Allen Cook is a Fraud

When someone tries to sell you a $1000 sword for $200, make sure you do your research.

This afternoon, as we were driving back from the Olympic Peninsula along Washington State Highway 3, we stopped to check out a guy selling swords and knives by the side of the road. The gentleman's name was Allen Cook, and he gave me this story about how he was a dealer and was liquidating his collection to pay for his wife's (or daughter's, I forget) cancer treatment. Then he shows me, among other things, a Damascus-type katana which he claims is worth $1000. But he was going to let me have it for the low, low price of $200 dollars. Granted, it was a pretty nice sword; I might have bought it if he'd taken credit cards. Alas, such was not the case, but he gave me a business card in case I wanted to get it later:

When I got home I took the liberty of trying to figure out whether the sword was really worth $1000; if it was I'd likely buy it^*. Turns out the sword is worth about $200 retail; I'm pretty sure it was a Frost Cutlery katana. The box looks the same, the contents look the same, it might have been a different color but that's it.

So, boys and girls, the moral of this story is as follows:

• Allen Cook is a fraud and a liar.
• Don't buy swords from roadside stands.
• You didn't need a katana anyway.

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*What I'd do with it after that, given the fact that I'm lousy with the katana and would likely end up seriously injuring myself, was a whole different question.