NEED HELP ON MY IXL.

[florida natve]

can someone help me date my IXL G. WOSTENHOLM BOWIE KNIFE AND VALUE

BLADE IS STAMPED :
I X L.
G WOSTENHOLM & SON
WASHINGTON WORKS
SHEFFIELD NO ENGLAND ON THE BLADE

STAG HANDLE, BLADE IS NEAR MINT 6 INCHES, OVERALL BOWIE IS 10 INCHES LONG
THANKS SO MUCH

[Miller Bro's]

Please post some more pictures of the entire knife

[florida natve]

more picuters

[Owd Wullie]

I'd buy that for a dollar!

[chetr1200c]

hey wullie, you need 1000 of those dollars.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IXL-G-WOSTENHOL ... 19c9120f54

[Owd Wullie]

hey wullie, you need 1000 of those dollars.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IXL-G-WOSTENHOL ... 19c9120f54

Thanks Chet, I just edited out all the info in my post. She seems to have it figured out.

I doubt if gets any offer even close to that, especially with that chunk busted out of those "mint" stag scales and that surface rust on that MINT blade.

[chetr1200c]

she quick, like the cobra. only i don't think they have cobras in redneck country.

[orvet]

The ebay pics show a sizeable piece missing from one handle.
In that condition the best it could grade out by NKCA standards would be ‘Fair’ because of the chunk out of the handle.

NKCA grading guidelines from their website.

The widely accepted guidelines are those established by the National Knife Collectors Association and are described below:

Mint - A knife that is absolutely original as it came from the manufacturer. Never used, carried, sharpened, nor heavily cleaned. An unblemished knife.

Near Mint - A new-condition knife that may show very slight signs of carry or shop wear. Blades are not worn and snap perfectly. Handles show no cracks. Most of original finish is obvious.

Excellent - A knife that shows no more than 10 percent blade wear. Handles are sound with no cracks. Blades snap well. Some discoloration of blades or handles is acceptable. May have been heavily cleaned.

Very Good - A knife with up to 25 percent blade wear, slight cracks in handles. No blades nor other parts replaced or repaired. Stamping clearly visible to the naked eye.

Fair - A knife with up to 50 percent blade wear, cracks, or chips in handles. Blades "lazy" (lacking snap) and may have been repaired. Stamping faint but readable with magnifying glass.

Poor - Blades very worn or may have been replaced with ones of same type. Handles bad or missing. Reading of stamping nearly impossible. A knife valued for its parts.
Reposted from NKCA.org


I think the NKCA suggests a 40% reduction in price for each grade down. If a knife books out at $1000 Mint, that would be as follows:

Mint - $1000
Near Mint - $600
Excellent - $360
Very Good - $216
Fair - $129.60
Poor - $77.76

That was the formula as I recall how they applied it. If I am wrong please let me know how they do apply it.


What bothers me most about this knife is: new seller, no feed back, that is the only item she has for sale and returns not accepted.
I wouldn’t be bidding no matter what the price is.

[Owd Wullie]

This particular post brings up a question in my feeble mind.

As this is the friendliest knife oriented website on the inter-web inhabited by a cadre of individuals from wildly diverse backgrounds yet are drawn together by a love of most things sharp and pointy, how about making a sub forum along the lines of HEY! I'VE GOT THIS OLD KNIFE, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE WHAT IT IS OR WHAT IT IS WORTH AND I WANT TO SELL IT ON EBAY AND I NEED ALL THE GOOD INFO I CAN GET SO I CAN DESCRIBE IT SO IT BRINGS ME THE MOST MONEY.

Sorry if that offends, I will admit I'm not taking all my meds and some things that normally don't irritate me are somewhat irritating at the moment. However, the side effects of the meds are worse than the petty irritations I suffer, so HERE I AM!

Rant off.

[orvet]

Good rant Willie!
I think you are on to something there.

