Hi Robert.
Nice work by your friend I am glad that you posted this may be next an tachi.
.

For your needs Peter I would recommend differently:

Chinese Ebay forge:

1. Huawei
2. St-Nihonto
3. Hanbon Swords

but I would honestly go for a different maker with that budget, such as John Smith:

https://sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/44315/2-katana-kissaki

Plenty of possible options depending what you are looking for. I just generally always recommend "better" (of course it's always only my opinion) sword instead of more fancy one. It's hard to explain shortly. :)

If you need some help with historical stuff I can try to help as much as I can.