Hello:

I found a sword very similiar to A&A's German Branch sword by Ritter Steel on Kult of Athena's site. Ritter calls theirs a German Wald sword and it is shorter than A&A's Branch Sword. It also costs less than $200 compared to A&A's which is $920 altogether. Granted, part of A&A's are gold plated though like the real sword.

I am defering to you guys because I am not familiar with the quality of all these replica sword makers. Thank you.

The two swords have more differences than they do commonalities. I've handled both. The Ritter version has horrible dynamics and was qutie heavy. The Kult of Athena site lists 2.7 pounds, but the samples I've seen were well over 3 pounds, though they felt more like 4 or more. The details are soft and "washed out" and the proportions are clunky and ill-proportioned. The blade didn't have much distal taper and really wasn't anywhere near the proper geometry for this type of sword. The A&A version is modeled after the original. The people at A&A have seen the original first-hand and have even tweaked the design over the years to get it even closer to the antique. Though I've no way of knowing, I'd guess that the Ritter is modeled after the A&A version, not the original, and that the designers have never seen the original first-hand. Regardless, the Ritter version is not like the original.

I've found Ritter steel to have some very good value items: they have a 6' 3" landshneckte sword which is not bad considering the size, the flamberge blade, and a reasonable amount of detail. If you took off the vinyl riccaso and put on a leather one, it would be an awesome sword for the money ( I have one and am thinking of putting on a leather riccaso). Ritter also makes some very awesome battle ready maces and flails under the authentics line: these are very nice items for the price: I have yet to see anyone beat their authentics line when it comes to what you get for the money!!

For the sword you are talking about: I would pay the extra money for A&A's version, no question...