Collections vs Getting Old

At 77 my knife collection dispersal concerns me, too. I have some good ones, but mostly just solid under $200 ones. I enjoy them, but of more concern is my restored old kerosene tubular lantern collection, as I worked hard on that. Since retiring, I have restored over 200 of those, and still have about 60 around the house. The others went to friends, family, museums, a State Park, a Little Theater, etc. who respect them for building America. Never sold any. So I thank all of you for the thoughts and plans to consider. My wife loves the lanterns. Not so much the 150+ knives. Lol20231006_100715.jpg
 
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Great thread!! ... I too have moved forward and briefed the wife & son of what I would like done if I kick bucket unexpectedly ....
Unfort my son is does not have the love of steel, but he had shown interest in a few on my rare blades.. I told him to keep what he wants, but don't
let his mother sell them off without at least knowing what I paid.. I put string tags on all my knives and told wife/son that's the price I paid! If you can get 20% more great
20% less is fine too.. just don't give them away... In the end I prob wont care much when I am food for bugs, but just like to have my family somewhat educated on the process
of selling them over FEEBAY, cost of selling, and of course possible tax laws..

in my 20+ years buying and selling- I have met at least 5 families on FEEBAY selling a deceased loved ones collection.. I always offer to help them with lower end market values so knife actual sells vs someone trying to sell it at top value waiting for months.... families cannot comprehend how an old randall can be worth 3k not 100$ .. Arizona customs knives is another great options for families who don't want to deal with selling large collections..Yea commission is there - prob 20%, but they handle It all. and provide outstanding customer service!!..
Some of these HIGHEND dealers who get a hold of these big collection -get them for nickels on the dollar.. Blueridge is one of those back in the day who waits for a family to sell huge collection for pennies on dollar and I mean pennies.. lol.. I get it -they gotta make a buck, but it still don't sit right with me.. so all we can do is educate the people we love
 
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bayouace said:
At 77 my knife collection dispersal concerns me, too. I have some good ones, but mostly just solid under $200 ones. I enjoy them, but of more concern is my restored old kerosene tubular lantern collection, as I worked hard on that. Since retiring, I have restored over 200 of those, and still have about 60 around the house. The others went to friends, family, museums, a State Park, a Little Theater, etc. who respect them for building America. Never sold any. So I thank all of you for the thoughts and plans to consider. My wife loves the lanterns. Not so much the 150+ knives. LolView attachment 2546267
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That's an amazing bit of work and a lovely collection! I think each of us might have one or two things that we truly love and would like to collect just to admire.

My current collection of knives have been trimmed down a lot now. The Swiss Army knives I do not count in the collection as I view those more as tools that knives, even though they have a good cutting blade, they are handy for a lot of things other than cutting.

On Monday I have what I hope to be a small pocket fixed blade that will be a keeper and I'll get a group photo of those knives that are 'left on the island' as of now ;)
G2
 
Gary W. Graley said:
I have a few more to put up for sale and trying to get the others sold seems to be a bit hard,
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A lot of people don't have the expendable income they once did. Everything is more expensive and interest rates are higher. That acknowledged, I suspect a big part of the issue is one I share.
This is a marketplace of instant gratification, and PayPal is the drug of choice. I've got one knife that quickly sold the first three times I posted it...unfortunately, each of those prospective buyers ignored, or didn't believe, the included statement about not accepting PayPal. Now it sits in a box (in another box) and I've seen a few sell quickly at the same price.

Luckily, I've never needed the money from a knife sale...nor do I care if any of the items I post sell. I made the choice to close my PayPal account; and I have not regretted it, despite losing sales and purchases.
 
pvicenzi said:
Bury me with a decent knife, and I don't care what happens to the rest. Once I am gone, they will be someone else's problem. They can give them away, sell them, or enjoy them. Not really my choice.
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Could not agree more. I intend to continue to buy, sell, trade, display, give away and enjoy my collection while I’m still kicking, after that I do not care.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Greets folks, lately I've seen a few for sale posts where people are closing out their collection as they approach their 'golden' years, myself I just turned 70 but I expect to be around a little longer. But it does make me wonder about what happens when that day arrives and my wife, bless her knife disliking soul, is left with a cardboard box of knives to set on the curb with a sign saying "FREE" and just let them all go. ;)

I don't think she'd do that, hopefully my grandsons will inherit what is left. But they are a ways off of being knife users and my one grandson likes knives but doesn't have the same insane steel virus that I am infected with, so he isn't too invested.

