingly beautiful the Skallchion is. A true work of art!
That sword definitely worth more than few thousands. Consider the quantity, the craftsmanship, and it was one off unique piece, I won't be surprised if it would be auctioned for much higher.
@@GuitarsRockForever considering the high quality work ilya does and that once i saw a question on his ig about how much one of his particular swords was, he replied something along the lines of "this one was made for a client and the price is private, but i do need a new mustang...", i would say something from him would be along the line of at least 10k up to 30 or 40k, depending on the work and detail. but that's just a guess. you can also go to their store website where a knife can go from 1k up to 2k sometimes, so you can also extrapolate from that. so yes, expensive
@@GuitarsRockForever I agree. I'd place it 3K easily, or even 4K. Then again, there's a GORGOUS custom Mateusz Sulowski XIV/XVI sword on SBG that's accurately priced at 3,300, and no one has bought it for two years, even though that's under the MSRP. IDK...
In the hypothetical scenario of Skal auctioning it off, i don't doubt the high bids could reach upwards of 10 thousand solely some of the more well off fans @@GuitarsRockForever
@@GuitarsRockForeverDo not forget that it belongs (well if its ever sold, "belonged") to a celebrity, making it even more valuable.
From what i can gather, The appraisal is more for insurance purposes than what to expect from a sale.
Considering that in this case the sword in question is a literal National Treasure, that would be like valuing the British crown jewels for scrap value ... It's evaluated to that large amount because its basically irreplaceable.
*Nicolas Cage Voice* We're going to steal the Fukushima Masanori Tachi.
Also Napoleon is not very popular and samuraijs are iterally the most badass phenomenom that ever existed
@@HLl564Samurai were not any more badass than knights.
@@fransthefox9682 But they have much better PR, and that matters much more in this context
@@Candlemancer PR? Is this some new Gen Z or Gen Alpha crap?
More Cut for your coin / slash for your shekel / Pounds for your parry / Lira for your lunge
That custom sword is sweet AF.
The ending with AMSR of objects being cut was real good.
Skall needs to make am ASMR video of cuts
@@weswolever7477 +1
More slash for your silver.
@@frankharr9466 Nice one!
Trinkets for your thrust, defense for your dollar, ergonomics for your euro
A gift from your people. You secured your empire with it.
Passed it down through your kin. It became a symbol of martial pride.
Now it's in a pop stars "neat things" collection.
It's quite weird to see such significant artifacts in the private collections of the filthy rich, rather than in a museum.
@@Skallagrim They won't live forever.
@@SkallagrimSo Dr Jones was partially correct, when he said "It belongs in a museum"
That bronze find from last year was legitimately beautiful. I remember seeing that story at the time and I've been enamoured with it ever since.
I love how copper alloy artifacts turn up in gorgeous condition since they don't corrode and fall apart as much as iron based ones.
@4:51 Fascinating! I would have never thought that (even) a knight could buy a sword with a single day's salary.
Even full plate become pretty reasonably priced by the mid 15th century. An infantryman could buy a passable plate harness for a few months wages. Granted, that’s if he didn’t buy anything else, but it’s by no means an unobtainable amount.
By that point, metallurgy had advanced quite a bit, and the scale of steel production was increasing rapidly, not to mention the increase in overseas trade.
All of these factors drove the value down.
What's interesting to me is how low the price of steel tools is compared to a basic food item like eggs
@@nahuelmat A high-quality carpenter's hammer can last generations with moderate care, while eggs might last 3-6 weeks (with refrigeration).
On that basis, even a $50 hammer is cheap.
I imagine it would also depend on which blacksmith forged it, and for whom it was forged.
As Syrus succinctly put it, "Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it"
But when talking about value of an item, it's pretty pointless to just say "it's worth whatever someone will pay".
On the flip side, if I lie to someone about an item and they pay 1 million bucks because they thought it was actually a rare artifact, is it worth 1 million? I would say no, it's not, I just scammed someone.
Or if a super rare artifact is sold for 10 bucks because no one knew how rare it was, is it only worth 10 bucks? Again I would say no, the buyer and seller were just ignorant of it's potential value.
