2 Moran's for $12,000 on eBay

Joss said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43334&item=2250607989&rd=1

Rare auction. I think the price is crack-induced, but hey, what do I know....
Click to expand...

I don't know. They are 30 years old and in excellent condition. And it's not like Moran's are an easy score. The price that you or I would personally pay for a knife doesn't have anything to do with it. I don't know about you, but those are way way out of my league. However, the value is determined by those collectors who can and do buy Moran's, Scagel's, etc.

A couple of years ago I read that Moran's "can" command $1,000 per inch for a carbon steel blade and $2,000 per inch for a Damascus blade. Not that they are sold by the inch of course. The article that the info appeared in was just giving those figures as a general rule of thumb.

I remember seeing a Moran auctioned off somewhere (not on eBay) for about $9,000 in the last couple of years. Right now Exquisite Knives has a mint Moran Dirk up for $15,000. In the eBay auction we are dealing with two early Moran's that are allegedly in excellent condition. One is the popular ST 23 Fighter with an 8" blade, and the other is a patch knife with a 3" blade. If you used the "rule of thumb" thing from a couple of years ago that I mentioned above, they at least theoretically "could" have commanded $11,000 together at that time.

Of course, I can't tell you what the darned things are worth. I'm just a poor dumb country boy when it comes to highly collectible items. I'm just spouting off things that I've seen.
 
I would predict that these knives will be worth this and more in the future. These are WAYYY up there, but as Terry pointed out, not too far out of line. Every knife he brought to the 2003 AKI was $6000-6500, and there was a line 10-deep forming to buy them.

Including the sheaths, too? Nice rare package.

Coop
 
Unless I'm very much mistaken that fellow had those two knives with him at a past CKG (Canadian Knifemakers Guild) Show. I was at Steve Vanderkolff's table at the time he showed them to Steve and got to handle them both. Both knives were mint (I hasten to add that this was nearly a year ago and I have no idea as to the condition of the knives now).

As to the price - I have no idea whatsoever. The "collectability" factor, as Terry points out, can send prices into the stratosphere. If I had $12K to spend all at once on custom knives, I would spend it differently. But then again, I consider myself more of a "knife enthusiast" than a "knife collector". Also, I'm not a huge fan of the ST-23 (heresy, I know!) though I do acknowledge it's place in modern knife history.

Cheers,

Roger
 
I prefer the ST-24 to the ST-23, but this ST-23 looks great. I would rather have the smaller knife though.

As far as value goes, I think that these knives are worth more than the opening bid. In the right circles the ST-23 itself could sell for close to that.
 
The photos are not very clear (a common eBay trick), but if you look carefully you will see that neither knife is damascus. This makes a very big difference in the $$$ value of a Moran knife.

I am reminded of the fellow who paid thousand$ for an "original Ansel Adams," and was shocked to discover when he got it home that it was just a photograph.

BRL...
 
Bernard, you are definitely right about Moran's damascus knives being worth more than his regular steel ones, but his regular steel ones can still sell for a great deal of money. The ST-23 is very collectable and in mint shape is worth big bucks.
 
I probably sell more Moran Knives than anyone in the World.The price is high retail.The sheath on the ST is fairly plain,if it was a wooden scabbard with wire inlay the piece might be worth $12,000 without the patchknife.I value the St-23 Carbon at approx. $7000- to $8000, the patchknife at around $3000. He is a bit high for the set but both blades look quite clean.A Carbon St-24 currently runs approx. $15,000 when you can find one.As for Damascus, good luck, a Damascus St (either variety) will run you $20,000ish

My 2 cents
Dave Ellis

Moran knives are really hot now and of Course Loveless knives are off the hook!
 
Another rare piece - there's a Wild Bill Caldwell damascus bowie too...
 
Joss,

How rare is the Caldwell damascus bowie?

I have secured one of these just recently myself. Any idea how many are out there roughly and the pricepoint to collectors for such a critter?

Mine is the Ranger Bowie in damascus.

Brownie
 
Depends what you mean by rare. I have seen exactly 2 for sale in the last couple years - this one, and one on Nordic knives a while back. That's pretty rare. Does it mean that demand is automatically high? Not especially. I'd be curious to know how much you paid for yours, and to see a picture (feel free to e-mail me that info).

JD
 
I'm not too famliar with Moran's work,but every one of his knives I've seen for sale has been in the Thousands.Still There's not
too many knives I've seen Ever-that I would pay that kind of cash for.
 
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