A Question for Collector's

HikingMoose

HikingMoose

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Nov 29, 2017
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Hello, I have two knives of the same model, and I want to use one, and I want to make the other one a safe queen. Even though it will likely never be worth much, but you never know.

The knives are Tom Brown Trackers. I have one with a serial of L-8,xxx which I bought on eBay, and it was listed as used. It doesn't show any signs of use or wear, but the scales are a little dingy looking. I have a newer one with a W-26,xxx, that is brand spanking new.

Should I use and abuse the new one, or the old one? The build quality is nicer on the new one. I know value is highly fluid, and the value only ends up being what someone will pay for it. Trackers have been in production for like 10 years or longer I believe, and judging from the serial numbers, they produce A LOT of them. So is there even a chance that it could be a valuable knife in the future?
 
Do you buy lottery tickets?
I would use the one with the better build...seems reasonable.
 
Great thing about collectin' knives, you do what yo wanna do. Me, I tend to use everything and don't have doubles of anything. I do have some knives I bought for investment and don't use and a lot of higher end or rare knives that I do use. I carry a 200+ y/o knife regularly because I paid $10 for it and I can. You gotta ask yourself what do you wanna do? See, 'cause in the end you're gonna do that anyway aren't you? Not that there's anything wrong with that, they are your knives. Use 1 and keep the other for a spare if you like the first 1 .
 
Quick economics lesson.
Knives in new, unused, pristine condition sell for more than used knives - to anyone. Not just collectors.
A new knife should appreciate at least a little - provided the price of the same model goes up over the years due to inflation. For example, if you bought a Buck 110 30 years ago and stashed it away and never used it, you should be able to sell it for more than you paid for it, if only due to inflation. You may not be able to get the full retail price of a new one now, but you never know. If you did the same thing with that knife from the year it was introduced and can prove it, you would do even better.
Will that return on your investment be better than putting that cash into a index mutual fund. Probably not. But it is a fun game to play.
 
Dan of Bazz Clazz said:
Quick economics lesson.
Knives in new, unused, pristine condition sell for more than used knives - to anyone. Not just collectors.
A new knife should appreciate at least a little - provided the price of the same model goes up over the years due to inflation. For example, if you bought a Buck 110 30 years ago and stashed it away and never used it, you should be able to sell it for more than you paid for it, if only due to inflation. You may not be able to get the full retail price of a new one now, but you never know. If you did the same thing with that knife from the year it was introduced and can prove it, you would do even better.
Will that return on your investment be better than putting that cash into a index mutual fund. Probably not. But it is a fun game to play.
Click to expand...

Well, that is exactly my thinking. I think it's very cool that some people use every knife they have. They likely have a lot more money to play with than I do ha ha. But I have several knives that I've designated as safe queens, all of the rest I do carry or use. But the ones that I won't use are all discontinued, high value knives. One of them people are trying to sell on eBay for just under $1,000 (I paid 168 when I bought mine). So even if I could only get 500 for it, that's still a decent profit should I ever need money for my family/medical bills,mortgage,life stuffs. When I first found out how much it has appreciated, is when I decided to buy a second TBT with the intentions of beating the crap out of it and using it for it's intended purpose. Most people think it's just a gimmick knife, but it seems truly functional to me - I guess I'll find out for my self it I prefer it to a BK2 (one of my favorites) or Rat 7.

The fact that TOPS has made so many of these, and they are not the original makers of the knife, do you guys think they will ever have any value to collectors? If they will never have any real value, maybe I'll sell one (for profit, because I got them cheap), and use the other, and not even think about it. Any of you think they will ever be worth anything?
 
HikingMoose said:
Well, that is exactly my thinking. I think it's very cool that some people use every knife they have. They likely have a lot more money to play with than I do ha ha. But I have several knives that I've designated as safe queens, all of the rest I do carry or use. But the ones that I won't use are all discontinued, high value knives. One of them people are trying to sell on eBay for just under $1,000 (I paid 168 when I bought mine). So even if I could only get 500 for it, that's still a decent profit should I ever need money for my family/medical bills,mortgage,life stuffs. When I first found out how much it has appreciated, is when I decided to buy a second TBT with the intentions of beating the crap out of it and using it for it's intended purpose. Most people think it's just a gimmick knife, but it seems truly functional to me - I guess I'll find out for my self it I prefer it to a BK2 (one of my favorites) or Rat 7.

