Just wanted to put in a few good words for Bill.
He put up the Odessa II (the Tom Walz/Tom Mayo/Eric Wong collaboration) from his personal collection in the "For Sale" forums and I snapped it up. Well, not quite snapped as I had to make sure it was legal to import. (No double edged blades.) He was very accurate in the description and the minute I expressed a firm desire to own the blade, he took it off the forums, not even bothering with the usual "Sold pending payment" statement. Incredible trust!
As I could only pay via a money order, he could not send off the knife immediately. (Could you blame him?) However, he did the next best thing and mailed the certificate of authenticity immediately when I told him the money order had been sent. The day after he received the money order, the knife was sent my way. Very fast, very prompt.
Packaging was immaculate and rock solid. The certificate was already laminated, so it was backed with a hard sheet of cardboard and sent in a document envelope. The knife, which came later, was sent in a rock solid cardboard tube, the kind you could kill someone with if you wacked him on the head with it. Inside, the knife and sheath were waterproofed with a Ziploc bag, wrapped in bubble wrap, and immobilised by foam peanuts. As I said, rock solid. (I think, though, that the tube itself weighed as much as the knife. Not that I'm complaining.
)
Bill was a wonderful person to deal with, keeping me informed of the progress of the transaction every step of the way. (This is something that is very important to a person overseas as the transit time can take weeks.) He even shared with me a little of how he came to own the knife and then have to sell it. I can't call a person "friend" from something like this as, for me, it takes a lot more to qualify, but I would certainly trust him in any future transactions.
I am unable to comment on price, as you can't really put a price on something that has only 2 others like it in the world. But considering that a Mayo made Talonite blade starts from $250, I think I got the good end of the deal.
He put up the Odessa II (the Tom Walz/Tom Mayo/Eric Wong collaboration) from his personal collection in the "For Sale" forums and I snapped it up. Well, not quite snapped as I had to make sure it was legal to import. (No double edged blades.) He was very accurate in the description and the minute I expressed a firm desire to own the blade, he took it off the forums, not even bothering with the usual "Sold pending payment" statement. Incredible trust!
As I could only pay via a money order, he could not send off the knife immediately. (Could you blame him?) However, he did the next best thing and mailed the certificate of authenticity immediately when I told him the money order had been sent. The day after he received the money order, the knife was sent my way. Very fast, very prompt.
Packaging was immaculate and rock solid. The certificate was already laminated, so it was backed with a hard sheet of cardboard and sent in a document envelope. The knife, which came later, was sent in a rock solid cardboard tube, the kind you could kill someone with if you wacked him on the head with it. Inside, the knife and sheath were waterproofed with a Ziploc bag, wrapped in bubble wrap, and immobilised by foam peanuts. As I said, rock solid. (I think, though, that the tube itself weighed as much as the knife. Not that I'm complaining.
Bill was a wonderful person to deal with, keeping me informed of the progress of the transaction every step of the way. (This is something that is very important to a person overseas as the transit time can take weeks.) He even shared with me a little of how he came to own the knife and then have to sell it. I can't call a person "friend" from something like this as, for me, it takes a lot more to qualify, but I would certainly trust him in any future transactions.
I am unable to comment on price, as you can't really put a price on something that has only 2 others like it in the world. But considering that a Mayo made Talonite blade starts from $250, I think I got the good end of the deal.