1998 Commander

R

ryball

Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
2
I'm not sure I have actually posted on this forum, but I am looking for some advice.

I am thinking about getting rid of some of my knives and my '98 commander is first to go. I was thinking about sending it up to FleaBay, but I think I would rather it go to a good home that knows what it is and would appreciate it.

How much can I expect to get for a 1998 Emerson Commander?

I carried it some, so it has some wear on the top and the clip, but the blade is perfect and has never been sharpened. I'm not sure what those white spots are on the blade. I will check it when I get home.

Here is a pic. That is obviously not the box it came in. That was from my CQC-8

#773

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98 Commanders are worth much more than current Commanders. If you accept 100 to 125 your being very foolish.
 
yeah even used i would say ~$200 or so, maybe a little more, if ya find someone who wants one,

the '98's do bring a premium.

the condition doesnt look very good from the pic though,
 
echoscout said:
98 Commanders are worth much more than current Commanders. If you accept 100 to 125 your being very foolish.
Click to expand...

didnt know that. no intent here, just what i would have thought was a good price for a knife in that condition.
 
A minty '98 Commander could bring $300+. I think this one is in the $200-250 range.
 
For one its from right after Ernie formed the company EKI Inc.

Two, the liners are thicker .060 + thickness or they should be compared to the thinner ones that came out one year later and to present. Although they did get real thin with the liners they used at first for reasons only Ernie could tell you, EKI did finally bump things up another .010 to where they are now hovering around .050 thickness but its still not the same level as the 98 versions were. Both my 98 SpecWar models have .062 and .64 thick liners in them. Nice stuff when you compare it to todays knives IMO.

Three, many feel that the 97 and 98 model knives always offer one the chance to actually own a knife that Ernie might have made himself. Might is the key word. He may have done some blade grinding on it and stuff but I doubt he was directly involved in the whole process personally. However, it does make sense that being a new young company just getting started that the owner who is also a knife maker would be more involved with it than he is today.

STR
 
Wow, great info! That is more than I had read previously. I knew about the thicker liners, but not the other stuff.

The more I learn, and considering the condition, the less I want to sell it... :( More of a sentimental piece for myself than something a collector would be willing to pay for.
 
I have a '98, still with the original box. Won't be selling it any time soon, however.
 
i saw that a LNIB '98 can got for $500 FWIW.................

but, thats a LNIB version,
 
the black bladed ones are less desirable than the satin ones, or those with real satin finish. however, the thickness of the lockbar isn't the only distinguishing feature. The swedge, the subtle change in the blade shape (spine, I believe), the wave protrusion are some of them (I'm not an Emerson expert...you may have to ask more experienced Emerson collectors). There's also a lot more handwork in the 98 Commanders.

definitely worth more than $100-125. I think you're looking at the $200-250 ++ range. Plus a trip to the EKI spa will take care of the wear on the screws / pivot / clip and it will be nicely resharpened. They don't recoat blades but someone might be willing to pay for a user 98.
 
I would really like to see some more pics of 98 Commanders if anyone has a chance to post them.

Thanks,

John Anthony
 
I've seen a new 98 sell for 350 recently, but spyken is right, atru satin will fetch you a lot of money
 
I don't have a 98 Commander but I do have a good example of a SpecWar. Actually I'm showing two here.

What I've done here though is some swapping. The original 1998 SpecWar is the B (tanto) blade. The 99 also shown is the A blade. I always preferred a traditional V grind and what I've done is swap blades so the 99 A blade is in the thicker liner and lock set up from 1998. Otherwise they are still original with the exception of the thumb disc which I also swapped.

Note the 98 thumb disc on the A spear point blade. It is much larger than the one they went to in 99 so apparently they only used this one for a little while and not even a full year. Up until about a month ago I had a satin 98 SpecWar and the thumb disc on it was not the same as this 98 version with the black blade.

You can also see the difference in liner and lock thickness in these shots from the 98 and 99 models. Note also the flat head screws not phillips head. This is on both the 98 and 99 SpecWar and I guess I expected a Commander of the same year to have flat head screws also but yours apparently does not. Interesting.

STR
 
Some '98s
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Other blade profiles over the years (left to right) '03, '01, '00, '99, '98
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