A nicer way of saying the same thing, "Aesthetics is the primary advantage."
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Since the cutting edge is not coated, I doubt there's a significant difference in functional ability one way or the other.
An advantage in preventing rust? I bet there's not much advantage when coating stainless steel, but I can certainly imagine a potential benefit with carbon steel like the old Camillus Becker products.
Personally, I don't care for coated blades even though I do own a few. Looks really nice on that Buck though. :thumbup: