- Joined
- Dec 1, 2006
- Messages
- 577
In the early 90s I went to a Plaza Cutlery sponsered Knife show at the Anaheim, California Sheraton Hotel. It was actually the first one I went to with the expectation of buying a custom knife. Mostly I went for the lower end spectrum of a couple hundred dollars at these shows but this time I wanted the best.
As I walked the aisles with my young daughter she stopped at a small table with two people at it....both in their late twenties I'd say. The business card said "J.A.Harkins, Knifemaker, Crestline, California." My daughter, around 7 at the time, said...'Look at this beautiful knife Daddy..It's soooo pretty. The young man at the table was bearded like me so we hit it off right away. I believe this was the only knife on the table or maybe the only one could see because it was very beatiful and I had seen none other like it in the show.
I asked if it was for sale and he said the price was $850.00. I gulped and said I'd look around and maybe be back later....these were 1990 dollars.
The short story is I looked for 4 hours and didn't see anything to compare.
I went back and the knife was still there and it was around 3:00 pm and Mr. Harkins looked discouraged that no one had purchased it and it came in second place in the fighter catagory at the show so it was probably going to be a LONNNNG drive home. I called my wife and told her about the knife and asked if it was ok to purchase it (I'm not stupid...lol) and she said ok if it was what I wanted and I liked it. I told Mr. Harkins (remember he's a young man here) I wanted the knife and his face lit up like the sun. I had my credit card with me and some cash and both together were the price plus tax and Mr. Harkins left Anaheim with a smile.
THESE PICS DO NOT DO THIS KNIFE JUSTICE...It is Buffalo Horn handle and Abalone inserts and the small sphere near the front of the handle in the steel is inlaid Abalone in the steel. If you go to Harkins web site and look at his Archives you can see the same lines in his folders...really stunning in person and the box in the pics came with the knife also had Buffalo horn and Abalone. FOOTNOTE.....These pics suck but I tried to get the name of the maker in the photo...The wife says (with a compliment to SharpbyCoop) I should name my photos DULLBYCRAP.......lol. ENJOY !!
Sorry...With out anything to compare to I forgot to tell you the knife is about 14 inches long and the handle is about 5 inches....Total about 3/4 of your keyboard and the weight is perfectly balanced between the knife and handle.
As I walked the aisles with my young daughter she stopped at a small table with two people at it....both in their late twenties I'd say. The business card said "J.A.Harkins, Knifemaker, Crestline, California." My daughter, around 7 at the time, said...'Look at this beautiful knife Daddy..It's soooo pretty. The young man at the table was bearded like me so we hit it off right away. I believe this was the only knife on the table or maybe the only one could see because it was very beatiful and I had seen none other like it in the show.
I asked if it was for sale and he said the price was $850.00. I gulped and said I'd look around and maybe be back later....these were 1990 dollars.
The short story is I looked for 4 hours and didn't see anything to compare.
I went back and the knife was still there and it was around 3:00 pm and Mr. Harkins looked discouraged that no one had purchased it and it came in second place in the fighter catagory at the show so it was probably going to be a LONNNNG drive home. I called my wife and told her about the knife and asked if it was ok to purchase it (I'm not stupid...lol) and she said ok if it was what I wanted and I liked it. I told Mr. Harkins (remember he's a young man here) I wanted the knife and his face lit up like the sun. I had my credit card with me and some cash and both together were the price plus tax and Mr. Harkins left Anaheim with a smile.
THESE PICS DO NOT DO THIS KNIFE JUSTICE...It is Buffalo Horn handle and Abalone inserts and the small sphere near the front of the handle in the steel is inlaid Abalone in the steel. If you go to Harkins web site and look at his Archives you can see the same lines in his folders...really stunning in person and the box in the pics came with the knife also had Buffalo horn and Abalone. FOOTNOTE.....These pics suck but I tried to get the name of the maker in the photo...The wife says (with a compliment to SharpbyCoop) I should name my photos DULLBYCRAP.......lol. ENJOY !!
Sorry...With out anything to compare to I forgot to tell you the knife is about 14 inches long and the handle is about 5 inches....Total about 3/4 of your keyboard and the weight is perfectly balanced between the knife and handle.
