Buck 300 series collection

Maverick299

Maverick299

Joined
Apr 12, 2014
Messages
798
Please forgive my ignorance but I have been charged with selling off some knives for a deceased friend of the family. I only know enough about collecting knives to be dangerous. I mostly use them, not collect them.

Here is a picture (crappy one) of 7 Bucks in the 300 series. Am I going to be better off putting the whole lot on Ebay or trying to do them one at a time? I know without date stamps or condition it's tough, but can anyone tell me anything about these or what they may be worth?

Thanks!

(I'll try to grab some better pictures tonight)

 
First off, we are very careful about talking about selling or value on the forum. So far your OK. All your knives but one are post 1989 models, they are valuable as pocket tools, very unlikely any are collectors items. Some show some rough handling. You could make a total value by studying the big selling website and offer them as a group here on the Buck sale forum at the top of the Buck home page. You would set a price for someone to take all and you would be done with them.

I will be a good guy and if you take a photo of the knives with main blades open so I can see the tang printing I will tell you if anything is unusual. You may post that picture here, you are a gold member and you have a few abilities to get info that 'Blue' members don't. Others may wish to comment on what they are seeing and that will be OK as long as they follow rules also. We here on the Buck forum want to help folks in your situation but we have to do it in correct manner. 300Bucks, Moderator

P.S.
Knife School 101 - How can I make my statements by glancing at this photo. Well, it looks like the first three knives are 309 size, the top knife has a long nail nic and a brass spring rivet. The next three knives look like 303 sized knives, all have small nail nic found on knives made by Buck after the Camillus contract was ended. These do not say BUCK on the shield so they are unlikely made of 425m steel, but a 1990/91 303 will have a knife, bolt and hammer shield and could be 425m. Notice all the spring rivets are SS after the first knife. That is another indicator I would say post 89. The last knife appears to be 301 size, it is a recent model, likely made in the 2000's because it has the newer style shield, more square on the ends. Stuff like this is how you pick up being a fast looker at knife shows. A bunch of you experienced guys could do this with 110s and other models and I wouldn't have a clue. In the end that's what we are doing here, sort of having a Buck 'home' school......300
 
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Thanks for the reply and sorry. Not trying to encroach on the no selling or value rules. Just trying to gain some knowledge on what I am looking at so when I do sell them I know that I am asking a fair amount or more importantly.....not getting ripped off. And thanks for the impressive reply, that is exactly the knowledge I am hoping to learn. I didn't even notice the different pins or shield shapes until you mentioned it.
 
The most interesting knife in the lot is the last one... the 301... it's a 2005 "IDAHO". You can see the tip of the Idaho state outline sticking up on the secondary blade.
 
DeSotoSky said:
The most interesting knife in the lot is the last one... the 301... it's a 2005 "IDAHO". You can see the tip of the Idaho state outline sticking up on the secondary blade.
Click to expand...

How did you see that? You're right, it's a Idaho. What's a Idaho?

 
Maverick299 said:
How did you see that? You're right, it's a Idaho. What's a Idaho?
Click to expand...

Tin Sue said:
It's a date code for the 2005 year of manufacture.
Click to expand...


After about 50 years in the San Diego area Buck relocated the factory in 2005 to Idaho to escape the worsening small business climate in California.
To commemorate the move Buck used the outline of Idaho as the 2005 date code stamp. Because the stamp is distinctive, they are sought by many collectors.
Although collectable, just keep in mind that most every knife mfg in 2005 got the Idaho outline stamp...... not rare but they are desireable to some.

No one has addressed your value question yet. None of the knives are rare so there will have been many auctions on eBay. Search completed auctions for similar models that sold to get a good real world idea of what people paid for them. As a GOLD level forum member you can sell on this site for free in the Buck knives for sale forum as opposed to paying fees to eBay which can eat up a chunk of the profit. Ebay does have a larger audience and my own observation is that the crowd here is looking for the" less common" or "less costly" ....:p Group sales never realize the profit of individual sales but you can start at no cost here to find out.... depends on how much time you want to invest in trying to sell the knives. HTH
 
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Thank you all so much for the help. I honestly would be lost without the help from this site. I'm digging through boxes of a man that spent a life collecting and met a unfortunate end. If everything I was selling was mine it would be on me, and a bad sell would be a lesson learned. But being charged with someone else's collection puts a burden on me to get them as much as possible. Thanks for your help.
 
In order to achieve this one needs to spend a great deal of time reading and studying to educate themselves on Buck models and history. NOT JUST what to sell it for. The Buck Collectors Club can help you achieve this. DM
 
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