Page 1 of 1

Knife price guides (or lack thereof)

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:49 pm
by ilikeknives
Need some help from my knifer friends :mrgreen: . I called down to Parker's about a week ago, and they informed me they had no idea when the next Vol of the price guide would be out. I did a search on ebay, and there are a couple of new guides there for sale. Has anyone seen these, have a comment on the value, completeness, or are they a waste of time :evil: ? As we all know, certainly, some knives are valued (actual) at much less than book (look at the classics) and some equal to or more, its a buyers market, ie: what will the market bear for that particular knife, 'market' defined- being the buyer.
I recently purchased the "new" Remington 'past and present' guide and was underwhelmed. This subject seems to be ongoing, and when Parker doesn't know when they will re-publish (hopefully with better proofreading)(been almost two years since the last one now)
How much do mint knives (or just,,,,,knives (of some value)go up in price for one year??) :|
Any comments are welcome, and direction to literature of consequence is appreciated and important. Thanks Folks ::tu:: -Glenn (aka ilikeknives)

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:04 pm
by PA Knives
HEY!

Your question is really a tuff one to answer IMO. Items general bring what the market bares. In this case are knives increasing in value or decreasing. Simple answer is depends on what knives we are talking about. I am sure you already know the differences and why one is more than another, but my experiences can be summed up in this story of a knife purchase.

I bought a mint CASE longhorn for $40 in 1990. Held on to it for five years and sold it for $80. 100% increase but now it is worth double that plus. :shock: It think it would be tough to put a set percentage increase on knives in general. Of course an inflationary number of say 3% yearly is easily applied to most cases, but I have a CASE knife that My wife bought me for $300 five years ago and I would be lucky to get $150 now. 100% decrease :oops: . But hey, that what it is about for many of us. Have a nice collection, sell off those you no longer want for a profit to buy more you like.

Guess I rambled SORRY :roll:

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:17 pm
by ilikeknives
Sorry PA, what is IMO?

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:22 pm
by ilikeknives
Pa,
Besides what is IMO (plz forgive my ignorance, took me forver to figure out that BTW meant by the way !! HaHA)
Can you recommend any solid value guide(s) (emphasis on 'guide') Other than Parker's 7th and Prices 14th ??
Thanks. -Glenn

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:28 pm
by El Lobo
At the risk of sounding like a #^&* ( :mrgreen: )...

I feel that tracking eBay is currently a better bet than any of the guides. No one (you, me....) really expects to get/pay what is in any of the guides. I have 4 different ones... Parker's, Price's, Ritchie and Stewart, and Levine's 4th...and I still find the market moves too quickly for anything but a composite guess... :? :(

Follow the listings on what makes/patterns you are interested in for a couple of weeks, and then at least you've got a real world sampling.

Others may feel diffently, of course. JMO........(means Just My Opinion :mrgreen: ::tu:: )

Bill

P.S.
IMO...In My Opinion.

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:30 am
by PA Knives
HEY!

It is rare for me to disagree with "EL LOBO" so why would now be any different. :mrgreen: He is right on. I love to pour through my knife books and study them over, but reality is, EBAY is such a large market that to get "FEEL" for prices it is a good review. I have found many that I felt were way to high and I won't bid. I have posted prior on the effects of ebay on Pennsylvania knives. Do an archives search and reveiw that too. I have been amazed, but someone out there is willing to pay for it! So keep reading what you have, but knife sites like this and others along with the auction sites will be the real listings. Just my thoughts and by the way IMO "in my opinion" or in my case "imagine more offers" :P on a knife that I am selling. OK I am out my head about knifes. THANKS GUYS

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 1:10 pm
by El Lobo
Just to add/clarify a little:

I once bought a Royal birdseye rivet jack knife (last produced in the mid 50s) in a group of 4 knives...for $7.50 for the group. It is not a "Collectable" brand, but it was in fine condition with carbon steel blades that had only been lightly sharpened, a half-stop on the pen blade, and waterfall celluloid scales. I put a new patina on it, and have been carrying it around the house for over 2 years. 8) :wink:
On the otherhand, this is a well executed and beautiful knife..... ::tu::

http://www.agrussell.com/knives/product ... _horn.html

.....and is priced accordingly. :)
Now Schrade has been gone for more than a year, so you might expect the knife to rise some in collectors' eyes. Or, maybe not, since Schrade was not considered very collectable... (wrong in my eyes, as I have some real beauties turned out of their custom shop)... by most folks. For $445.00 you can buy this knife from A. G.'s site, or you might get it on eBay, from a well known seller like the Parker family, as someone recently did.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 47707&rd=1

.....for $711.00 :shock: :shock: .....go figure!!! :roll:

I guess those two instances sort of illustrate what both PA and I were trying to say about the unpredictability of the market.

Hope that made some sense.

Bill

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:49 pm
by ilikeknives
Thansk a ton you guys, I knew I could count on you. And, IMO (haha) Case congresses are out of sight, both objectivly and subjectively (does that include price?)
Thanks again, -G

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:51 pm
by Knifekid
Tony Foster has a price guide for older Case knives and updates it monthly. If your interested in one, email me and I'll give you his phone number.
Perry

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:16 pm
by El Lobo
Hey Perry (Knifekid),

Nice to have you here. ::tu:: ::tu::

Perry is a very knowledgeable collector and dealer who will, I'm sure, be a big contributor of knife knowledge to our group.

Bill

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:30 am
by Bryan
Hi Perry,
Welcome to the forums! I visit your website sometimes.
Spaceport Cutlery right? Great stuff!



Bill, :D Glad to see you made it back safely :D !
Did we do alright holding down the fort?

Bryan

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:35 am
by El Lobo
Yes sir....the fort is still GOLDEN.

We (wife, son {29} and daughter{25}) went to the Bahamas with my daughter's boyfriend (pretty serious) and his great family to celebrate his return from a second tour "Over There". It was rainy, but real nice.

We had a good time, but are glad to be back in the good old U.S. of A. We love it here. ::tu::

Let's get some knife talk goin'... :mrgreen:

Bill

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:41 pm
by Knifekid
Hey Guys,
Nice place you got here! :D I plan to check in as often as I can.
Perry

Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:35 am
by paknifeworks
Hi Perry, I also visit your site often. Great knives. That Case Tested 5394 is a Beauty!, Harry

welcome

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:11 am
by TinyToothpick
Welcome Perry. Anytime that a group can "expand" their knowledge with additional resources is always a great thing. Good to see you.