Well, I've got the feeling I've got the collector bug pretty well set in now so I will be on here alot and will definitely and gladly try to pay it forward when i can.
Took some better pics, along with another interesting one I found. These are just as I found them. Someone took a heavy wire wheel to the Black Raven. Left some heavy scuffs. Both of these were from fleamarkets. It is amazinging how many fleamarket sellers think they just have to 'touch up' their wares just a bit to make them more appealing, when in reality they are sometimes damaging the item.
Forgot to add, the pics will be posted tonight when Mrs Gator39 can do it. I will have to have her teach me, as this is still way over my head.
That article about Larry McPhail says that he's still looking to acquire more Black Ravens, among others. "As a collector he continues to watch for rare and high-end axes - White, Winchester, Black Raven, and Marble, for example." An idea you might want to consider is to offer your rare Black Raven to him to add to his collection, as a trade for some axe of "equivalent value" that he owns which you would enjoy having more than that Black Raven. If he has some duplicates he might suggest some special and more attractive (to you) axe (or axes) that he'd be willing to trade. It might be worth broaching the subject with him.
If a user is what he's after, I would think this axe could be traded for almost any axe he wants. There are loads of high quality axes out there that just aren't rare or don't have desirable embossing.
If you look close, that article is a reprint from 2009. He has sold alot of his stock. I have the impression from our conversation that he is scaling back, though still has alot. He didn't make an offer and I didn't solicit one. I did tell him I would be willing to donate the Black Raven to a museum, but he said there really isn't one. I will give it a good home, and maybe expand my personal collection, as I do have a few more desirable ones now also.
This looks like it is more rare than the embossed raven. But is it more desirable to collectors? That is a difficult question. A lot of the appeal is the embossed raven. Embossed axes in general bring more than printed axes. There are collectors that just collect embossed axes. I'm not trying to diminish the rare find here but it may or may not be a valuable axe in terms of auction results. Regardless, thanks for posting this interesting axe.
Rarity doesn't necessarily mean valuable. All it takes though is a couple bidders but I would also suspect less interest than with an embossed Raven. It's a more interesting axe though from my perspective.
It's very common for folks to think they're 'value-added restorations' of axes via wire wheels and grinders. If it's a user (and let's face it the majority of axes that aren't NOS are) by all means 'go to town' on it regarding rust, mushrooming and blade profiling/sharpening but if it appears to have collector value then don't touch it except to clean off dirt and light rust. The handle on yours is shapely thin with an unclipped foot and may well be original too, or at least dates to the same era.
I was wondering about the handle also. It looks like this axe wasn't really used much, but when it was used it was used HARD. The Kelly Perfects handle appears like it could be original also. At least to my untrained eye. I wasn't really looking at the monetary value of this axe but the historic value. Thus I would be willing to donate it to the right organization that would appreciate the historical significance of it. That's what this is about for me. Even Mrs Gator39 asked me, when I started collecting axes just this spring, why do you need so many? (She had that same question about my guns) , and i told her it was just saving and restoring history. When the pioneers settled this country, the number one tool was the firearm. The number 2 tool was the axe.
There for sure isn't many of them out there Gator. Not sure if this is the only known one but your collection has an axe in it that few if any have. So your journey into axe collecting is off to a pretty darn good start. It might not hurt to hang onto that one for awhile.
I beg to differ. "Right to bear arms" very much seems to have tainted the way modern Americans think. Without a gun lots of pioneers got by just fine but without an axe for sure they couldn't. There's lots of ways of putting food on the table, having to deal with raccoons, coyotes and bears (and belligerent neighbours), but it ain't at all simple to get around not having an axe for chopping and splitting wood to clear land and build and heat a house.
