This knife was designed by Emerson at the request of the US Navy Seals. You see a lot of stuff claiming to be "official Navy Seals," but this is the real McCoy. The Navy, however, wanted more pieces than Emerson's shop could, at the time, produce. But, the Navy didn't want enough pieces to entice a factory like Benchmade to take the order. So, a deal was struck in which Benchmade could also offer the knife to the public. That raised the expected volume to the point that Benchmade was interested. The knife proved exceptionally popular and was a sales leader for Benchmade for years. This is one of the knives (the AFCK being the other) that propelled Benchmade.
There are two types of customer who will be interested in this knife today: collectors and users.
The collector market for this knife is great. No Benchmade colection will be complete without this fundamental knife. This is also a knife that really propelled Emerson and got him a lot of exposure, so it's a significant piece for Emerson collectors. Finally, there are the Seals stuff collectors. This knife is one of the few opportunities for you to actually really own something that truly was "as used by the Navy Seals."
The problem this would-be seller faces is that he has no box. Collectors want the box. And there are enough pieces on the market with boxes that they don't have to settle for one without. So, the lack of a box is really going to hurt this knife.
Users love this knife. It has a very loyal following. Users aren't gonna miss the box. But, users aren't gonna pay top dollar since there are many pieces floating around on the market.
My guess is maybe $100.
