I do want to add a few additional personal observations.
You do NOT have to be a so-called "heavy hitter" to enjoy this show or to walk away from the show with wonderful knives, depending upon your own personal taste. As a hitter, I do not crack the infamous "Mendoza Line." Yet I came away from the show with the only two knives that I really wanted . . . and I still brought back home more than half of the cash that I brought with me. There were many, MANY, outstanding knives to be had under $5000. And the VAST majority of the knives - I believe over 90% - were sold at fixed price though "luck of the draw."
Yes, if all you are interested in are knives from Steinau, Walker, Appleton, Lake, and/or Loerchner, then you better bring a big roll of Benjamins. But when is that ever NOT the case with their knives??? And EVERY one of these guys offered at least one fixed price knife, and you did not need to bid against a purveyor or anyone else to get those knives: you just needed to have your name drawn from the box.
And even if you did not win a knife, if you LOVE art knives then just having a chance to see and handle 150 or more top quality knives that you will probably never see again, in one place, makes the show worthwhile, IMO. And while you examine these knives, you can help yourself to all of the beer, wine, liquor, desserts, hour d'ouvres, fruit, cheese, salad, and carved meat that you could want.
I found the atmosphere in this show to be wonderful. Better than in 2011. My all-time favorite show. One "minor" change was the tacit acknowledgement in the ticket book that folks do indeed trade tickets, and even though it is stated that this is not "condoned," it was clear that it was also not discouraged. Indeed, one maker specifically encouraged me to obtain tickets from other invitees to "stuff the box" for one of his knives. It turned out that I "won" both of my knives on my own ticket anyway (just lucky this year, since both boxes had many tickets).
Last, I enjoyed the company of other knife lovers. And this includes the "dreaded" purveyors, the majority of which do indeed seem to me to have a passion for knives and do not view it all as just "product." Yes, there are exceptions. But so what? Am I supposed to let the attitudes of a couple of folks prevent me from enjoying a show with so many wonderful knives? I also met and had nice conversations with several other individual collectors who I did not know - some of which do not post here or rarely do so. And that is great, because I do not know ANYONE in my community, among my friends, my colleagues, my buisness associates, my family, etc. who shares my passion for knives.
I told Phil Lobred at the show how thankful I am that he created this event and that I am able to attend it. Again, I will continue to return to this show as long as it remains anything like it is now for as long as they will continue to let me do so and for as long as I have the health and finances to allow me to do so.
Anyone??
