Coffee talk: GEC Should buy Queen

All the old employees have moved on to other careers. Remember it has been nearly 11 months. One of the sales people from Queen works in sales for my company now. I doubt there would be any past employees willing to leave a current job to go back to a job with a uncertain outcome. Except for maybe the newly trained Master Cutler, who was only there a few months before things went down. I feel bad for him, he trained for years to acquire the skills to get that position, and didn't even get a chance to show his expertise.
 
Yes, I would love the have Queen revived and making great knives again. However, the best talent Queen had left back in 2006 and he his now making knives as GEC. So in some ways GEC is the new Queen. I loved Queen, but I hadn’t bought a one in years.
 
As a business prospective- why would GEC buy Queen? More liabilities to the immense level.
As competitors GEC didn’t have to buy Queen to stop them - Queen folded - so although with loosing yet another American Cutler firm which sucks - in business terms this was nothing but good news for GEC, one competitor is gone - no other Cutler Brand is rushing to revive Queen so it’s all good for GEC.
 
Might be a good idea for the owner of Rough Rider (RR) to buy the Queen name and produce RR knives with the Queen name. RR is now building knives that easily compare to and are on the same level as GEC knives
 
Campbellclanman said:
That’s very debatable Modoc Ed
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Modoc ED said:
Might be a good idea for the owner of Rough Rider (RR) to buy the Queen name and produce RR knives with the Queen name. RR is now building knives that easily compare to and are on the same level as GEC knives
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Ummmm... No!
While RR produces a fine knife, I'd say a fantastic knife for the money, there is no way they even compare to GEC's product.

But That's off-topic, so...
I think Bill should buy the Queen name for pennies, frame it, and hang it on his wall as a trophy :D
 
Another vote for no here, GEC does very well for themselves as is. Though it would be nice to see some Queen patterns made to GEC standards. I wonder what the Branding, and intellectual property for a company like Queen would fetch at auction?
 
JohnDF said:
I think Bill should buy the Queen name for pennies, frame it, and hang it on his wall as a trophy :D
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this seems a little harsh to a fellow small traditional knife maker run by a family.

i think buying the name, very cheaply since it has very little good will attached considering the complete history, and making small runs of Queen branded knives by GEC would be cool, maybe a Daniels mini trapper if the family would allow.

i have been interested in trad slip knives for only a few years, but I never bought a Queen knife and have little interest in them for several reasons.

a Queen by GEC i would buy. no interest in old Queens....... ba bump bump
 
i would skip buying any "patterns", i dont think anything is really protectable since its all based on 100-150 year old consumer knives.

is the machinery worth anything after you disassemble , pack up, freight to new location, reassemble, inspect and repair, or dispose of because too much to repair

the Queen name has a very small value, but i feel like 1,000 dollars or something similar. anything more than a token payment makes no sense to me.

only a wall street idiot could be convinced to buy Queen as a going concern. but that gives me an idea, ........ anyone on the forum good with bar and pie charts and the exponential function on a calculator?
 
Modoc ED said:
Might be a good idea for the owner of Rough Rider (RR) to buy the Queen name and produce RR knives with the Queen name. RR is now building knives that easily compare to and are on the same level as GEC knives
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Although I think most of us would hate to see another historically significant brand being made on the Pacific Rim, the suggestion is as valid as any others.

Just keep the conversation civil, folks.
 
Modoc ED said:
Might be a good idea for the owner of Rough Rider (RR) to buy the Queen name and produce RR knives with the Queen name. RR is now building knives that easily compare to and are on the same level as GEC knives
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Nah, they've got a ways to go from what I've seen. Particularly with steel and heat treat. Now if you had said that they match Case for quality, I'd agree. The problem with them buying Queen is that Queen's reputation isn't so great these days. The brand you want to buy is one with a good reputation, so that you can cash in on it. Not much left to cash in on with Queen.
 
Why? GEC would have nothing to gain. They already make knives in high demand and Mr. Howard and team come up with new patterns that always sell, always.

The machines could be bought if wanted without the name like said before.

I think someone like RR or a few cutlers looking to start making quality knives slow and steady following GEC's business model would have a chance. With this forum and the exposure of some quality first runs under their belt, I would be willing to bet that the Queen name would make money.

Quality can be difficult to achieve and in modern society, skilled craftsmen are becoming hard to find. Anyone can hang around here and get a feel for the market and what the customers want. I dont see anything that would make buying Queen of any interest to GEC.
 
I think the Queen brand name *can* recover in time - the best knife I bought this year is a Queen S&M - the question is whether it is worth recovering... Great Eastern Cutlery hasn’t really needed the Northfield or Tidioute brands to be successful. There are currently too many badly made knives in circulation with the Queen name on them, and there are likely to be older and cheaper brand names around if someone wanted a brand to restore and produce.

I think the real threat to GEC lies in a future company that is not as idiosyncratic with its production - i.e. a company that produces exactly the knives that customers want to buy. The current business model is based on creating demand by limiting production of the more popular knives and driving up demand and value.
 
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