Advice on Pricing an Edmund Davidson Integral Wakasashi

G

Guro Andreas

Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
23
Hello Everyone

I am in the process of trying to sell an Edmund Davidson Integral Wakasashi.

http://www.edmunddavidson.com/ed_mainframe.htm

the shape is just like the one on this site, except it had no engraving and has a linen micarta handle.

The sword has never been used for anything and is in mint condition
the leather sheath has a few scratcher on it

The makes told me he would charge $8500 for a newly made one and there is a 2 year wait list on any of his knives.

So a couple of questions, the sword is about 8 years old. does this make it more or less valuable?

what should I ask for it?

I will put an ad in the for sale section soon... just trying to get some advice here 1st

Andreas
 
Guro Andreas said:
Hello Everyone

I am in the process of trying to sell an Edmund Davidson Integral Wakasashi.

http://www.edmunddavidson.com/ed_mainframe.htm

the shape is just like the one on this site, except it had no engraving and has a linen micarta handle.

The sword has never been used for anything and is in mint condition
the leather sheath has a few scratcher on it

The makes told me he would charge $8500 for a newly made one and there is a 2 year wait list on any of his knives.

So a couple of questions, the sword is about 8 years old. does this make it more or less valuable?

what should I ask for it?

I will put an ad in the for sale section soon... just trying to get some advice here 1st

Andreas
Click to expand...

I would expect that the less time spent on the engraving and the different handle material is going to bring your price down below that one certainly. How much I couldn't say. If the maker has a two year wait list he might be a fairly sought after guy, I have no idea. If he is then that will make your price go back up. When in doubt put it on ebay (with a reserve if you can't bear to part with it for below a certain price). Usually on ebay these things sort themselves out. Alternately you can wander over to the Benard Levine forum and ask there, a lot of folks there have a pretty good idea of market prices and you can get an evaluation from Bernard himself... for a fee.
 
I know Edmund. He make lovely knives. He now has table book out about him and his work. He is a very talented machinist, milling his blades and hand finishing them. I am amazed at the prices they bring. He was talking to me back in April about his backlog. Part of it is that he just does it at his own speed, and part of it is that he doesn't want to flood the supply. Having to wait does drive the price up. At this point in Edmund's life, he could make several knives in the time he could make one sword, thus he would charge an exorbitant price to do one. As a practical matter, it is harder to get the price for a sword based on the work into it.Again, most famous makers would rather make three or four knives, and get $8500 or more,than make a wak and try to find a buyer at $8500

As far as selling price -I would take the original price of the sword as a base, and figure that it was worth about 50% to double that....considering the unlikeliness of Edmund making another. Or....just sell it to me for $1000.
Stacy
 
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