Basically, item is worth what you can get for it, sure. But how do you determine what the most you could get for it is, or what a 'fair' asking price is. Well, that is when you need to make an evaluation of an items value.
At that point saying "it's worth what someone will pay" doesn't really help.
That's only half the truth. Everything is also worth the amount the seller is willing to accept to part with it.
I like the meme of the book for sale on Amazon titled: “How To Write A Book Worth $350,000” that was priced at $350,000.
I’m sure I have the exact number wrong, but you get the point.
I have to love all the people trying to point out exceptions to the rule in an attempt to sound smart.
Thanks, Captain Obviouses, however would we know without you that this rule is an oversimplification and not a comprehensive legal framework outlining the price of an exchanged item under all possible circumstances?
The price is what someone will pay for it, until that happens the value/ asking price isn't confirmed.
Good to see Scallchion again, watched entire process of making back when it was in build, it was absolute banger! Can't imagine how honourable it is to receive sword like this one
Yet again I was glued to the screen and immensely interested in as well as entertained by the topic in general, so it caught me by surprise when you said "as this was a pretty dry topic..."^^
Then again I'm a sucker for curiosities of all kinds so even more reason to like videos with topics of exceptionalities/extremes, be it price, rarity, fancyness, cutting capacity, size, you name it.
Honestly, I could have listened to you listing swords and their prices as well as your input/expertise as to how that prices comes to exists for another 30 minutes minimum.
Me hearing the sword noises and hoping for more Skallwave
I'm genuinely so happy to see you doing well. I was really worried about the car crash and knife fight knee injury. Congratulations from a 10+ year fan on over 1.5 mil Skall.
I wouldn't say "well", as I've become an out of shape wreck after the third chronic injury, but it could be worse. Thanks anyway. :)
Man, I love those cutting montages. I know it probably doesn't get to many views, but there's something about a sword cutting mats to nice calm atmospheric music to me.
Prices are ultimately set by the consumer. If you want to sell something for X price, and you can't convince people it's worth that price, you're not gonna sell it; you're gonna keep it lol
If it is exclusive enough, someone will (probably) pay for it, if for no other reason, then for bragging rights.
Value is the most subjective measure imaginable. The market is just a distributed consensus across all people's subjective opinions about value.
So whenever we ask "how much is something worth" we have to add the qualifier "to whom". As in, "how much is this item worth to me/to the average person/to my neighbour down the street (etc)"
Or we could do our best to focus on intrinsic value. Though this video isn't about that.
@@3xeplodng_3agle_studios How would you quantify intrinsic value?
@@3xeplodng_3agle_studios Do you mean build quality, effectiveness, durability, etc?
That is what most of this guys videos are about as far as sword reviews go.
In that case, this 100 million dollar Katana is no more valuable than any high quality blade. Obviously I don't own the 100 million dollar one, so I can't say for sure, but I am guessing it's a really well made blade from the era in which it was made and is comparable to other high quality pieces from that era.
@@charliericker274 somewhat. But more so the value of what made it- materials, labor. Its value without any. You seem to get exactly where I was coming from honestly. As a sword- *_just_* a sword- it has no more value than another of comparable quality if made today
@@bigmike- Intrinsic in the instance I used it was outlined in the comment I made directly before this, to another commenter as I didn't see your response until just now, but to go Into it further, mind you its slightly convoluted,
If I had an "idealized" version of intrinsic value, that in such case would technically be separate but not totally removed from the dictionary definition;
I'd say it would best be measured by -
The value of materials used in creation and if that usage was the most efficient or lastingly useful application of said materials; I.e- what else(if anything) could those raw materials have been put to and would it have been a more efficient usage? Less? About equal?
The value of labor (how many hours of labor it took to secure the raw materials, how dangerous and/or tedious to the people doing so, and then the same for refinement/processing into usable materials, then the same for the creation of the tool, object, etc.)
