Welcome miken.
While we don't give appraisals of particular items on this Board, if you look at some of the threads here with links to finished eBay items you will likely get a general idea of what many people think is "fair" or "unfair" value. You can always send a member a Personal Message (PM) if you want to know more about a specific sword and what they think it's worth.
As far as doing research, it really depends on what you want to collect. Use the search function on this forum and the older version to check out some excellent information here -- you will see that members frquently provide reference materials. On line book sellers are also a good source for out of print or obscure books. I use American Book Exchange (ABE) at
www.abe.com to look for hard to find books.
I'm sure other Members will contribute further information to help get you started.
Ian.