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The question is...does it matter?

Wootz/Damascus and tamahagane were the "magic sword steels" of their time periods because everything else sucked ass.  Just look up how the smiths made tamahagane some time. It's not a very good process.

But the smiths were geniuses and skilled craftsmen. They figured out how to make something superb (compared to everything else) out of the raw sewage they had available. Bloomery iron just doesn't cut it in comparison, so to speak. And when everyone else was using shitty bloomery iron, if you had the secret of Crom...er, crucible steel, your shit was magic, i.e. Ulfberht.

Today, however, any decent factory made steel is far superior to what they had in history. A monolithic piece of good tool steel, produced in a modern foundry without any defects, then machined into profile (not hammered), and differentially hardened, quenched, and tempered to exacting temperatures is better than anything produced by any smith in history.

So, when you are buying a hand forged item, you are settling for an inherently inferior product. What you are doing is celebrating the skill of the smith, the beauty of the work, and the entire amazing process, which is fantastic and should be encouraged. And it's very likely that your blade will do anything and everything you actually need it to do.

If I had to actually go out and kill people and defend my life with it though, I'm going to skip the pretty stuff and go with the modern made things. Pretty sure places like Albion produce blades like I described.

Since that will never be the case, and to address the original question, if you are buying a modern Damascus blade, just shop around a bit. Usually, you get what you pay for. Buy cheap, get garbage. If you find something you want to buy, a quick web search usually turns up reviews, praise, problems, etc on multiple blade forums, so you can be better informed before spending money.

In all likelihood, unless you are a Tier 1 commando warrior or out playing in some live steel group, whatever you buy will do what you want it to do, which is look pretty and cut open your boxes or deer bellies.

Just some opinions I'm sure will get attacked by any smiths on the boards who are convinced they make the best magic blades in the world.

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What if it's an Eskimo?

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Kindly tell us what makes a piece of leather "Corinthian."

Is the scabbard supposed to be made from a 1970s Chrysler seat cover?

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What if it’s an Eskimo?

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What if it’s an Eskimo?

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Almost true, they have figured it out but it’s still very difficult to make. I know this video is long but it’s worth it.

Anything touted as Damascus steel today just isn’t.

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I have two rough forged blades of his on my end table we're collaborating on

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Mighty cold.