Thanks for everyone's responses. Striper: I'm not really limited by a "budget" per se, but obviously the sky isn't the limit. Depending on materials, workmanship, etc. I'd say $750 - $1,750 (quite a disparity I know!), but it would be difficult to put a budget without finalizing the knife details w/ the maker....
Style/Design: I have it pretty fine tuned (mentally) from looking at many designs. In the perfect world, I'd take something like a high end William Henry and make it an auto.
Thanks again to everyone. I'll contact a few of these guys after looking at their sites.