The utility of the work produced(how useful is it in its intended field and how many other uses does it have that it works well at)
*_Specifically in the case of historical artifacts,_* add in the following (which were covered in the video)
How old is it, and how well preserved for its age and the materials used? (scientifically: if a material has x rate of decay but the example in question has only seen about half that, it'd be extremely well-preserved, there's more data to be had from it and depending on the piece and its age, more usage). Therefore concurrent with and somewhat denoted by that- quality
Does it have any notable historical significance or is it just another "run of the mill" example?
Along with the historical significance- did SOMEBODY historically significant own/use it?
Is it the only one to exist(rarity/scarcity)
Levy all applicable factors, and use them to produce an average, that average is what I would call a "true" value.
Ilya said once that: "in the Middle Ages, high quality materials were expensive but labor was cheap, and a good sword could last a lifetime." He pointed out that high quality monosteels are common, while the costs of labor are expensive.
It's true to a point, of course, but craftsmanship quality still matters, and while you can get quality from cheap labor in the current era, what a person is typically paying for is consistent quality and reliability. It's something that is less conceptually relevant to modern people when it comes to swords compared to something like smartphones, cars, etc.
A military engineer in a treatise from the 1500's said iirc that in general smiths forge iron well and steel badly, or steel well and iron badly. At that time, there was no "structural steel"- to be considered steel metal had to harden decently when quenched. Steel needed to be worked at lower temperatures than iron, whereas iron needed to be welded at temperatures that would damage steel.
Now time to get out to my forge and weld up some steel.
I appreciate the wordplay and puns from this video Skallagrim, they were clever and really funny.
I'm impressed at how cheap swords were... Only 1 day of skilled work's salary to buy a simple sword?? Nowadays if you ask a bladesmith, even a crude sword would cost more than that (and we have modern tools to speed up the process)
True, but people don't need to buy swords for self-defense or war nowadays. They're a novelty/hobbyist item and makers have to boost the price because otherwise it wouldn't be a sustainable business.
How much is a cheap machete where you live? Is it more than a day's worth of income?
@@TheCraziestFox i'm a bladesmith and i'm not making a machete below 200 euros, and a crude but properly made sword would be at least 800 euros
There is a guy that sells stock removal made falchions and messers. Pretty decent quality too. 50-60€ a piece. I'm planning to buy a falchion from him the week after next.
@@TheCraziestFox no way it's decent quality for this cheap
That Medieval Prices and Income link is very nice to have. Ive been searching on and off for such information for so long yet I never found anything concrete. Goes to show that if you don't know where to look you'll not find it. Good thing you give your wealth of information freely.
Great review! Very informative, I especially liked the break down of pay vs cost from back in the day.
Another point worth mentioning in how a sword's age affects its value is that historically, old swords would often remain in circulation as second-hand items.
If someone of low status was willing to buy a sword that was God-knows-how-old, worn from use and likely riddled with rust, he'd be able to do so. It wouldn't be a *good* sword, but it would *still* be a sword.
These are my favorite kind of videos you do. Thanks!
This was a really great educational and also entertaining video. Im really appreciating this more history focused approach youve been doing recently
Best video I’ve seen in a while, especially with the ending/outro cutting series..
I love videos like this! More skall explaining stuff plz
Nice little video explaining "value" of swords, thanks for posting. Your custom made falchion is priceless...a true artifact.
That sword that was made for you looks so sick. If someone made a sword for me I would cry and pledge my lifelong devotion to them. So cool.
As usual doing the thing for the thing. Thank you for this amazing video Skall ❤️
A very well-made video! I can see you've put a lot of thought into how it's edited! It keeps the viewer's attention very well.
Love your channel alot skallagrim, please never stop being you dude ⚔️🤙
As a fantasy illustrator, I can write swords off of my taxes as reference materials. I do not abuse this...
I really liked the timelapse part at the end, it was oddly satisfying.
My God man, you could do an entire series on this. Nothing dry about it!
An in-depth dive into the value of swords and armor in relation to the wages of different occupations and cost of other goods and services could be an entire video. I would love to see that.
I would like to see more videos about the weapons used by the Aisin-Gioro house.
Great video!
bro your content is so good god bless
Tangential to the sword topic, but into the 'relative value' one, there are also very rich people that use art and antiques as a way exploit tax loopholes and/or moove large sums of money outside of the banking system. A rich guy buying a sword and rewarding it to a museum will get a substantial tax benefit in many places.
