Are there fake GECs?

Camillus

Camillus

Joined
Jun 3, 2015
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I am selling some GECs on an auction site at the moment, and had someone ask me if they were real or imitations.

This took me by surprise, they aren't fake, but I didn't know they could be. Are there any fake GEC out there?
 
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Not yet. But there will be.

There are GEC knives that have been reworked with blade changes and cover changes. Hopefully the folks modifying the knives mark them (inside of the liners is a good place) but a lot of folks don't. I take this more seriously with antiques. But eventually our new knives will become antiques. Marking them helps preserve history for future generations.

One look at old knives on Ebay will show that there will most certainly be fakes in the future when the knives are old enough. When they are old, worn out knives will be more readily available for cheap to use as parts for fakes and reworks. And memories of the genuine knives will fade. People are more easily fooled by fakes when they haven't see real examples.
 
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supratentorial said:
Not yet. But there will be.

There are GEC knives that have been reworked with blade changes and cover changes. Hopefully the folks modifying the knives mark them (inside of the liners is a good place) but a lot of folks don't. I take this more seriously with antiques. But eventually our new knives will become antiques. Marking them helps preserve history for future generations.

One look at old knives on Ebay will show that there will most certainly be fakes in the future when the knives are old enough. When they are old, worn out knives will be more readily available for cheap to use as parts for fakes and reworks. And memories of the genuine knives will fade. People are more easily fooled by fakes when they haven't see real examples.
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Very well said Jake. I myself was wondering last night about the state of GEC in 30 years and the possibility of someone finally finding a mint version of a knife (TC Barlow in this case) and the possibility of it being suspected as a "fake".
 
It seems whenever there is demand for a popular knife some Chinese knockoff peddler catches wind of the potential profit and kicks their sweatshop into gear. Just think of a popular knife and look it up on a Chinese wholesale website. It's only a matter of time before someone starts producing barlows with TC stamped on them. It's pretty much inevitable, but I really hope it doesn't get as bad as some as the modern knives have it. There are tons of videos dedicated to identifying fake spydercos! There have also been dealers (knowingly) who try to sell these fakes for full price too.
 
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BlockPsycho said:
It seems whenever there is demand for a popular knife some Chinese knockoff peddler catches wind of the potential profit and kicks their sweatshop into gear. Just think of a popular knife and look it up on a Chinese wholesale website. It's only a matter of time before someone starts producing barlows with TC stamped on them. It's pretty much inevitable, but I really hope it doesn't get as bad as some as the modern knives have it. There are tons of videos dedicated to identifying fake spydercos! There have also been dealers (knowingly) who try to sell these fakes for full price too.
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I wondered about this but doubt it will come to that.

There's more than enough fish in the sea for overseas production to keep on producing the modern knockoffs and homages and make a profit on that group of knives. That is their niche. There's more handwork that goes into a GEC than I think would be considered profitable for a Chinese company when all is said and down.
The closest you could get would be to higher the workers and manufacturers for Rough Rider knives.

What Jake brought up though is a good point, a friend of mine has modified knives before (BigBiscuit) and twice one of his modifications (an easy open mod on a mammoth forest jack for Eye-Dog in the past) has been passed off as a from factory production knife.
 
Ryouchijtx said:
Very well said Jake. I myself was wondering last night about the state of GEC in 30 years and the possibility of someone finally finding a mint version of a knife (TC Barlow in this case) and the possibility of it being suspected as a "fake".
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Just saw this "fake" (rehandled) "soup bone" #77 barlow

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I saw that northfield Barlow too but it does say it's been rehandled and who did it so I would t call it fake.
 
Yeah I wouldn't really call it fake either, I've got lots of rehandled knives. But it went along with the theme of the thread :o
 
You bring up an interesting point Phil. What do you consider Evan's early knives, when he used GEC blades and springs. Should those considered fake GECs?
 
Good question, LR. I don't think I'd use the term fake. Re-handled, re-worked, Frankenstiened? I dunno. The very early ones didn't get marked in any way but he pretty quickly started marking them all on the inside of the liner at a couple people's suggestion.
 
I think the term "fake" implies intentional deception in some way. I wouldn't consider the re-handled knives to be "fake" unless they were being represented as factory original, complete with "forged tubes" perhaps.
 
I agree completely. Jake's original statement about reworked GEC knives seemed to reference, (to paraphrase) "what will be thought of these knives many years down the road?" The original intent is long lost by then. Someone may have had no intentions of misrepresenting a knife when they worked on it. After its passed through many hands, the last owner may have no knowledge (or cared) if the knife was reworked or original.
 
One thing we are VERY fortunate to have from GEC is detailed production numbers. That info should be really helpful to future collectors. Of course there are some old ones and special runs that aren't included in those but it will be a very good starting point.
 
i already have enough fake things to worry about, please tell me there are no such thing as fake GECs. It is such a niche market that I hope no one tries to
 
supratentorial said:
Not yet. But there will be.

There are GEC knives that have been reworked with blade changes and cover changes. Hopefully the folks modifying the knives mark them (inside of the liners is a good place) but a lot of folks don't. I take this more seriously with antiques. But eventually our new knives will become antiques. Marking them helps preserve history for future generations.

One look at old knives on Ebay will show that there will most certainly be fakes in the future when the knives are old enough. When they are old, worn out knives will be more readily available for cheap to use as parts for fakes and reworks. And memories of the genuine knives will fade. People are more easily fooled by fakes when they haven't see real examples.
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Right, I have had Glenn modify a 15 and a 48 that were both two bladed models to single blades. I will never sell them nor would I ever try to pass them off as special error productions because the blade's code will tell what it originally is.
 
mrknife said:
Right, I have had Glenn modify a 15 and a 48 that were both two bladed models to single blades. I will never sell them nor would I ever try to pass them off as special error productions because the blade's code will tell what it originally is.
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To the best of my knowledge Glen marks his knives ...or at least the oldies and that's what's most important to me. It would be good to mark them all.

Unfortunately we are all just temporary custodians of our knives. If we take care of our knives, they will last generations.

LastRodeo said:
I agree completely. Jake's original statement about reworked GEC knives seemed to reference, (to paraphrase) "what will be thought of these knives many years down the road?" The original intent is long lost by then. Someone may have had no intentions of misrepresenting a knife when they worked on it. After its passed through many hands, the last owner may have no knowledge (or cared) if the knife was reworked or original.
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LastRodeo did a better job explaining it.


There are also folks who specifically make or rework knives with the intention of picking people's pockets. And there are lots of buyers for fakes. You don't often get thanked for ID'ing a knife as a fake even when someone asks for your help.
 
From Glen's instructional post... :thumbup:

glennbad said:
...It is really important to mark your work in some way, so in the event that the knife changes hands, people down the line don't think it's original factory work. Nothing fancy for me, I just use some metal punches....
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