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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 2185727" data-attributes="member: 812">Whatever the story of the sword, I bet its current owner/resting place would surprise the heck out of the guy who made it.<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />I paid about $3,000 for the blade itself, plus another $1,500 or so for the fittings, plus a final $500 for an antique tsuba (guard) just a few years ago on a trip back to Japan.[tsuba story]Even before I'd bought the blade, I knew the tsuba design I wanted. Tsuba are full-on works of art in their own right, collected and displayed on their own.The design I wanted was an image of a monkey reaching to grasp the reflection of the moon in a pool of water. I like it because it symbolizes a pretty big part of my life -- trying to grasp hold of something that not only can I not grasp hold of, but that isn't even THERE in the first place. Trying to grasp the moon is foolish enough, but a reflection of the moon? Silly monkey.But I never found one while I was living in Japan, though I went to antique fair after antique fair, asked everyone I knew -- nothing.Five years later we go back for a friend's wedding and I am drawn helplessly into a sword shop where I go through a few drawers' worth of "junk" tsuba and ta-da! Monkey Time!(yes, "junk" tsuba cost $500)I was very pleased and am very happy with my piece, even though it's not a real classic work of art. It means a great deal to me. [/tsuba story]The blade linked above is being sold at $29,000 or so. Of course, it's a verified antique by the actual guy, and is in mint condition with a great polish besides. But I think it's reasonable to think my blade is somewhere in a range of $5,000 to $10,000.Not that I would ever sell it, so the question is kind of moot.I was looking at the tang inscription last night and thinking that some 400 years ago, a guy MADE this thing and put those characters on it. He must have sat back and wondered what would happen to this beautiful object he'd crafted. He probably hoped nobody would trace the false inscription back to him. Maybe he was already spending the money in his head ("Twenty-five ryo for Kastuko..."). And here I am, centuries later, looking at what he wrote and made. His hands to mine. With who knows how many pairs of hands in between.</blockquote>

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