Knife auction sites for high end custom folders

[fracmeister]

I am just wanting to start a flame-free thread to see what a few more people think about knife auction sites. Specifically, I am interested in folders (and autos) in the say 500-3000$ range. I only go to three of these sites and may be missing out. No doubt I have bought and sold more knives here than elsewhere and directly from makers and from knife stores very close behind. But ebay is where I have bought an increasing number and sold quite a few --- and it has squillions of knives ranging from the very highest end to trash. Undoubtedly the king of all auction sites though and lately it has had a PILE of really nice custom folders.

I used to look at knifeauctions.net but the custom folders available (while nice) all seem to be listed at or near the prices I could get them from knife stores.

I also used to go to bladeauction.com and it usually has some very nice custom autos. It is mainly an auto site as far as I can tell and I have picked up some MTs there as gifts at reasonable rates. But I mainly see the same things over and over and don;t go back very often.

I think I must be missing something out there. I did see a few other auction sites -- knifeauction.com didn;t seem to have much in the custom autos and I never really spent much time there. The gun and knife auctions rarely dwell in the nicer customs.

Thanks in advance if you turn me on to something else.

 

[Gollnick]

There's a $1400 balisong, Item #7, offered HERE.

 

[fracmeister]

Well, that is nice, but I am specifically trying to find people's (preferably positive) comments about auction sites that routinely sell high end folders. There are plenty of great places to buy knives -- auctions are just one of them -- ideas out there?

 

[Gollnick]

Have you met Bill Claussen at Nortwest Knives and Collectibles?

 

[fracmeister]

Just bought a Dewey Harris folder from him on ebay.... never met though.

 

[anvilarms]

didnt you say you prequalified for the wtc knife set.. there are some nice folders there. pardue,elishewitz,crawford,dozier. i have spoken to four guys who told me they went to the trouble to prequalify. so whats up? i bet that if one person bid than everyone else would jump in. i think some people need to think that someone else wants something before they are sure that they do. i was under the impression that knife collectors were more independent in their thought than keeping up with the jones

 

[fracmeister]

Originally posted by anvilarms
. i was under the impression that knife collectors were more independent in their thought than keeping up with the jones

Indpendent, yes. Stupid, no. Auction theory is pretty well advanced. Here is an excerpt from a fairly interesting article about minimum bids at a higher price level... LINK FOR FULL ARTICLE

(But to eliminate some of the gobbledy gook, the reality is that auctions can truly find fair market value. Minimum bids can eliminate "junk" bids. Lesson on ebay is to "snipe" and bid last second. But no one willingly takes all of the price discovery risk unilaterally. Thus lower minimum bids encourage active price discovery. A reserve price functions to permit the seller to acheive minimum price levels -- howver, this is at the expense of true price discovery as bidders will not bid as aggresively in the face of reserves. So, your willingness to "bet" that if one person would bid at 25k that others would jump in is a very touching sentiment -- and nothing more. Intelligent bidders who believe that would certainly not want to make the opening bids; they certainly have to acknowledge the possibility of being wrong. And clearly, bidders who didn't believe it would not make the opening bid as they presume the opening bid to be too high. So, it isn;t that bidders need to think that someone else wants something in order to bid on it -- we deserve to have other bidders to compete with in an auction whose purpose is function as price discovery -- the sellers have killed the tax deductibility with wrong headed {i think} assumptions and we all have plenty of opportunities to make donations to charities -- so regardless of altruism, the knives have to be priced at some FMV. And it is that problem that kept them unsold rather than any herdmentality among collectors --- )


