GEC inflation

Is it my imagination or are prices on GEC's going up on the secondary market? Seems like the premium paid on the secondary is more than usual. Am I wrong about this?
 
stagmeister said:
I see many have crazy starting/asking prices, but that doesn't mean they're going to get that price. I've seen quite a few that have been up there for a long time. Certain high demand pieces do continue to bring substantial money though.
There is obviously still a strong demand.
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My concern is that as the traditional knife market grows, new buyers will start paying those prices and then drive up pricing for everyone else. Only bring this up because of some crazy pricing I've seen lately. Don't mind paying more. Just hope prices don't creep up too quickly
 
Medx2018 said:
My concern is that as the traditional knife market grows, new buyers will start paying those prices and then drive up pricing for everyone else. Only bring this up because of some crazy pricing I've seen lately. Don't mind paying more. Just hope prices don't creep up too quickly
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Well, the truth is, the traditional knife market demand is growing, but the true traditional brands have nearly disappeared. There are brands that got into the slip joint arena, but they are totally produced on CNC machines with modern and synthetic materials. Not the same. Boker has now announced they are stopping production of all multi blade knives and will only do single blade folders going forward. So outside of customs, this really only leaves GEC and Case that actually produce true traditional's with traditional materials and hands-on processes. We know who's at the top of the game. I guess you could count Rough Rider in, but that's a different level. So naturally, supply and demand will have an impact on prices going forward.
 
stagmeister said:
Well, the truth is, the traditional knife market demand is growing, but the true traditional brands have nearly disappeared. There are brands that got into the slip joint arena, but they are totally produced on CNC machines with modern and synthetic materials. Not the same. Boker has now announced they are stopping production of all multi blade knives and will only do single blade folders going forward. So outside of customs, this really only leaves GEC and Case that actually produce true traditional's with traditional materials and hands-on processes. We know who's at the top of the game. I guess you could count Rough Rider in, but that's a different level. So naturally, supply and demand will have an impact on prices going forward.
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Well said! Hopefully others will step into the market to fill the demand but that is probably wishful thinking on my part
 
I'm not sure others will be able to step in and fill the void, it's not an easy process think what's been going on with attempts to 'revive' Queen. Some photos appeared with fanfare but were met with widespread scepticism by connoisseurs. Then they were going to be launched and still nothing. Böker's decision-if true- to stop multi blades is not only disturbing, it's insane...

The recent acceleration in prices follows a general trend, here in Europe, foodstuffs are getting a lot more costly and energy- electricity, natural gas, fuels are off the map. Recent interest in Traditionals could be a trendy/vogue thing which implies it can wear off as soon as it took off. Let's see.
 
Will Power said:
Böker's decision-if true- to stop multi blades is not only disturbing, it's insane...
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It's not true. I saw that and I was so surprised I e-mailed Böker to inquire: "I read a post on a large pocket knife forum (bladeforums.com) that Böker Solingen will only be making single bladed knives in the future. Is that true? I find it difficult t believe that you would stop making your classic camp or hunting knives, for example, and something like the Swell-end Jack is basically a new product." Their response: "Thank you for your message. This is not entirely correct. Some older models with multiple blades will no longer be produced in the future but the classics such as the camp knife will continue to exist in any case."
 
its terrible but what can you do, theres folks buying knives just to force trades or buying up knives and sticking up for sale for a mark up. all of it adds to end cost. i remember seeing a post in one of the groups for the recent 86 barlows that said hey if you got at x price, ill give you an extra $50. This sort of stuff encourages the upcharge. And if you got the funding, good for you, but it screws things up for the rest of us. Ive seen folks in the groups end up with multiples while some miss every drop despite an honest effort. thats why for my part, if i cant get it at a dealer or reasonable close to the original sale price, I wont buy it.
 
With the cost of materials and goods going up with the inflation it might get worse.

I was able to get a GEC 23 & a 29 at the normal retail price when they came out. The 23 from a dealer and the 29 here on the exchange. About the time the 23 liner locks were being released was when I noticed the prices started to get crazy and getting one through a dealer was impossible for me. I even signed up for one but not 5 minutes after notification from the dealer showed 6 available then when I tried putting in cart they were out of stock, then a few minutes later a bunch hit ebay at a huge markup. I won’t be doing any more business from that dealer. Since then it has accelerated beyond reason.

I’d really like to get one of the stainless 86 2ab clip point orange bone but they have sky rocketed into the edge of outer space and it’s doubtful any can be obtained at a reasonable price now.

It’s hard to know what the future holds but if I were a flipper I sure wouldn’t want to be setting on a horde of knives I paid a bunch for and then have no buyers. They might get what they are asking now but at some point buyers will step away.
 
