All About Pocket Knives

A 3" bone handled New York Knife Co, Quill knife, used with some blade loss & shortening from repeated sharpening just sold on ebay for $272.
I have a small collection of quill knives and i often watch auctions for this pattern. I have never before seen a Quill knife sell for over $100. Vintage ones in near mint condition rarely get over $50.
Is there something i don't know that gives this knife such a high value ?
Looking at the list of bidders does not help as "private listing - bidders' identities protected" but it does not look like just 2 bidders who refuse to quit.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-NEW-YO ... true&rt=nc
kj

Probably a urinating contest between two newbies to the Bay.

KJ - While I think the old quills are more rare in jigged bone I have to say I have seen some very ridiculous end bids for knives on eBay - which means to me be careful thinking that eBay gives you market value - maybe it does after you throw out the outliers...

L.B., so you figure this is an "outlier" ?
That is my thinking as well but i posted in case there are reasons for this very high price that a member might be able to explain.
Ray, the bidding looks as if it is more than just 2 competing bidders although hard to be sure with the "protected identity".
kj

Guys,
I am going to play devil's advocate on this. There is simply no way to discern any difference in one bidder from the other on this as far as I can see. When bidder's ID is protected, they all look the same. Now, a legitimate question might be: Why did the seller check the box on his listing wherein the bidder's ID is hidden? Are these shill bidders? Maybe one or more of them?
As far as value goes, if this is a legit sale, then I will argue that this is the value of this particular knife. All quill knives? No, not a chance. All bone handled quill knives? I would need to look at comparable items.

Ray

Kj - yes I no doubt think it is an outlier ... remember rare doesn't equal value... sometimes folks pay stupid money for a knife that they want for their collection - I find that patience is a virtue ... Remember knives are like taxis - when you miss one another will come along sooner or later (something dcgm4 - Dave - told me once - in fact i hope Dave is ok as he hasn't been on here in awhile).. If this was a maker in which I had interest I would no way pay that kind of money but perhaps that is me... I have seen a Challenge MOP pen knife sell for many times its true value on eBay - utterly ridiculous but sometimes those bidders who have big wallets and little real knowledge throw a monkey wrench in the mix of market value...

Ray does bring up a valid point - not sure how to discern a shill bidder unless they run the price up to a certain level and drop out completely - not sure but good point! and I imagine sometimes that backfires and the shill bidder wins - and I would assume you will see the knife up for sale again which may be a clue ..

I have bought a few very good knives from this seller & i watch his listings which is how i came to this quill knife. I would be very surprised if this seller has a shill. I am confident it is a legitimate sale.
Usually when it is 2 bidders going against each other, the bids exceed the previous one by only a small amount. With the bidding here there are some big increases which leads me to think more than just 2 bidders; i.e. a few people wanted this knife.
The reason could be what L.B. said, that bone handles on a quill knife are a bit unusual. However as a Quill knife 'dabbler' i still see the $272 as 3-4 times real value.
Did N.Y.K. Co. make many quill knives ? If the answer is they made very few, this could be the reason for this extremely high price.
kj

Roland,

I think the last two bidders really wanted the knife and both put up exceptionally high final bids in order to secure the win. Of course one of them wound up overpaying by quite a bit. I see this happen quite often, in fact it's even happened to me lol! Bernard Levine always said to throw out the last two bids when judging the value of a knife, the third to last bid more closely approaches its actual value, and this seems to be the case here. It's definitely in very nice shape.

Eric

Eric, thanks for this explanation. I know of this situation of 2 bidders putting in very high bids right at the end, but i did not think of it here.
I always keep in mind that i might have to pay my 'max bid'.
kj

I was watching this knife ,but the price went out of my range very quickly.It is a very early NYK with the old bone jigging and most likely pre Hammer Brand.I believe the two bidders just went off the rails for that one.

Thanks kg. I think your observation concurs with above post any makes it more conclusive: 2 bidders, no control; nice knife but worth well less than $272.
kj