Imperial w/ Twilight Zone Price. What's wrong (or right) with this picture?

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I see these knives all the time in various condition. Some sell for a little more and some a little less. It's a campy fixed blade with a moose on the handle. Let me show you some examples.

Couldn't get $9.99 for it. It was listed for a month. No bids:

Sold for $12.95:

Sold for $18.54:

Sold for $20.50:

Sold for $38.77:

Check out the knife in the next post!

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

This auction ended on Mar 06, 2013. It was ebay item #390551240330. I will quote the entire title and description and post two of the pics.

Title: "USA IMPERIAL SCHRADE RARE STAG HEAD KNIFE CIRCA 1950's NO RESERVE"

Description: "USA IMPERIAL SCHRADE RARE STAG HEAD KNIFE CIRCA 1950's. Not an easy knife to find simulated stag handle looks to have never been sharpened. My pictures hide nothing. Very good to excellent condition. NO RESERVE !"

Pictures:

Price for this one? Twenty bid war involving only three bidders drove it up to $271.00

What am I missing? Was this the "perfect storm" for the seller? A one-in-a-million, straight out of the Twilight Zone? Is the knife somehow worth that much and it's me that doesn't get it? This made me gasp and chuckle so I thought I'd post it.

 

[koldgold]

Why would anyone buy a knife for $271 on eBay, when they have not used eBay for almost 6 months? Their feedback does not indicate they even buy knives. This is STRANGE.

 

[Larry303]

Bernard L's theory that the third higest bidder is generally the more accurate where you have two committed buyers going hammer and tongs with other without regard for what they are actually paying just trying to outdo the other....this would place the knife at max $100 which is still far too high howver third higest bidder bid at $50 before being caught in the strong current....the whole sale is just an absurd anomaly and in no way reflects the true value of the item on offer....we have massive shill bidding problems on Australian Eprey....they buy in U.S. under a certain handle which is private and then the items are sold by two <actually one> seller with the shill bidder being the original purchaser in U.S..Schrade knives with distinctive marks or price stickers on box's are a dead giveaway when they appear on Oz Eprey usually about 20 days after being bought in U.S....of course the sellers spiel is that they are from their collection......I have reported about 60 instances to Eprey..its obvious once you can see the pattern of scamming.. the maggots are still operating with impunity....
I recently sold a similar knife Dave, however it was the Imperial Kombo Set HK-3551 which is the fixed blade with the Kamp King and that set realized AU $100...Eprey Item 300842450309......certainly nothing like $270 odd......sometimes with shill bidding the shill bidder gets landed with the item which is evident when feedback is not left for the supposed purchase...the Oz scammers just wait a while when they get landed with it then put it up again later....Hoo Roo

 

[edbeau]

Always fun to watch these bidding wars. The "winner" really gets a prize.

 

[Codger_64]

Always fun to watch these bidding wars. The "winner" really gets a prize.

Enter a stupid contest and win a stupid prize? Well, aside from shills, dealers and other players in the game, there are a small quantity of players who have money to burn and are willing to pay whatever it takes to fill a hole in their collection. To them it is more about winning the game than the cost of winning.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Thanks for the replies guys. Shill or deep pockets no doubt.

Larry, I saw your listing when I was looking for examples to post but as you mentioned, it was the combo set so I figured it wasn't a fair comparison.

I'm glad I read the knife correctly.

 

[koldgold]

Dave,
I would say in closing; that seller had a good day, when that buyer came along. (looking for an expensive knife)
It looks like this buyer could have been a collector of &#8220;expensive knives.&#8221;
The higher the bid, the more expensive the item becomes.
All the knives above were not expensive knives, and the sellers were not as lucky as that seller of that "expensive" knife...????

 

[Codger_64]

And then again it could be that... one time at band camp, a kid named F. Ricci had his knife stolen. He swore a blood oath that if it took the rest of his life, he'd get his knife back. And low and behold, it showed up on eBay just a few months short of 45 years later. And he was prepared to spend whatever it cost to get his knife back.

 

[Bob W]

Notice how the $271 knife has the highest quality photos. That's no coincidence.

The price is still sky-high though, an eBay fluke caused by one or more of the following: shill bidding, unknowledeable bidders, super-competitive and stubborn bidders, and the phase of the moon.