Our purpose today is to amplify our initial comments about other aspects of the auction
rules, especially the rules for setting minimum bids for new packages.
The main purpose of minimum bids and activity rules is to force bidders to place
meaningful bids during the early stages of the auction. This facilitates the price discovery role of
the ascending auction and accelerates the pace of the auction. Without effective rules of this sort,
bidders will hide as “snakes in the grass” in the early stages of the auction. Initial theoretical and
experimental results suggest that the package auction could then take a very long time to
complete—perhaps several times longer than simultaneous multiple round auctions without
package bidding. As a consequence, the present design for Auction No. 31 includes several rules
aimed at preventing the kinds of strategies that can conceal intentions and prolong the auction.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to eliminate such strategies within the framework of the
Commission’s current auction design without also disrupting the most straightforward strategies
that could by adopted by non-strategic bidders.
Among the rules that the Commission has adopted to reduce the potential length of the
auction are (1) limits on the number of packages that a bidder may name, (2) activity rules, and
(3) strict minimum bids. Until very recently, much of the analytical effort focused on improving
package auction designs consisted of attempts to refine this set of rules, or rules very much like
it. One such effort was the use of approximating linear programs to estimate package prices that
might be used to set minimum bids. This is based on the hope that these prices might be close to
the market clearing prices, although a close analysis shows that substantial errors are possible
that could lead to seriously inefficient auction outcomes. Compounding the problem is that prices
set using a linear program could be quite unstable, and strict activity requirements combined
with prices spinning around out of control could cause a series of potentially winning bidders all ....

 

[anvilarms]

wow! that was a insiteful reply. i am just trying to get these knives out the door,so to speak. of course you are right in your statement. the min. bid was set up because that was initally bid as the set was being put together. but as you, i and most people know the set is really priceless. the tax deductable situation was a problem; i beleive, because the auction mgt. people wanted to cover their bases, and rightly so. because it is a one of a kind piece it is very hard to but a market value on it. i would think the set without the historical signifiance of the steel would be in the 10k range (imo). however if you had intrest i am sure the makers would gladly give you an estimated the value of their work. and that would be the best way to assertain the tax deductabilty of the set.again in my opinion.if you have any real intrest feel free to comtact kompolt and co. (the mgt. co.)and have them put you in touch with me and i will anwser all your questions to the best of my ability
keith (fdny)

 

[Gollnick]

Minimum bids can eliminate "junk" bids.

Exactly. The purpose of the minimum bid is to screen out the junk bidders. So, the minimum bid should be set just above what you consider a "junk" bid.

they certainly have to acknowledge the possibility of being wrong.

Exactly. Imagine the horrible embarassment a bidder would suffer if he was to bid $25,000 and nobody bid against him, nobody acknowledged that his opinion of the item's worth was valid?

Therefore, the minimum bid needs to be set at a level which is self-validating, which someone can bid without potential embarrasment.

If nobody bids against you, what will your friends say behind your back?

"Did you see how much Chuck bid on those WTC knives? What an idiot. I've got some water-front property I'd should talk to him about!"

or

"Did you see what a bargain Chuck got on those WTC knives. Boy, did he get luck on that."

 

[Gollnick]

There's a Van Gogh going up for auction tomorrow. The painting is estimated to be worth $3,600,000. The opening bid (the reserve) will be $1,200,000, just enough to keep out the riff-raff.

 

[anvilarms]

i truly understand your point and for the most part valid. a painting has a different range of collectors. how many people, percentage wise in population, are appreciative of the craftsmanship going into knives. most collectors are very interested in the resale profitabilty of most forms of artwork. there are little or no tax implications in these acquisitions.the check for the world trade center knives will most probably be written directly to the "new york firefighters burn center foundation"so ultimitly ;the winning bid is a donation to a 501c3 corp. and for this generous act i am rewarding the kind act with a beautiful set of knives.the set is in a private collection .mine. i am sure if you asked the makers not to use their work as a deduction there would be no conflict.if you are interested let me know and i will establish the anwsers to the above.i am sure, as you most likely are, as soon as one person bids the flood gates will open; otherwise why would so many people have gone thru the process of prequalifying. i would start the bidding but i dont have the funds to prequalify.again my statements are theoretical but pretty valid and ascertainable.