Give a knife receive a coin?

Sawce

Sawce

Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
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I just recently made my friend who is an avid hunter a knife. It turned out really well considering my knife making capacity. He in turn gave me a silver dollar. He said when someone gives you a knife you are supposed to give them a coin. Anyone else hear of this? Is this common practice? Sounds good to me either way, it's a nice coin... pure silver too.
 
Haven't heard of that in a longgggg time. I remember my grandpa telling me that the day he gave me my first knife...he only got a penny though....lol...Man Sawce...thanks for bringing back an old and wonderful memory! That had to be over 25 years ago!
 
Yeah, the way it goes is, if you do not give someone a coin in return for a knife it cuts the friendship. Or something like that. :) A silver dollar is a pretty cool coin to get.
 
Yep I have heard that all my life, mainly by older people, nowadays when I tell someone that they kinda look at me crazy,LOL
 
Also, if someone hands you a knife to look at, hand it back to them handle-first in the same form (open or closed) that it was given to you. That's one I heard a long time ago.

--nathan
 
Thats what I do when I gift a knife. I will tape a penny to it and when they ask about it I say give it back to me or I will have to kill ya. Then I tell them the tradition of it severing the friendship and they gladly give me the penny after they give me the look with the eye brow.
 
Great thread Sawce!!!
Eons ago I sent one of my hunters to a fellow forumite and he sent me a silver dollar! I was floored when I got it and later that night in the BFC chat room he explained the "Give a knife receive a coin" rule.
I'd never heard of it till then.
It's a grand thing to do and even if it is just a penny, it's still worth a mint!!!
I keep that dollar in my memory box with lots of other special things that I've collected through the years.
 
jasperdog032469 said:
Haven't heard of that in a longgggg time. I remember my grandpa telling me that the day he gave me my first knife...he only got a penny though....lol...Man Sawce...thanks for bringing back an old and wonderful memory! That had to be over 25 years ago!
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear that, thank you. I like this custom/tradition and will continue it whenever possible. Wow, lots of good memories coming from this. Here are a couple shots of my coin :D



 
I was taught that you give a penny with the knife when you give one to someone to communicate that no malice was intended

-Page
 
+1 with Page.

When I was little whenever anyone gifted anyone a cutting implement (knife, kitchen sets, scissors, etc) they put a penny in the box or along with it in some manner. It was suppose to show it was not a threatening gesture, but rather a friendly gift.
 
also here in Italy you must give in return a small coin, whatever coin, also 5c better 1 silver dollar of course...
I've given as present some knifes and never recived any silver coins... whoa
 
I've heard of this tradition and I think it's pretty darn cool. I would be happy to receive a plain old penny in return for a gift knife, since I think the gesture is largely symbolic.

"Knives 2008" had an article about knife superstitions, and giving a coin or other token of peace and friendship back for a gift knife was prominently featured. IIRC, the author had a tough time tracking down the origin of this tradition, but found it was fairly common across different cultures. I suspect it has more to do with manners and thankfulness than any particular "superstition".

I gave a couple gift knives to a former romantic interest; she didn't know about the coin tradition... perhaps that's why we're no longer involved... :D
 
Yep, I've been given a couple of coins in return for knives, most people don't know about it, though. The first time that happened to me is when I first heard of it, too. I really like that sort of tradition, it's what the word "culture" means to me.
 
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