Anyone own or seen the Emperor Collection of Tantos?

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1stID

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One of the rarest of all CS vintage knives were from the Emperor Collection. I think they were a set of 500, and were made in the 80's. It was a three knife set of mini, regular, and what they called then the Magnum tanto, but with a 8-3/4" blade.

The mini and regular looked very similar to the standard versions, except they had Emperor Collection on the side, and were serial numbered. The Magnum had brass fittings on it, compared to the stainless ones of the standard version. It all came with a neat looking 3 knife stand.

I've seen one for sale on Ebay, for 2 grand or so, but that's the only one. There's a Magnum knife from the set there now, by itself, and it's a looker with the brass fittings on it.

I'd like to wrap up my Cold Steel collection with this set, so the hunt continues.


https://d2j6dbq0eux0bg.cloudfront.net/images/13833099/3132207998.jpg


https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-zpv...e-a2d4-9215a884e65e__62325.1696300075.jpg?c=2
 
1stID said:
One of the rarest of all CS vintage knives were from the Emperor Collection. I think they were a set of 500, and were made in the 80's. It was a three knife set of mini, regular, and what they called then the Magnum tanto, but with a 8-3/4" blade.

The mini and regular looked very similar to the standard versions, except they had Emperor Collection on the side, and were serial numbered. The Magnum had brass fittings on it, compared to the stainless ones of the standard version. It all came with a neat looking 3 knife stand.

I've seen one for sale on Ebay, for 2 grand or so, but that's the only one. There's a Magnum knife from the set there now, by itself, and it's a looker with the brass fittings on it.

I'd like to wrap up my Cold Steel collection with this set, so the hunt continues.


https://d2j6dbq0eux0bg.cloudfront.net/images/13833099/3132207998.jpg


https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-zpv...e-a2d4-9215a884e65e__62325.1696300075.jpg?c=2
Click to expand...
They also all had the raised spines like the original Magnum Tanto. I have a set, but it was missing the tea set and fan (which I didn’t really care about). Sorry for the terrible pic:

 
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Wish I had that, but only have older catalogs that have that Set in it.
(Did own an early NIB Magnum Tanto and bought it new from Jeff Loffer at Cutlery Shoppe, BUT stupidly sold it many years ago. Wish I still had that mini-sword...)
 
jlauffer said:
They also all had the raised spines like the original Magnum Tanto. I have a set, but it was missing the tea set and fan (which I didn’t really care about). Sorry for the terrible pic:

Click to expand...
Awesome! If you ever can't find the room for it anymore, I know a good home for it!

Since I posted my post, there was a set of Emperors on eBay, with a Buy price of over 4 grand. No stand, but did have the boxes. It apparently sold, as I had it on a watchlist, and then it was marked no longer available. I wonder if it did sell or if the seller took the listing off.
 
I have seen them a few times, but always thought they were overpriced.
 
There's a nice set on eBay now - as new, all boxes, the stand, and all the rice mat and fan and tea cup and such. Opening was 2-1/2 grand, and to my surprise and unhappyness, someone has a bid for that amount on it.

Worth it - probably, I mean it is 3 knives, and CS only made 500 of these versions. No telling how many of them are left in brand new shape, with all the stuff that came with them.

That said, unlike say guns that hold their value forever, I wonder what collectable CS models like this one will be worth once us 80's teens are no longer buying them. Do guys who didn't waste their days away looking at Cold Steel ads and magazines going to have any interest in them, and keep the price up, or will the value plummet? For now anyway it seems strong - a few months ago the bidding on a Urban Shiv, a very early CS model from the 80's, was sold for over 600 bucks on eBay - and that's for what's basically a 20 dollar piece of steel. At least the Emperor Collection's knives are super well made, multi-layer of steel knives. Maybe the collectable, nostalgic stuff like the Shiv or Urban Hunter and such won't keep their value, but the knives that are super well made, like the Imperial Tanto and Tai Pai will, as current production costs for knives like that would be as much or more.
 
It looks like the pommel is misaligned on them.
 
I didn't notice that in the pictures, and with the high quality standards of early CS model's, I'd be very surprised about that.

Someone bought them for the opening bid price of $2500 - I probably should have put a bid down but it was a bit too much for me.
 
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