This tread probably has the most definitive information available regarding the
BRK Natives, in a post in it Sal explains the history of this knife.
In my opinion, as long as a seller, on eBay or otherwise, clearly states that the knife being sold is a BRK Native, or at least displays pictures that clearly show the blade of the actual knife being offered, then it is up to the buyer to be well enough informed to make an intelligent decision as to whether to buy, and how much to pay.
The problem arises when sellers use "stock" photos and vague descriptions. We, as knife enthusiasts, do have to keep in mind that many eBay sellers are just folks trying to make a few extra bucks by finding things at what they think is a good price and hoping to sell them for a few bucks more, or selling off stuff they inherited. In many cases they have precious little knowledge of the items they are selling, whether that item is a knife or something else. This sometimes works in our favor, when a genuine rare piece goes for cheap because of an uninformed seller and a poor description. Of course it also can work the other way, especially if the seller does just a little research, comes up with something that looks close to what they have, and either fails to understand and note the differences, or fails to even see them. In the case of the Natives, this is a particularly easy error to make, as they are almost certain to find pictures and descriptions of the latest model and highly unlikely to find anything about the BRK without doing serious research. Maybe I'm just an optimist, but my guess is that in at least 90% of these cases, it is just ignorance of the product they are selling, rather than a true desire to deceive anyone, that is being displayed.
As to identifying the BRKs; the lack of a Boye dent is NOT a reliable indicator, the GIN-1 and some, if not all, of the 440V Natives also lack the dent, so about all its lack tells you for sure is that the steel is not S30V. The 440A steel marking on the blade is probably the most certain indicator of a BRK, as no other Native, and no other Spyderco for that matter, used it. The "1st Generation BRK" engraving on the blade is the easiest "red flag" to spot and a dead giveaway, but can also be removed fairly easily by a truly unscrupulous seller. As far as I know, the BRKs are the only C41 FRN Natives with 9 thumb notches, all the others I have seen only have 6 notches, but I am not 100% on this, at least some of the earliest GIN-1 Natives may also have the 9 notches. The clips and barrel screws are also bright steel instead of blued or painted, and although this can be altered and there may be some "regular" Natives that share these fittings as well, their presence can be thought of as another "red flag" warning you to take a closer look at the rest of the knife. I've got one, bought it knowing exactly what I was getting, put a few hours work into the cam to smooth the action, modified the handle a bit, and consider it a pretty decent user now. As Robbie said, 440A does not hold an edge as well as any of the regular Spyderco steels but, to it's credit, it does take a good one real easy and will hold it at least long enough to peel a five pound bag of spuds.
All that being said, to my way of thinking what is particularly sad about the BRK Native is that anyone who purchases one as their first Spyderco will almost certainly not be favorably impressed by it, no matter how little they paid or whether it was clearly advertised as a BRK or not.
I bought one of these versions about 4 months ago, and it is not finished out near as perfect as the original. But, for a beater, mine did ok on cutting and never did close on me accidently, the steel seemed a softer 440 of some type, but did ok. I hope I did not interfere with your thread, but felt I might help someone if they were looking at one in a pic, one other thing, compare the Spyderco stamping on these two models, the one on the smoky knife contains LESS letters on second row, where the steel type or something is normally typed.