So, I have been on a reduction myself of my knives, it's a struggle that I have been up against for the past year or so. But I still think getting it down to those precious few knives is a good endeavor to work at.

Now, one thing I think that a lot of us guys don't do is let on just how much this or that costs, some will go as far as telling their wives "oh that one, I've had that for years..." and they probably think their wives believe them but I've found wives are more savvy than we sometimes give them credit. So I don't have a list of knife values for her to go off of if she tries to sell them, because, well, a list like that might hasten that day if it fell into the wrong hands! ;) So my plan is to just bring it down to those few that I know that I really like and would hate to part with, from different categories such as slip joints, locking blade, fixed blades and Swiss Army Knives, these I view more as tools than knives myself.

With my wife's uncle recently passing away brings this into a tighter focus. He has a significant collection, I think she is going to just pack them up and send them to one of the consignment places to get what she can, I haven't talked with her since she has gotten home from the hospital and but a friend of the family told me that was his plan for a while in the event he dies.

A somber thing looking at the future, but none of us will get out of here alive, or so they tell me, just a matter of time and as one person stated "life's too short to carry an ugly knife" so make the best of the time we have.

G2
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Haven't been on here for a little while. Life has been pretty hectic & busy lately, and the new job severely doesn't allow any "pocket knife" carry, frowns upon any sharp instrument outside of the stock room standard, auto-retracting safety blades. They don't even allow any tools from home to be brought into the plant (food operation facility), so unless it's an outside contractor exception, everything used here is ordered & purchased here, delivered here new, and stays here. The Leatherman supertool 300 I convinced them to purchase for me as a "necessity" tool for daily operation as a maintenance mechanic, does come in handy and just barely scratches the itch, using it as a loophole for edc carry, but sure does get boring day in and day out, with the amount of time I work. (One thing I do miss about the job I left for this one... but I am certainly enjoying the +30% bump in pay I got). While I do still carry in my day to day outside of work, like I said. life has just been hectic and busy the past few mos., too much so for me to spend as much time here as I used to. (Although it does look like it might slow down here presently so we'll see).

In any case, I digress... Back on topic, I'm only 44 now, so hopefully still got a bit of a ways to go, but humbly accept that I'm likely a bit past the halfway point even in a most likely best case scenario. Certainly also well aware, (and humbly accept), that any day "could" potentially be the last one here on this big blue earth, but based on the statistical averages, personal living and lifestyle choices to date, as well as genetic predispositions, I'm still doing pretty good now, but realistically if I do see my mid 80's, especially still in reasonably good health for the age, it'll be nothing short of a miracle sprinkled with a bit of luck. So that said even at a humble mid 40's, I can relate to this sentiment. I haven't "downsized" anything yet, and currently have no plans too, but I haven't purchased anything new either for a bit. I have all I "need" persay, for all the different specific tasks I imagine, and a respectable sized collection (or accumulation), but I have found myself content for the most part with what I got at the moment.

I'm not saying I won't add a few more yet, heck, I'm not 70! (Yet 😉), but I'm at a point where I have pretty good idea of what I need and also what I like, and am no longer over scouring the interwebz drooling over pictures of newest releases and old timely classics, reading a slew of reviews trying to find the next one... From here, I think if I do add another dozen or so over the years, they'll be directly attached with an experience, like attending a show somewhere, (I thought hard about Blade Show this summer, but opted not to, however I am 99% sure that next year it's a full go for me. If anyone wants to shake hands or graba drink?), or visiting a local shop or a maker, or finding a flea market gem while out on a vacation somewhere, (or if I'm gifted one by somebody special along the way?).

