Spotted at a local antique store

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

I stopped at a local tourist trap antique store/mall and took a couple of pictures of knives they had. Neither of these had readable tang stamps, and the auto knife with the broken handle did not operate. The equal end knife opened, but I think the spring was broken. These pictures are through the glass, they were too busy to allow me to get a picture out of the case. Any ideas on what these are? The auto knife with the broken handle was $35 and the equal end knife was $100. That seems very high for the poor condition - but that's what I would expect in a tourist trap.

Auto knife with broken handle (back side, I think):

Equal-end knife (back side):

Equal-end knife shield (sorry for the bad pic, this was shooting through both the glass door and up through the glass shelf):

[gsmith7158]

TFL, I think I would let both of those lay at any price.

[Mumbleypeg]

Take your recent POS box there and see what they'll offer you for them. Looks to me like they'd fit right in.

Ken

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

This is also the same place that had a couple of brand new Steel Warriors for $35 each. Put "vintage" on the price tag and they'll buy anything...

[Beavertail]

Those are the kind of knives You put a dime in,and throw away.
That way You can say You lost something of value.

[OLDE CUTLER]

I stopped at a local tourist trap antique store/mall and took a couple of pictures of knives they had. Neither of these had readable tang stamps, and the auto knife with the broken handle did not operate. The equal end knife opened, but I think the spring was broken. These pictures are through the glass, they were too busy to allow me to get a picture out of the case. Any ideas on what these are? The auto knife with the broken handle was $35 and the equal end knife was $100. That seems very high for the poor condition - but that's what I would expect in a tourist trap.

Auto knife with broken handle (back side, I think):

IMG_20180505_144525.jpg

Equal-end knife (back side):

IMG_20180505_144631.jpg

Equal-end knife shield (sorry for the bad pic, this was shooting through both the glass door and up through the glass shelf):

IMG_20180505_144725.jpg

I have found this to be a very common problem with antique stores and malls. Many owners are not very knowledgeable about knives and take offense if you try to offer any information to them. I recently looked at an old Keen Kutter that had celluloid handles that were out gassing very badly. The owner happened to be there at the time and when I pointed it out to him, he got real upset with me. He told me to make him an offer if I thought he was asking too much. He was asking $24 for a knife that could not even be pried open with a screwdriver it was so corroded. I turned it over and it also had a broken spring. I didn't make an offer at all, because I did not think it to be worth anything and he would have been even more upset if I would have told him so. Many of them think that heavy corrosion and broken springs are only minor problems.

[knife7knut]

[/quote]

I have found this to be a very common problem with antique stores and malls. Many owners are not very knowledgeable about knives and take offense if you try to offer any information to them. I recently looked at an old Keen Kutter that had celluloid handles that were out gassing very badly. The owner happened to be there at the time and when I pointed it out to him, he got real upset with me. He told me to make him an offer if I thought he was asking too much. He was asking $24 for a knife that could not even be pried open with a screwdriver it was so corroded. I turned it over and it also had a broken spring. I didn't make an offer at all, because I did not think it to be worth anything and he would have been even more upset if I would have told him so. Many of them think that heavy corrosion and broken springs are only minor problems.[/quote]

You must be visiting the same shops that I frequent! One of them had a revolving display in it that housed quite a few knives;all of which were vastly overpriced for their condition. I mentioned to the owner who happens to be a friend of mine that one of the celluloid handled knives was starting to out-gas and should be removed before it damaged the others.
He spoke to the owner of the display who basically told him that it wasn't a problem. This was about a year ago.
I went in there a week or so ago and looked at the display and almost every knife in there is showing signs of rusting due to this one knife self-destructing. Some people just never learn.

[OLDE CUTLER]

I saw another one at a local antique mall over the past weekend. The booth owner had a Case 6235 1/2 jack with smooth bone handles in his locked display case. I had looked at it a month or so ago and it was in tough shape and had $35 on it. Lots of dirt and "patina" lets call it. When I saw it again over the weekend, it looked different, so I asked the proprietor if I could look at it again. The owner had "improved" this knife when it failed to sell by re polishing the whole thing which went so far as to take off about 1/2 of the tang stamp. There is also some deep belt sander scratches across the tang stamp right up to the bolsters. REALLY "improved" that one, although he is still asking $35 for it.