2000 Military Forum knife?

R

RRG

Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
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I am not a Spyderco collector & am wondering if someone can answer this
question. I'm told the Pearl bug inlay on the Military was flawed in production,
and that very few got sent out in the flawed condition. If that is true does
anyone know how many actually got sent out, or did they all go out flawed?
Thanks in advance, Bob
 
RRG said:
I am not a Spyderco collector & am wondering if someone can answer this
question. I'm told the Pearl bug inlay on the Military was flawed in production,
and that very few got sent out in the flawed condition. If that is true does
anyone know how many actually got sent out, or did they all go out flawed?
Thanks in advance, Bob
Click to expand...

Bob

That's the first I've heard about the inlay's being flawed (and I've been hanging around the Spyderco Forums for a few years now). I have one and can't find any flaws in the inlay. You could try posting on the Spyderco.com Forum also.

David
 
David, thanks for the reply. I will go into this a little deeper. I got one of these knives from someone who bought it from Spyderco Jan. 29, '01. I
even have his receipt from Spyderco. He said very few left the factory in
the flawed condition as most all the handles were replaced before they left.
The knife I have had a flawed Pearl bug on it & it was sent back. They
replaced the handle & also sent the flawed handle back to him. The person
who replaced the handle sent a note back with the knife & I quote "Hope you
like my pick on the bug inlay. I customized it as I do my own. This is one nice "Military" Your maker --------- He signed his name & gave his e-mail
address. Also, I called Spyderco & this person still works there.
I'm actually trying to find out if this has any collector value. Since I'm
not a collector I thought I might put it on the trade forum.
 
Tried to edit my post & add a photo but had trouble doing it. So I'm
putting this on the trade forum with a photo.
 
Bob

If you review the posts by those who received Forum Military's back in early 2001, there is no mention of flaws in the inlay.

500 were to be produced (according to Sal Glesser). The collector club members got theirs, Forum orders were engraved, and any left over were to be sold unengraved. I don't know what the numbers actually were.

A Forum Military just sold for $200 here on BladeForums. That's not a big jump for limited edition knives that sold for $125 about 5 years ago. Auction prices might go higher if there were a couple (or more) interested buyers.

David
 
From the pics on trade forum, the old handle does not look flawed to me. It looks like color variation in a natural material.
 
Photo has been added. It looks like a flaw to me & if the photo showed the
bubbles in the bug "maybe" everyone would agree & that something slipped
out of the Spyderco plant that wasn't perfect.
Anyway my original intent was to see if anyone knew for sure how many
of these left the factory "flawed" or I guess with a discoloration & I think
the thinking seems to be they were all perfect. So since mine is no different
than anyone elses it is coming off the trade forum shortly. If I ever become
a Spyderco collector, it will be my cornerstone.
 
It is hard to tell by the pictures if there is a flaw, what we see could be light reflections, natural colors in the material, what you see is far more detailed and you may see the imperfections we do not.

I would guess with you having the original handle plus the replaced handle, a note from the person at Spyderco who doctored the knife up and all original boxes and paperwork that your knife would be worth more than the same knife without the above extras, the right person it may be worth allot, to some it is not, Value of an item is always determined by what someone is willing to pay for it but if it were me I would hold on to it a bit.


Also, this is NGK-Webmaster not Mike lol.
 
When you say bubbles, do you mean blisters that extend above the surface, depressions (voids) in the the surface, or shapes buried beneath the surface. If the last, my forum Military has some too, but I would not consider them defects. To my eyes they are just variations in the color of the pearl and thus normal and even desirable, part of what makes MOP react to light the way it does. Beyond that, I'd say NGK-Webmaster's answer regarding both the pictures and the knife's potential value is a very good one.
 
I took the knife & xtra handle to a Gemologist this AM & feel like I under-stand what happened here. The piece of MOP is not flawed. She explained
in detail how this happens & I won't try to explain it here. She said it is an
imperfect piece of MOP which I guess is different than a flawed piece.
In comparing it to the other piece Her opinion was it was much less desirable.
She made a good comparison to something even I can understand. Two
people are making a new chair & there is a lg. pile of wood to pick from. One
person goes thru & finds all the wood with nice grain in it & makes the chair.
The other guy picks the first he comes to & does not care what the end
result is. As far as what I call bubbles, She called pimples & that goes along
with a less than desirable piece of MOP.
Apparently the question I should have asked in the beginning was----
Does anybody know how many of these knives might have left the factory
with a less than desirable piece of MOP in them & were therefore returned
for a new handle & sent back to the owner with both handles?
More importantly after looking back on all this what in the H--- difference
does it make which I'm sure is what most of you are thinking
 
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