I find it best to stockpile plat/XP hand ins until the thing that drops them no longer gives good XP. This means you get a large plat/XP injection when you finish a lucrative area.
If you hand in the items as you find them you end up kind of bypassing the area too quickly.
The good news is you have plenty of plat for a nice ratio item. You can definitely get a sword of skyfire and a silver swiftblade within your budget.
I will suggest that honestly the quality of your offhand weapon really doesn't matter initially. It will barely ever swing until you have practiced it a lot. A little known trick is that duel wield will still level up, even when using a shield (I think it skill checks at a delay as if you were using a fist, but obviously it never swings). Maybe just keep going with your shield til 20 then get 10 levels of use out of your speedy 2 handed.
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