Great deal or not so much?

[Ess30vee]

Hey guys, I am sorta torn here and was looking for some opinions. So pretty recently I came across an Ontario XM-1 on eBay for a steal. I don't know how many people are actually familiar with the knife but for those who aren't it is essentially a huge, bulky military style folder (XM standing for extreme military). The super thick handles are solid aluminum with titanium liners and a reversible tip down pocket clip. The blade is ps and saber ground from N690 cobalt enhanced stainless, which is new to me but seems to take and hold an edge quite well. The blade is stamped "combat deployed" on the spine although I'm not sure what that implies and the whole shebang hails from Italy. Overall it's over built and quite sturdy. I snagged this thing for about 45 bucks when retail seems to be around 200.
Ok, so here's the question. Originally I just planned on reselling it seeing how I got it pretty cheap and could make a few bucks. However, the fact that I paid so little for it makes me think it might be a nice addition to the collection even if it stays just that. What do you guys think? Sell it or make it a show piece?
In addition to that I'm interested in other steals you guys have caught over the years. Share away!

 

[sanders1911]

I loved mine, and only traded it for a full custom piece (along with several other pieces in my collection). I'm a huge fan of N690 steel. It performs as well or better than some of the new "super steels" for most use. It has excellent stainless capabilities, sharpens fairly easily, and holds one of the sharpest edge I've ever been able to get, for a very long time. I know it's odd considering how easily it sharpens, but I don't normally let my blades get dull. I would imagine completely re-profiling an edge would take a while by hand, but that could be said for any decently performing steel. I did a fifteen minute touch-up on my Extrema Ratio RAO... well it's been over a month ago, and I can still slice the ridges off my fingerprints. And it's a rather large blade. Since sharpening it I have chopped through some pine, and hacked about a dozen Pepsi cans, apart from the daily-use normal stuff. The RAO is one of my EDC blades. N690 was very widely used in Europe as a straight razor steel, for both having more-than-modest stainless qualities, and the ability to bring it to an extremely fine edge. I have a nice chunk of the raw material at almost 1/3" thick. I plan to see if I can get it to an RC or around 62-64 on a fixed blade and see if it still performs well without being brittle. The Cobalt should *theoretically* allow for it. I'm a fan of Fox Knives as well (which actually produces the XM-1 for Ontario IIRC). I would use the crap out of it if you have the spot for it.