I don’t mind it so much if I know they intend to sell it on ebay and they are upfront about it. Still I think you are right, it might be better if there was a special place to ask those ebay questions. The problem is too many people think that the old knife they have is worth thousands of dollars just because they think it is “old.” Age is only part of the value equation, more important are condition, rarity, condition, the maker, condition, style of knife, condition, materials in the knife and CONDITION! Too many knife neophytes think looking old is the only thing that matters.

[florida natve]

thanks so much, for the advice and the bashing. not everyone can wake up with a 5 year history with e-bay. I have not misled anyone here, I just asked for info and my add on e-bay was posted days before asking for info here. and as for the so called chunk missing for the stag, it is 160 years old.
why is it that one comes across something so rare and old and nice, that the one that doesn't have it just has something negative to say, instead of , " I know a little about the knife here's my advice and good luck"
thanks for your help and time

[Paladin]

I also agree with Willie on this issue and I like people who are upfront in this regard.
As far as this knife goes, there are a few of them around and I suspect they are not as old as the engraving on the blade would suggest. Folders marked WASHINGTON WORKS are some of the oldest of the IXLs but I suspect that does not apply to fixed blade knives. The Washington Works period for IXL was 1848 to 1890 and I cannot believe that this knife is anywhere near that old.
I am not certain of the exact time frame in which Mr. Black cranked out the 1st of his knives for whichever Mr. Bowie he made it for but clearly in the 1800s. Jim Bowie died at the Alamo in March of 1836 and I doubt this particular knife ever saw any part of the 1800s, maybe even not too much of the 1900s. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that this knife was made by some enterprising laid-off employee of IXL after the close of the plant or maybe during one of the transition periods when they were purchased by Rodgers or Imperial or whatever.

[florida natve]

thanks

[orvet]

Why is it that people who come here supposedly “looking for information” about a knife think we are the bad guys when we don’t agree with what they already “know” about their knife?

[Iron Hoarder]

You can rest assured that the original tooling was being used to make these knives by those laid off employee's until quite recently and may still get dusted off from time to time. They aren't all dead yet. These knives are just as often faked as the Third Reich stuff aside from the fact they were being done by the actual cutlers who worked for the companies when they went out of business. When those buildings got cleaned out all manner of things went to the dump and the back garden shed of a great many people in England.

[Knife Nut]

The reason that I stay away from Bowies is that they are similar to the Confederate edge weapons......there are more fakes out there than legits!!
I'll not make a judgement on this particular Bowie.

Paul

[IMBand]

I think the knife looks good, but I don't know anything about it really. I would say that if its
legit, I might grade it one level up from Orvet, a stag handle is alot easier to fix than a 50% worn
blade, but it is still a major flaw. I am guessing that this knife will sell from 200-350.00, not
guessing from knowledge or experience, just a wild a__ guess. Would need the sheath to be
mint.

florida natve - welcome to the site! alot of folks stumble onto this site looking for information.
A few of us ended up here that way I think. Good luck with your auction.

IM

[florida natve]

i am still reading all the responses, and checking offers on ebay. thanks so much for the advice. And i believe it to be genuine too.

[FRJ]

THIS KNIFE IS MARKED SHEFFIELD WITHOUT THE ENGLAND STAMP WHICH MEANS IT WAS MADE PRIOR TO 1880

As I understand things, this statement may not be true. That it is lacking an English stamp simply means that was intended for use in country and not to be imported. It could have been made anytime.
Am I correct?

I think the woman is honorable, she just needs more and better information. I know I do.

[Owd Wullie]

thanks so much, for the advice and the bashing. not everyone can wake up with a 5 year history with e-bay. I have not misled anyone here, I just asked for info and my add on e-bay was posted days before asking for info here. and as for the so called chunk missing for the stag, it is 160 years old.
why is it that one comes across something so rare and old and nice, that the one that doesn't have it just has something negative to say, instead of , " I know a little about the knife here's my advice and good luck"
thanks for your help and time

First off. I like the knife. It appears legit from what I can see. Your pictures need a lot of improvement in my opinion if you expect to get anywhere close to a grand for that knife.

