Best way to determine worth of specific custom knife?

Nosamk

Nosamk

Joined
Oct 20, 2001
Messages
922
If this thread is in the wrong forum I apologize in advance...please move it if so. I have a custom that I bought from Rick Dunkerley at Blade in '95. I cant remember what I paid for it and honestly have no idea what its worth. I've been tossing around the idea of selling it, and though I havent decided for sure to do so I have no idea what is fair to even ask for it. Any comments/ideas appreciated.
 
While NOT a custom knife, I had a pair of pre-86 Spydercos. I tied EVERYTHING to get some idea of their FAIR-TRADE value, but to no avail. I had no clue as to their worth, what the market might bare for them, and no one, EXCEPT one, could assist me, or OFFERED to help me engage in a FAIR-TRADE.

Well, it does NOT work!!!!! if you have no idea what the FAIR VALUE is of a knife you are thinking of getting rid of, THINK AGAIN.

If you get suckered into thinking some HONEST Soul is going to accept shipment/delivery of your knife, evaluate it, and actually give you a FAIR-DEAL, then it's going to have to be Larry at Bladeart, or someone JUST LIKE Larry.

And when the dust settles, go to GB&U and post it, and get the snot beaten out of you for engaging in a knife deal when you had NO CLUE as the the value of your knife to begin with. And when it's all over and forgotten, you will still be out of a knife, a Whiner, and the "victim" of a bad deal you DESERVED for moving a knife you had no idea what it's value was to begin with.

IMHO, I would STRONGLY suggest you pay to have the knife appraised prior to posting it for sell ANYWHERE..............Ira
 
Chill out Ira. Wow.

Dunkerly is a very desirable maker. His fancy damasus folders are now selling for 1-2K. I have not seen any Dunkerly fixed blades for sale recently but a small hunter in carbon steel should fetch at least $400. You need to search the web for something similar to your knife to get some idea of it's value. Post a pic or a description including dimensions and materials and someone here can give you a rough idea of what it a fair price would be. Rick may be able to tell you what he would charge for a similar piece today. You could also contact some of the custom dealers to get an appraisal.

Remember, something is worth only what a buyer will pay for it. There are serious collectors of Rick Dunkerly knives, and your piece may be worth some serious $$$.

Para
 
KWM-
thanks for the email address, I didnt realize that Rick had one.

Ira-
I'm hoping to avoid a situation such as yours....is why I asked.

Paracelsus-
I've search around a bit and not found much of anything like the knife in question. Thanks for your tips, I'll do some more checking, maybe ask a couple dealers.

Here is a pic of the knife, I'll get dimensions tonight.
Its chainsaw damascus, nitro-quenched. I believe it was made when Rick and Ed were researching nitro-quenching back in the mid 90s.

dunkerley1.jpg
 
Para has it exactly right. Rick's knives are highly regarded and therefore have held their value very well. Some will even have increased.

Ira, sorry I did not see that you were looking for a value on those knives you traded away. If I had I would have tried to help you out. Please, in the future, if you have a question that you think I may be able to help you with, feel free to email me and I will do my best to assist you.
 
What Para said. Most likely the knife's value is greater than what you paid especially if there is some damascus involved. Rick's work is awesome and in steady demand. He is also one heck of a nice person. (Most of those Montana guys are :))

Ira, geez you gotta cut down on the caffene. Same here if I can help you out with a value let me know. In all honesty it would be a little unusual to sell a used recent factory knife for more than what it originally wholesaled. Either way this is not the forum for continuing the discussion on that "deal".
 
As you can see we were posting at exactly the same time.

What a beautiful knife. I love the lines. I would only be guessing, but I would bet you would have to pay in the $650.00 to $800.00 range to get a knife like that today and you would have to wait for quite awhile. I'd bet if you could email Rick that picture he would be able to give you the price it would sell for today. I personally wouldn't sell it for a whole lot less than that amount. It is to nice a knife.
 
Hmm, I don't think I would sell that, but if I were a buyer, $600 would be a good price assuming the blade is in the four inch range. Nice knife. I wish had some spare change ;(

Para
 
OK.

overall length- just a touch over 7 1/4"
blade length- from tip to guard a touch over 3 1/4"

and thanks for the help guys. any added insight would be great.

also note: this knife was made *before* Rick earned his MS
 
seriously, I am still very bitter. I just got an E-mail from the gentleman (and he is one fine gentleman) who ended up with those two Spydercos.
Whether they are $100.00 knives or $1,000.00 knives, you should be able to "trust" another member of a knife community to do EXACTLY what you Fine gentlemen have offered to do:PLACE A VALUE on a knife or knives for another formite.
Let's forget about the "trade part" and just look at what happened to me and what MIGHT happen here with a very expensive knife. If/when a "trusted" formite responds to one of many posts asking for assistance in placing a value on some knives and says :"hey, I know all about those knives and if you do not want them/it, I can give you a good idea of their VALUE and blah...balh...blah...( no Gus, no goats yet!)
Para, Keith, Eric, I am trying to chill. But I keep punching up the entire saga of those knives to include the posts about how the tips were broken, how I got a Gerber 600 when in reality it's a 400, and now a Formite owns those two knives after the NEW OWNER got a very fair value out of them on a trade. He offered them back to me, unbroken tips and all, but it still fries my BUTT:mad: :mad:

