Dumping all your knives for $$$?

fulloflead

fulloflead

Joined
May 3, 2002
Messages
6,192
Sometimes I wonder...

What would happen if I got in SERIOUS financial trouble? Could I dump all my knives (and guns) for money quick to bail my ass out?

I can't see that happening to me at all right now because I'm careful, but I wonder what if it did?

Has anyone ever had to do that? Does anyone else ever wonder/worry about that? You know... losing your job... having a kid... jail... getting sued!

Can you IMAGINE having to dump all your knives (and guns) at 66% of "Street Prices" to dig your butt out of trouble?

I wonder if it could it be done at "street prices" quickly? 90% street price? 80% street price?

Again, I'm not anywhere near a situation like that, so don't answer with advise. I'm just saying the thought MUST have crossed some people's minds considering how much money people like me and you unload on our collections and whether we could get the money back in a hurry if we had to.

Let's just discuss the possibility...

"Hi. My name is Jim and I'm a knifeahaulic. I spend $300 a month on knives..."
 
Street prices are funny... I've seen 30 grand Holland&Hollands offered for a hundred bucks... add 20 and they'll saw it off for you...

some guy offered me 30 bucks for a Strider D9 once... I talked him up to 40 bucks just for kicks...
 
no, I didn't actually sell it to the guy... but it was just funny seeing him try to bargain... kind of like offering a thousand bucks for a Ferarri...
 
Street prices here are higher than MSRP in US so I could sell my knives anytime.. ;)
 
MelancholyMutt said:
no, I didn't actually sell it to the guy... but it was just funny seeing him try to bargain... kind of like offering a thousand bucks for a Ferarri...
Click to expand...

Sounds funny. I wish I were there. :D
CRUEL, but funny. :D

Do you think HE KNEW what it was worth and was trying to screw you or was he just trying to dicker you on a knife - like he wasn't into knives and didn't know what it really was?
So, how did you finally tell him he was nuts? :confused:
 
I had to sell all but one knife and almost my entire gun collection a few years ago.

There was no other way to generate quick cash but the return on the dollar was horrendous. When you are in a jam, need cash desperately and someone offers $200 cash for a HP Brend Socom, you take it. Then there was the Browning shotgun for $275, boy did that hurt!!!

But it's great fun to rebuild the collections again!!!!
 
FullofLead,
you can just forget about selling your knives for cash now, because we all know that you an evil knife pryer, and that all your knives will be beat up and useless by the time you sell..... Duh.... :p
 
If I had to sell every thing, I'd probably get about $5,000 to $10,000 depending on what I'd get, I actually think about selling everything at one time or another.

The pawn shop in the city pays $3 a cd, with over 400 cds that's $1,200+ instant cash, but the cd's took me 20 years to build up.

I always have something to get rid off when I need money, a couple of years ago I garbage picked a bunch of Mall Christmas Decorations, I sold them the following year for over $2,000.
 
If you need a quick dump, you're going to take a huge hit on cost return -- the relative flux of the market for knife values also do not help.

Also, there's nothing to say that your knives will even sell.

Look at some of the high-end stuff for-sale yourself by tracking auction sites and also enthusiast trade/sale boards over a period of months, and you'll easily see this to be the case.

Production customs and full-customs? If you have enough foresight -- by about 10 to 5 years or so -- yeah, it's definitely possible for you to guaranty good return, but in so far as investments go, you'd do better by "traditional" methods.

Unique pieces, while they can see higher returns, are also by that very same criteria much riskier "investments." Again, this is borne out on the same auction and trade sites.

Ultra-high-end stuff?

Unfortuantely, I don't have the knowledge nor experience in that aspect of our hobby to be able to comment. Hopefully, someone with sufficient experience in the trade of art-knives will step in here to give us a view into their world. :)

Allen
aka DumboRAT
 
I ended up selling off about 30 guns out of 35, including a brand new just received hand made Sharps that I waited three years for (do I sound bitter? :grumpy: ). This was caused by a divorce (no it wasn't over gun or knife collecting!) :rolleyes: .

I found the best prices were gotten from my gun enthusiast friends and from gun shows.

I think these forums would make resale on knives even a better proposition but I wouild figure on a quick cash sale requiring you price at about 80% street (on line discounted) prioces.
 