Still not sure what I'll do with all of 'em, or who'll get 'em all when I'm gone, but I am glad I'm also out of the woods it appears, from not so long ago where it was easily costing me more per year than I'd care to admit to myself sometimes...

For right now at least, more money being made,and less money being spent, isn't a bad place for me to be.
 
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P.08 said:
I have every intention of selling off my gun, knife and sword collections and buying a stupid fast sports car. Said I was going to do this at 65 and I am getting close now.
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I can't tell ya how many old timers I see driving corvettes around down town and the waterfront in Plymouth or Nantasket taking the Wife ~ OR ? out for a drive around at 20 MPH to show up the cool car ~ Please don't get a fast car and roll down the highway at 55 MPH it makes ya look Older
🤭
 
ClickBoom said:
I can't tell ya how many old timers I see driving corvettes around down town and the waterfront in Plymouth or Nantasket taking the Wife ~ OR ? out for a drive around at 20 MPH to show up the cool car ~ Please don't get a fast car and roll down the highway at 55 MPH it makes ya look Older
🤭
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Bought this last year. Only had it up to 130. I want something dumber!
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My father wasn't a knife guy, but he had multiple collections of different things (all niche, and all hard or nearly impossible to value), and never winnowed them out before his passing earlier this year. I'm now trying to deal with them myself, and much of his collected items are likely to be donated as I don't want them and couldn't store them if I did.

Please consider making things easier on your heir(s) by thinning down ahead of time, and by that I mean all items, not just collectibles.
 
Don't plan on selling anything before my day comes! I HAVE a detailed list of what things were bought for and approximate value along with a little story for each! Some have a lot of history, some.....not so much! Some are my father's and great grandfather' belongings! Some were recently purchased or purchased with no real love (like a few cheapy knives or inexpensive guns), just something I wanted at the time! Close family and friends will get first dibs, the rest can go wherever after I'm gone! I sure won't be needing it and the memories.....will go with me!
 
Tafkaag said:
My father wasn't a knife guy, but he had multiple collections of different things (all niche, and all hard or nearly impossible to value), and never winnowed them out before his passing earlier this year. I'm now trying to deal with them myself, and much of his collected items are likely to be donated as I don't want them and couldn't store them if I did.

Please consider making things easier on your heir(s) by thinning down ahead of time, and by that I mean all items, not just collectibles.
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Same, kinda starting to go through all of this in my life...... My parent's and next, the in-laws..... :(

Even IF it's worth a fair amount of money........ it's Not treasure.

*many an argument yelling with/at my parents for buying STUFF late in their lives....... They said exactly what Many are saying here..... they just didn't/don't care, they Wanted it!

(I fantasize about living in a van, down by the river.....) I want less stuff.

-another tangent..... maybe ten years ago my sister had a Horrible house fire lost almost Everything. Literally.
but family made it out, and dog too.... so all was "good"

I made the mistake of telling her that I was kinda jealous, she gave me a real hard look.
 
ClickBoom said:
I can't tell ya how many old timers I see driving corvettes around down town and the waterfront in Plymouth or Nantasket taking the Wife ~ OR ? out for a drive around at 20 MPH to show up the cool car ~ Please don't get a fast car and roll down the highway at 55 MPH it makes ya look Older
🤭
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I owned this 2014 C7 Z51 3LT MT Convertible Vette for a few years.

Never drove it (or any other car that I own) under 55 on the freeway or highway unless someone was blocking my way!!!

ogxKZu4.jpg


Have been looking for another C7 to buy but I still have a very quick modified 2008 BMW 335i & a slower stock but still very enjoyable 2002 Toyota MR2 Spyder in the garage that I've owned for over 10 & 17 years, respectively, and that I also will not sell before I die. ;)

DPwd2QC.jpg


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You can see my old bike riding gear on the wall behind the BMW. My favorite motorcycle of among all that I ever owned was a 1998 Ducati 998 that looked like this that I bought new from Munroe Motors in SF way back when. I still regret selling that bike and, if I can find one, may still buy another one yet.

ducati-998-4.jpg
 
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