Great Eastern Cutlery remains virtually the only company currently out there who offers what they offer, which is why their products are so highly sought after. "But what about Case, or Rough Ryder, Albers Cutlery, or (insert custom maker here)?" Case can't hold a candle to GEC quality of fit and finish, except on their high end knives (the Bose models), and even then I'm seeing an awful lot of posts talking about those having issues in their recent runs. Oh, and if you think GEC secondary is bad, you should see what Bose knives will cost directly from dealers. Oof. Entirely too much for something that might show up at your house with issues. As someone else mentioned, somebody is trying to get Queen back off the ground, but the knives in the pics they circulated look pretty bad, and definitely won't be worth whatever they're going to have to charge for them. And while there are plenty of custom makers who can make knives at GEC or even entirely past GEC level quality (such as Eric Albers), but those knives are like the Case Bose models in that you'll pay out for them and they definitely aren't making batches of hundreds at a time.

Rough Riders don't really belong in this discussion because they are inexpensive imported knives made in China, to capture peoples' slipjoint dollar. No more, no less.

Lastly, the thing is that making slipjoints isn't easy, especially if you're doing it "the old way". If your employees haven't been doing it for a long time, the product suffers. There's a big reason why Queen's quality took a huge hit and went rapidly downhill when Bill Howard took his crew (comprised of the most experienced, best level cutlers) from Queen and left to form GEC. Well that, and the Daniels' family's poor management of the company, but, you know, not relevant here.

The point is, it's been beaten to death in countless threads when people who are usually new to slipjoints can't understand why this company GEC they've been hearing so much about lately, their products are unobtainium. The simplest distillation is this: a small company making small batches of a premium collectible for a collector base whose numbers are vastly larger than the number of products made. So, candidly, I don't foresee GECs losing value in anything approaching the near term future.
 
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aji1 said:
It's not true. I saw that and I was so surprised I e-mailed Böker to inquire: "I read a post on a large pocket knife forum (bladeforums.com) that Böker Solingen will only be making single bladed knives in the future. Is that true? I find it difficult t believe that you would stop making your classic camp or hunting knives, for example, and something like the Swell-end Jack is basically a new product." Their response: "Thank you for your message. This is not entirely correct. Some older models with multiple blades will no longer be produced in the future but the classics such as the camp knife will continue to exist in any case."
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Sorry for any skewed information. I heard this from my dealer who is a Boker dealer. He got his info. from Boker direct. The camp knife to me is just an enhanced Boy Scout Knife. That's fine as many people enjoy them, but not for me. I like the old 2 and 3 blade patterns they are discontinuing. It's like CRK saying we are keeping the Sebenza, but killing everything else. I guess the bottom line is, it's just more diminished selection and availability. Oh well, just chasing all the new GEC's is enough to keep me occupied at this point.
 
Happens with lots of knives, not just GEC. Check flipped prices for Demkos, the recent 3V Hinderers, Busse grab bag contents, etc.

People interact less in person, spend much more time online. That's most of what there is to it.

Remember, flipping only works when somebody buys at elevated price. So, there is also more disposable income for some reason.
 
Quiet said:
Great Eastern Cutlery remains virtually the only company currently out there who offers what they offer, which is why their products are so highly sought after. "But what about Case, or Rough Ryder, Albers Cutlery, or (insert custom maker here)?" Case can't hold a candle to GEC quality of fit and finish, except on their high end knives (the Bose models), and even then I'm seeing an awful lot of posts talking about those having issues in their recent runs. Oh, and if you think GEC secondary is bad, you should see what Bose knives will cost directly from dealers. Oof. Entirely too much for something that might show up at your house with issues. As someone else mentioned, somebody is trying to get Queen back off the ground, but the knives in the pics they circulated look pretty bad, and definitely won't be worth whatever they're going to have to charge for them. And while there are plenty of custom makers who can make knives at GEC or even entirely past GEC level quality (such as Eric Albers), but those knives are like the Case Bose models in that you'll pay out for them and they definitely aren't making batches of hundreds at a time.

Rough Riders don't really belong in this discussion because they are inexpensive imported knives made in China, to capture peoples' slipjoint dollar. No more, no less.

Lastly, the thing is that making slipjoints isn't easy, especially if you're doing it "the old way". If your employees haven't been doing it for a long time, the product suffers. There's a big reason why Queen's quality took a huge hit and went rapidly downhill when Bill Howard took his crew (comprised of the most experienced, best level cutlers) from Queen and left to form GEC. Well that, and the Daniels' family's poor management of the company, but, you know, not relevant here.

The point is, it's been beaten to death in countless threads when people who are usually new to slipjoints can't understand why this company GEC they've been hearing so much about lately, their products are unobtainium. The simplest distillation is this: a small company making small batches of a premium collectible for a collector base whose numbers are vastly larger than the number of products made. So, candidly, I don't foresee GECs losing value in anything approaching the near term future.
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Very well said and puts things in a nutshell. I have seen the things mentioned on Case/Bose knives as well. I have several customs that are the best, but have a couple that aren't on par with GEC. I won't buy a custom anymore unless I can handle it first.
 
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