Well explained!
Those cuts from timestamp 9:58 to 10:10 were gorgeous!!!!!
Great video skal
I can also imagine rather than being purchased, many swords were passed down from the previous generation or acquired from battlefields by the victors or even scavengers of dead warriors
I think the value of the Skallchion is probably closer to 3k than 2k...the complex fullering, spine decorations, laminated 3-layered steel construction, complex forged guard with siderings and a wire wrap...I remember Ilya saying that his prices for simple swords start at about 2k...considering those extra features I think the price would be at least 3k-3,5k today.
Yeah, sounds plausible.
You can swing dat thing bro,1st time I've ever seen you mte ,really good vid...
Keep on trucking Skall.
Finally some Skall content
Love this video
Interesting video again, lots of pretty swords.
Cool very cool, thanks for the video
Oh yes, give us that cutting compilation goodness
The Skalchion is such a beautiful sword. Ilya and Matt made something fantastic.
I feel like that custom forged Skallchion should be worth $5K minimum and could probably sell for $10k
great vid, very interesting.
Some of the examples shown are so beautiful. It's such a strange and fun world where such a work of art is a butchers tool.
Like most things, a sword's value is "Whatever you can convince someone to pay for it."
Always interesting Skallagrim 👍
Interesting lesson there about the medieval prices
@7:13 the 'Skallcion' !! Behold! truly a worthy blade of reknown and history. a true treasure! tangible wealth! an absolute asset!
a very nice and realxed vid
cool collection of swords :)
There *are* objective factors to value and cost- fundamentally the cost of things represents the equivalent value of "productive work" that is placed against the object or thing. In modern economies and *doubly* with art these factors become detached or obscured from being directly connected by several layers but they *do* still fundamentally underpin the value even though lots of factors can now distort and 'push' or 'pull' on the value, and many of these (but not all) are also objective factors too. It's just that when taken all together there are *so many* factors that it stops making sense on a 'human scale' as it is a very complicated picture now instead of a direct relationship.
...having said all that, when something transcends to the 'art' or 'collector' market emotions start playing a bigger and bigger part of the value and so the price is essentially 'testing' how much attachment to the object one party has compared to another since they are getting something that has a practical utility value of zero...unlessss they are also looking to sell it or hold it as an asset with collateral, and now you see why even art gets complicated when it comes to being able to represent 'real' value (and why it is so prone to funny tax games!)
Great vid
Man, your Swords cut those Mats like a hot knife going through butter! Well done! :-) Peace, Stiletto :-)
I have often wondered about that, or rather I use to. Once I started making things like axes and knives for sale I quickly realized that the asking price of 300 dollars plus for a hand made knife is actually really reasonable unless you have a very large scale of production.
On labor costs, I also see people forget about overtime pay. If a company has a huge backlog, it might more sense to pay overtime to workers to try to catch up even if labor costs could be lower if they accepted longer wait times.
I would hate to put a value on a piece so special and sentimental as the Skalchion. However, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if, one mad day you decided to auction it, it could sell in excess of $7,000. Beautiful craftsmanship and finish, functional and sharp, as a blade should be. Fantastic from top to bottom and all goes to the smiths for that. Well done.
Ever consider doing a video on the lochaber axe? If like to see some scrutiny on that weapon.
The oakshot LS cuts are so clean. Also the custom falchion good too.
Bro luv your content. U welcome in puerto Rico anytime
"Always good to be skeptical" 100%
I’m coming up on the 6 month mark for my Landskencht Gottfried sharp and I can’t wait
Being a martial artist and collector of medieval weapons, over the years I come to appreciate the difference of a well-crafted, handmade blade. (Technically albeit I am sure power hammers and grinders were used.) I own things for LK Chen, Cold Steel, Windlass and Valient Arms. The Valient arms products are like Albion product custom made, expensive, with a year long waiting list. There is no comparison to the quality of between one of these blades to most items made by any of the mass-produced blades from these fine companies. Especially the Windlass a decent and durable product, but still, the steel seems cheap by comparison and its edge would most likely get notched in direct contact.
