I really don't feel that money is a good way to balance items in cRPG at all. It's so easy to get gold, even easier with selling an heirloom point. Whatever the point of upkeep was it has been lessened by the existence of the marketplace.
The speed on Katana does seem a little undeserved; I'd rather it have length comparable with Longsword, as no other Two-Handed weapon really comes close to that speed (the closest thing is the Bastard Sword, I believe, at 99; even heirloomed it won't reach the speed of the Katana)
Looking outside of two-handed weapons, let's see what else has 101-102 speed. We'll glaze over Stick to start with, in one hands, and go up to Short Sword, Nomad Sabre, Yanmadao, Liuyedao, Italian Falchion, Niuweidao. All of these weapons are 101-102 speed, with less than 90 range, mostly in the mid-eighties; they cost less, but again, money is easy to come by, the game practically hands it to you now, not even considering heirloom selling, and they are underwhelming in their damage output. A few of the higher tier ones (Long Arming, Nordic Champion's) hit 97 reach, and the fastest "long" one-handed weapon being an Elite Scimitar at 99 reach with 100 speed. Even these higher tier weapons are slower and less damaging than the default Katana, with 1-2 more length, while requiring a greater investment into strength to use.
If the range of the Katana is really a detriment then I propose a blanket increase in all one-handed weapon's damage output to make up for their low length. Barring that I suggest a buff to the length of the Katana while bringing its speed more in line with the other two handed weapons, as well as some damage added to pierce or the removal of the stab animation altogether as 16p is a bad joke; .3 added to weight would seem fair in this scenario as well.