Secondly, as I stated this web site has one of the friendliest and most helpful bunch of people, both ladies and gentlemen, anywhere on the web. I had a couple of paragraphs typed in my first response last night. Then I saw where you had listed the knife. Everything I posted last night has been covered today as to dates of manufacture and condition.

Look at it like this. If you walked into a knife store and said "HEY WHAT'S THIS WORTH?" without any introduction or small talk or stating your intentions, what kind of response do you think you would receive?

Here's my free advice to you and it's worth exactly what you're paying for it. Stop that auction. Take some very clear, detailed pictures of the knife. There is a thread in the GENERAL KNIFE DISCUSSION about knife photography with a lot of great information. Get your facts and description of the knife laid out concisely and start an 8 day auction on Sunday night at 9:00PM EDT so it will end at 9:00P the following Sunday. That timing gives the best window for bidders on both coasts to come in from their weekend fun and cruise ebay looking for something to buy. Start the bidding a $9.99 to keep your fees low and sit back. That knife will find its level. If you want it to sell, don't put a reserve on it. If you're into it for a chunk of change and don't care if it sells unless it brings more than your investment, then put a reserve on it.

I will say that if you're into that knife for a grand, you won't get your money back. I'd expect that knife to go for 250 to 350 strictly based upon what I've seen in the past. If it was a "spear" point rather than a clip point, I'd expect it to go higher. But hey, play the hand they dealt you.

[florida natve]

thank you for your advise

[IMBand]

I would like to add that if you do sell this on eBay with a username that has ZERO feedback, you are leaving money on the table imo.
Confident bidders spend more, thats pretty much a given.........and NO feedback does not inspire much confidence. Since it is a knife
of moderate value, these things matter more to bidders. Owd Wullie has given you very good advice in his last post, I could not
agree more with what he said regarding your auction. Not offering a return will also reduce your sales price.

IM

[florida natve]

it seems as if you have both given this knife some thought, thank you both. if it does not sell, no big deal.
it IS a piece of history ( i believe ) and may just hang on to it. i think it's pretty nice myself. perhaps someone else may take less for there's,
i won't

[deanmm56]

Not my dog and I'm not in the hunt. As the seller though, you are already out some money, initial investment, ebay fees, etc.

While I could not find an exact duplicate on ebay from previous sales, there are a few that are from the same maker, close to the same time frame and the highest any of them got and actually sold was 275- 290 dollars. There was one on there some time back ( ebay that is ) that had a reserve or starting price of 2900.00 ....... it DID not sell.

So, other members have given you some good, solid, sound advice ....... but only if you want the item to sell.

In the knife's current condition it is probably worth 250.00 maybe 300.00 max ...... a far cry from the 1000.00 you want for it.

This knife : http://www.ebay.com/itm/IXL-G-WOSTENHOL ... 441wt_1035 has been listed on Ebay several times ..... No bidders !!!! Wonder why ?

I have a real nice Case stag peanut that I'd like to sell for 250.00 but in reality someone might offer me 40.00 maybe 45.00 for it if I'm really lucky.

[orvet]

it IS a piece of history ( i believe ) and may just hang on to it. i think it's pretty nice myself. perhaps someone else may take less for there's,
i won't

That is fair enough. I would probably keep it myself if it were mine. I would have it appraised, because I love knife history and want to know for sure the background of the knife.

I am not bustin’ your chops, but I believe Owd Wullie and IMBand are right about the price. With no history to the knife, no authentication and in the present condition, I would feel lucky to get $350.

If the knife was mine and I was looking to get top dollar for it, I would pay $25 for a full written appraisal from Bernard Levine. Not only is he one of the best knife experts in the world today, he specializes in Bowie knives and has studied the Sheffield makers & written extensively about them. A written authentication from Bernard could triple (or more), the value of the knife. Of course you may find out it is a counterfeit, but that is a risk you take. Depending on by whom and when the counterfeiting was done, it may still have substantial value.

Information about getting an appraisal can about half way down the page at this link:
http://knife-expert.com/appr-k.htm

I hope this helps.