I didn't find this dry at all. It was very interesting. I would have liked to see even more aspects of appraisal. Pick random swords and give the value you might pay for them and why.
One more cost that everyone forgets is the cost of expertise: you are not paying just for that one sword, you are also paying a fraction of the cost of all the swords craftsman screwed up to get to a point where they were capable of making that sword.
3:48 he doesn't look too concerned 😵
Was super bummed when I finally saved up enough for the albion knect and I was off the market
Wake up, new skallvideo just dropped!
This was class cheer's Skall !
The only answer that matters: It's worth what people are willing to pay for it.
The most labor-intensive, gem-encrusted, gold inlaid, engraved sword can have a price tag as large as the owner wants, but that doesn't matter in the least if nobody is willing to pay the price.
Fun fact: African swords were literally a form of currency.
105 million got lost in translation. It's an eastern just saying it's priceless by giving a definite large number to its value. Even if someone came to them 105 million in cash right now or more, they aren't selling it.
It belongs in a museum! Only replicas belong in private collections.
YOU belong in a museum, Doctor Jones!
In a museum of the country of origin!
Incorrect and ignorant. All originals belong in my bedroom.
If you're talking about the 105 million dollar sword, I agree. Otherwise, hell no!
Things need to have cultural and educational value to be put in a museum.
To say all artifacts belong in museums shows a misunderstanding as the shear quantity of arms and armor that were produced and preserved.
Usually they buy weapons and art as an investment, not because it's cool and they really want to show it off. Most of these weapons with an established provenance are hidden away in vaults, very rarely shown to anyone.
What I took from this video: Eggs were friggin expensive in the medieval period.
0:13 I'm not sure about the authenticity of this sword. The only info I could find about it is by the Tamoikin Art Fund and world art news which both repeat the same thing. They claim this is Fukushima Masanori's Katana. Only time it was exhibited in public was 2013 in Lithuania. It's currently held by the Tamoikin art fund, an art fund by a Russian oligarch. If it was Fukushima Masanori's I highly doubt Japan would allow this to leave the country as it would be an important cultural property and the sale of swords and cultural property is highly regulated by the Japanese government. It also has no info on being authenticated by the NBTHK, who are the foremost authority in authenticating Japanese swords.
Tried to post a comment about this but UA-cam ate it. That Forbes "article" was just an ad (you can see it marked as "Special Advertising Section") so their claims that they were "featured in Forbes" is a lie at best. The site in the ad is defunct but on Wayback Machine where you can see they claim they used some magical math system to accurately appraise the value at $105 million, but they're willing to sell it for only $80 million. Oh and the company behind the appraisal system? Yea owned by the same Tamoikin group. Their site is also defunct but available on Wayback Machine.
Interesting!
spada da stocco looks awesome!
I will never be more envious of anything than I am of the skallchion
Those swords, oh my goodness such style
Damn... Napoleon's sword was gorgeous.
I like that you didn't actualy mess up the mesup the name of the japenese sword like some Shad or something. That is indeed a tachi.
During the cutting montage I kept calculating the cost of all that tatami... talk about price increases....
Had an intuitive thought about katanas: Had they been the same quality in the Feudal & Edo periods as the quickly produced throw-together swords of the JIA during WWII, they would not be as revered as they are now and would have largely been forgotten. This may have also been one of the reasons Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea, he might've known that the vast Ming lands bared iron ore that was far superior to that in Japan, if his forces could seize these crucial areas successfully it would allow his smiths to produce blades and firearms of extraordinary quality than they had in previous centuries.
The worst overpriced stuff are baseball cards. 😂 1 million for some old cardboard! 😂
Is that better or worse than the "One of One One Ring" from MtG?
@@Bubben246Worse. People are still searching for that legendary Honus Wagner card.
The Skallchion's totally unnecessary Italian Renaissance fullers are so damn cool.
That personally crafted sword is awesome af
❤ your content
Skall ending the video by showing us a million dollars in cut-up tatami mats is the real flex here.
Coming from a family that ran several small business. There was one truth about how much something was worth. It is only worth what someone is willing to pay.