Unfortunately I'm right in the middle of having to do that right now. I'm not quite to the point of having to accept any offer given, but have definitely lost about 2/3's of my collection. Some of the knives I've sold (all full customs) were sold at a loss, the majority for what I paid and a handfull at a pretty good profit. Luckily I'm still at the point where I've taken about 5 of my favorite customs and decided they'll only be sold if things totally fall apart (i.e. Med Mayo, Marlowe Bali, Simonich Crowsfoot, Blackwood Ninja and Chew D/A). Theres a couple of expensive fixed blades that I'm really going to have to take a loss on and they're extremely well known makers, but unfortunately the current market is a buyers market and not a sellers market. But when circumstances hit, you just have to deal with it. The only good point, even with the knives I'm taking a loss on, is that I was able to own and enjoy some knives that a lot of people never even get to touch, let alone own.
 
Circumstances that require dumping your toys tend to illustrate a good argument for buying Sebenza-instead-of-Spyderco and Perazzi-instead-of-Remington.

High grade guns and knives, particularly the more popular models, are more likely to return a higher fraction of their value.
 
Hi again, fulloflead.

I've been fretting over something similar for a couple years now, which is selling off most of my gun collection. In my case, it isn't about money ... just that I'm hoping to become a real "material minimalist" before long, maybe move to the southern part of Colorado or possibly Oregon, and live a much simpler life.

Everything else, it's no problem for me to unload. But the guns, man, it's a dilemma for me, because they are prized possessions. I really just want them to wind up in the hands of people who will enjoy them. I wouldn't feel good consigning them, and I haven't found any dealers who will give a reasonable price on an outright buy. Then with the crazy gun laws we have, I'm leery of selling privately to total strangers through ads.

My coin collection, I donated to charity. Household furnishings and stuff like that, I'll have no problem hiring an estate liquidator/auction when the time comes. Guns, knives and favorite tools, though ... these are practically sacred things. They've served me faithfully, given me a great deal of enjoyment; they've earned my respect.

Luckily, I learned my lesson about over-accumulating with my shooting activities, and have kept my knife hobby pretty modest. But it would be the same thing for me if I had to sell knives for some reason: I'd want the next guy to enjoy 'em as much as I have, and would feel sad cashing them out to a dealer, or someone else who was just looking to make a buck.

Maybe I need to rethink a bit ... I guess I could start saving all those polystyrene packing peanuts to pack all my guns 'n gear in when I move. :(
 
ColoradoDave said:
Hi again, fulloflead.

I've been fretting over something similar for a couple years now, which is selling off most of my gun collection. In my case, it isn't about money ... just that I'm hoping to become a real "material minimalist" before long, maybe move to the southern part of Colorado or possibly Oregon, and live a much simpler life.
Click to expand...

Jeez. That sounds GOOD. :)

I've had similar thoughts about moving to London and taking the train everywhere.

As far as selling my stuff for cash...
This morning I had a better idea. I figure the best thing would be for me to "service" some rich old lady instead. I'd live in the guest house and spend my days sitting by the pool until she needs "serviced" again. :D

Excuse me, she needs to use the computer. I'll be by the pool...
 
I'd be surprised if you could get 60 cents on the dollar if you were in a hurry. I'd probably try to do it on ebay. There is no other place in the world where you can expose your product to more potential buyers. The other big advantage is that everyone knows that your sale is a one-shot deal and there is a time limit. Normally I would go for a one-week auction, but in a hurry I'd shorten the auction time. If you insist on Paypal you can get your money in a hurry.
 
I see you, too, have experienced the pleasures and benefits of older women, fulloflead. Although therein lies the story of my ruin as well, I suspect (sigh!)

BTW, one of the posts made on your "prying" thread got me thinking I need a Greco, and so do my son and nephew who have birthdays coming up soon. Maybe a Probus 6 would work for your purposes? With a rich lady friend, I assume there's no reason your knife collection can't grow to insane proportions now; tho' you may find you won't have as much time or energy for the hobby as you expect. :D
 
If I HAD to get some money in a HURRY, I sure wouldn't sell my knives and guns...I'd use one of my guns to go rob some rich bastard and take HIS money, guns, and knives.:D.:D.
 
gud4u said:
Circumstances that require dumping your toys tend to illustrate a good argument for buying Sebenza-instead-of-Spyderco and Perazzi-instead-of-Remington.

High grade guns and knives, particularly the more popular models, are more likely to return a higher fraction of their value.
Click to expand...

This is iffy, though -- and much of it depends on the market/timing of the sale.

Looking now at Sebbies, they're on a slight high-swing, but just a half-year before, prices for Sebbies on the secondary market were literally dirt-cheap. Currently, it seems to be a buyer's market for high-end Strider customs and Mayos, where as just a few months ago, it was a seller's market.

At the same time, many of the popular but hard-to-get "mass-market" pieces, such as a Spyderco ATR or Karambit, have been able to retain near full purchase value on the secondary market.

In a few months or years, who knows?

It's very dependent on timing.

Allen
aka DumboRAT
 
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