The fact that TOPS has made so many of these, and they are not the original makers of the knife, do you guys think they will ever have any value to collectors? If they will never have any real value, maybe I'll sell one (for profit, because I got them cheap), and use the other, and not even think about it. Any of you think they will ever be worth anything?
Click to expand...
Its against the rules to ask for values of knives unless you have a gold membership or higher.
Sorry.
 
As pointed out, new will always sell higher then used, given the same product. (Unless it was just happened to have been used by an iconic figure).

In either case, i would use the lesser of the 2, the used one with kind of dingy looking handles. If it's already depreciated, might as well depreciate it even more and keep a brand spanking new one on stand by for whatever happens down the road.

As for "collectibility", that's a funny little thing. Often times things that wind up worth much more in 25-50-100 years, are things that nobody ever thought to collect. But, as far as any particular knife, who's to say what the market will be down the road. Maybe it's worth A grand? Maybe there is a complete market collapse and you need to trade it for a cow and 2 sheep or fend off looters in a post apocalyptic society gone mad? If nothing else, it's more then likely at least still worth a fair price for a quality knife, especially if you bought it at a more then fair price. No certainty in the game of collecting, but at least with (quality) knives they are still worth their weight in sharpened steel whatever happens.
 
danbot said:
Its against the rules to ask for values of knives unless you have a gold membership or higher.
Sorry.
Click to expand...

Don't be sorry, you just misunderstood a little that's all. I never asked for a value. I am trying to decide if a knife will ever be collectible in the future, now how much it's worth currently.
 
HikingMoose said:
Don't be sorry, you just misunderstood a little that's all. I never asked for a value. I am trying to decide if a knife will ever be collectible in the future, now how much it's worth currently.
Click to expand...
Oh, no worries! In that case... ya its a crystal ball thing.
Probably be worth more if the the movie it starred in was better!;)
 
There's a lot of versions of the Tom Brown Tracker fixed blade knife at all different prices. Some of them are pure junk. The Tom Brown Tracker fixed blade comes and goes in and out of style, kind of like Tom Brown :) If your knife is one of the custom or mid-tech versions, it could hold its value or possibly increase. If you're talking about the cheap ones or the Tops version, it'll probably never appreciate significantly in value and most likely would drop in value once the blade is out of style. Blade HQ discounts the Tops version 30% right out of the gate.
 
Yeah, I don't think it will be worth much on account of the sheer volume. Typically things of value are rare, or hard to come by. But this has been mass produced for over 10 years.

Anyway, I went out and bashed it around a little while cleaning up some downed trees that came down in a big wind storm we had. It didn't perform as well as I'd hoped. Lol. I don't think it's big enough, or maybe not heavy enough. In person, the tracker is already much smaller than it looks like in pictures and reviews. A BK2 or Schrade SCHF 37 or 36 do just as well (and much easier to sharpen). Maybe I need to rework the edge a little.

Thanks for the thoughts and opinions gents.
 
You can only sell something at a price someone is willing to pay. I have seen new in box knives in pawn shops for less than original price so as for what the pawner got was probably 1/4 of what the resale tag. I seen some guys collection in a display for half or less of the value. It was a traditional collection. If I had the cash I would have snatched it up, buy other than this forum I don't think I could find buyers. There were several number x out of xxx......so another way to look at value is the materials value. Gold silver Jade ivory that may be the only value in other markets. But I use all of mine and don't have a safe. But have been know to keep some wall hangers. Old military sabers.always a good conversation starter
 
I have a lot of knives like that. I almost always use the blemished one and "save" the perfect ones.
Same goes for things other than knives. If it's slightly used , I keep on using it. If I lose it or it gets screwed up somehow , I have a perfect replacement for it. Just how I roll with that issue.
 
As a collector I grew out of the 'doubles/dupicates' phase a while back save for a few exceptions.

I'd rather spend the money on getting different stuff and using the one of something I have. Most of the time I'd just end up selling the duplicate at a loss anyway
 
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To put it bluntly, the type of knife that you choose to collect does not matter. Whether, or not, you will eventually profit or recoup your original investment depends primarily on your ability to sell and the extent of energy that you are willing to invest in the effort.

To collectors, knives are a form of entertainment. You research and hunt them and display them as conversation pieces. It is a valuable enterprise which ultimately helps to preserve parts our history for future generations. As entertainment it certainly has the potential to deliver a lot of residual value; it is much harder to monetize your investment in last years NFL tickets or last month's beer tab, then it is to sell a bunch of knives. But, your primary dividend will be paid in the joy of the hunt, making use of the knives as tools and the fun of meeting the many interesting people along the way.

Enjoy!

n2s
 
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