The POS is still posting on BF, filled my freaking Hard drive full of the exact same photo that I POSTED in reference to those knives and is still smelling like a rose. Had it not been for some really cool members of BFC, I would not have any multi-tool worth a crap.

my point is that I would hate to see the owner of this knife get $1,000, when the FAIR VALUE is $2,000. It happens, it happened, and there is really nothing you can do after the fact except to whine. The other formite ends up making a serious profit on your stupidity. Just trying to make this point, and do so while the original owner of this CUSTOM KNIFE still has it in his possession..............Sorry
Ira:( :eek: :(
 
Ira, you are correct. I want to make it clear that the values that I put on that knife are a guess on my part and Rick would be the only person that could tell you for sure what he would sell a knife like that for today.

All I can say for sure is that if I was able to, I would be willing to pay in the $600.00 to $650.00 range for that knife.
 
Originally posted by Jim Richardson
The value of something is that which it will bring.
Click to expand...

very insightful....only I dont plan on auctioning it.


I've emailed Rick. Thanks again for his email address Keith, hopefully I'll hear something back from him.
 
It DOESget to sound like Whining. But, OWNING a knife and not having a clue to it's value can become an experience that results in extreme Bitterness.

One of the Benefits of membership in a Knife-Community, such as BFC, is placing complete trust in the other COMMUNITY MEMBERS and expecting only Integrity from my "Brother formites".

I would NEVER expect someone to take a knife made by Rick and put it up on E-bay with some type of write-up thats said: "I do not know what this knife is ACTUALLY worth, but I can TRUST you members of E-bay to only bid what you BELIEVE is fair."

On E-bay, that would look and sound silly. BUT HERE on BFC, seeing such a post in BRL's Forum, The Spyderco Forum, and EVEN in OUR Tade-forum does/did NOT sound silly or unusal to me.

And, when you ACCEPT an offer from a "trusted member" of BFC to evaluate your knife and give you A "Fair-Market" trade value, not one that he or she [in]THINKS[/i] is their fair value, but a REAL fair-market value, should be something one can do in Confidence here in "our community".

This Custom knife SHOULD be able to be shipped to another formite to be evaluated and a fair dollar amount attached. If the formite has given his WORD that he will do exactly that; place a fair-market value and then ship back a trade or equal fairness, I do/did not see any danger to this approach.

While I can only speculate, I bet at least one of you has done this before. And after exchanging many cordial E-mails and hearing words like "nice", "great condition", and "I really like these", I would NEVER suspect that when the trade does get shipped and the package arrives at my Door, I am going to find something of an EQUAL FAIR-VALUE in place of that knife.

Now, whether it's a Custom by Rick Dunkerly or a mid 1980's pair of Spydercos should NOT make a difference. What part of the word "Fair" includes the potential NEW OWNER sticking it to the potential OLD OWNER?

The to add to the "fair-Deal", refuse to acknowledge any one of FIFTY E-mails, respond to a "generic Post" in GB&U calling the original owner a TROLL, and a crook for sending a seriously damaged knife, AFTER you have already posted in GB&U what a "Great guy" the former Owner is, and what a smooth transaction this trade actually was, and then "E-mail Bomb" the former owner with 37 E-mails, each with an upload. Each upload contatining a Folder with Lord knows how many duplicate photos of the EXACT same photo the former owner posted in the Spyderco forum when he asked for help in determining "How Much".

Had the knife been a Scagel or a Rick Dunkerly would the response or the outcome be any different? Why should this "Trusted member" of BFC be allowed to chuck lies to damage one's name and reputation, refuse to respond via E-mail or telephone and ultimatelty trade/sell the knives in question for a VERY SWEET Deal and expect me to just go off into the sunset and "chalk it up as a lesson learned"? YEAH, I learned a very naluable lesson, but Why is this person still a member of BF, allowed to profit off my stupidity, and I get painted as the Whiner? What do I have left other than to Whine, everyone keeps "Dealing" with this "trusted member of BFC" irrespective of the FACTS anyway.

I would just HATE to see this happen to another one of the 99.999% of the Honest members of this Knife Community"...........Ira
 
...That truly is a beautiful knife.

Clean lines all the way through, and nice Damascus too.

Very well done indeed! :D


(Ira, please stop with your incessant 'foo'. You are 'thread hijacking' again. Please stop.)
 
Sorry man, these guys are all wrong. The knife is worth $54.57 and to prove it, just mail it to me and I'll have money to you by paypal.....




This offer void where sellers are not spaced out on whoopy weed or otherwise mentally impaired.
 
What the hell is "foo"?
Knife content: Nice custom knife, will ya take a Gerber 400 for it?
and Sheldon;:p :p :p :p :p :p :
Oh yeah, just had to add that I see your post is RIGHT on topic, huh sheldon?:rolleyes:
 
Well I havent heard anything back from Rick yet....anyone know if he was in Vegas??
 
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