Knives as collectibles, investments, tools..

Yes I have thought about this many times and I have come to grips with the same thing. I use almost all my knives at somepoint, I have used my customs and semi-customs. I just got a blade from Longrifle and I have that feeling you were talking about. How if I use it the worth drops but how can I NOT use it its exactly what I asked for. I am in for the ride all my customs have held up fantastic and even though I hate to see there worth fall, I have reached the "who cares" portion. I buy 2 of almost any semi-custom now to have a resailer if need be. There's a satisfaction to be had in using customs, but I dont think I could do or say the same with a Kressler or Loveless haha or anything over 2 grand that I didnt have custom made for myself to use. I feeeeeel your pain
 
I have to disagree about not using them. You just can't use them hard. Any maker should be willing to refurbish of his/her knives at a resonable price.
 
I have my collection and my users. My collector knives will never be used. This doesn't cause me to lose any sleep worrying about the fact that the knives are not being used for the purpose they were designed for.
 
As a custom maker I expect my knives to be used. I dont think just using them will eventually lead to their destruction. There is a differance between use and abuse. An obvious Art Knife will not see much use but it has the same attention to performance that a field grade hunter gets.
 
I don't see it as an either / or proposition. I very much value the knives in my collection for their quality of construction and their performance potential even though the bulk of them will never be put to the test. I also have a few custom using knives and very much enoy putting a quality tool to work.

But if you only get enjoyment out of a knife in using it, then so be it. You can, as has been suggested, get the knife refurbished should you choose to sell it. You'll still take a hit on value compared to a pristine / unused example of the same knife, but you will have derived mamimum pleasure from your ownership of the knife. Isn't that kind of the point?

Roger
 
Yeah i forgot about the refurbeshing part, I have had that done before and I guess I could have it done again.......that makes me smile. Thanks guys sometimes you forget lil stuff like makers refurbeshing your stuff. But yes I love to use my knives, I have a few I just like to look at but most of em I love to carry its just fun to me to use a knife.
 
I have four "sub-collections" within my collection. They are as follows:

Handmade, investment grade folders which live in safes and display cabinets.

Handemade "users". Although, nice and not beat up, they see some pocket time and do some chores. I try to pick these up as "previosly loved" on eBay like some Polk and Cover slippies and Aaron Frederick utility/tactical knives.

High end factory folders. These live in a Gerstner chest and usually consist of mint condition, limited run or rare factory knives. These consist of older Al Mar, Moki, Beretta Busfields, some CRKs and some higher end William Henry knives.

Factory "user" folders. This is the bulk of my EDC collection and there may be some overlap with the "unused" high end factory knives or "rare" factory knives. These include discontinued Victorinox models such as the Scientist and Yeoman, some William Henry knives, a Microtech UTX-70, CRK Mnandi and Sebbies.

This way I can enjoy using some of the same types of knives I collect while sleeping easier at night. Unfortunately, some of the high-end user knives get "retired" once they become discontinued and are difficult to replace, like the CRK Umfaan and the William Henry Spire K-22.
 
Just my own thoughts, but.......

It's an economic issue. It's not wise to buy a knife as an investment unless you've already got a big fat 401K, a lot of real estate or, in short, a very adequate and diversified investment portfolio that will last until the end of life.

If you're lucky and some of your knives appreciate or some valuable antique knife falls into your lap - well, great, but it's just luck and nothing more.

People with a lot of money might spend 5K on a sweet folder and 'ruin' it by using, sharpening, dropping, loaning or losing it - and get a lot of pleasure out of it anyway. Nothing wrong with that because there's no risk in it for them.

Experienced collectors, I'm thinking, won't buy for investment but might buy something they really like 'with an eye toward value over time.' For example, this coming June, at the BLADE Show, the last Damascus blade Bill Moran ever made will be auctioned. It will likely go for more than 15K. That's a pile of money, but there is a greater probablilty of appreciation associated with that knife than most custom knives. Still, it would be terribly unwise to bid on it if strictly "betting on the come."

I'm not a dealer so I can't speak as one, but I imagine dealers don't buy for 'investment.' They buy for re-sale and if they buy right they don't need to worry about appreciation over time. They want to buy low and sell high, if possible. That's a time-honored business model. The only investment that occurs there involves profit from the business, which I'll wager doesn't get 'invested' in knives of any kind.

To me, it's like what they say about retirement. Retirement is not an age - it's a dollar amount.
 
2knife said:
I still don't know if knives are practical investments.
David
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Let me tell you a story....

Back in 1999 my mom passed away. By sept of '99 we had the family affairs in order and I was given an inheritance with my sisters. Well, mom's passing now aside, lucky me--first time I had ever gotten REAL money in a savings. We all kept our money in stock funds that were the source of mom's growth.

Of course, the newbie that I was I saw there was a nice return being offered in the 'tech' stocks right about then. I decided to move ALL my funds to make a better profit....

I couldn't lose. In about 4 months, I almost doubled my 'investment'. Wow. I was the stock market kingpin. It was all so easy.... :rolleyes: :thumbdn:

You all know the score. In the next month (feb 2000) the tech stocks ALL tanked and there I was 'losing' money hand over fist. Before I let it all slip away, I pulled and sold some stocks and decided I wanted to do something with the money that wasn't so flighty. I was just getting into customs knives and they were providing me with a source of enjoyment that no tech stock could ever. So I liquidated and spent a portionate amount in the next year and a half on a number of custom knives. My sisters were aghast. Although I knew this wasn't an 'investment', it wasn't going to give me ojida worrying about losses, and the delayed and slow growth of a blue chip stocks had no similar appeal.

To this day, I am ever thankful that I did so. Financially, at worst I could sell all of them and take a 25% loss. At best I could make money. As time has passed, I have done both. I see them now as about the same in value.

By now the remaining stocks I had, have returned to a nice amount, and all is fine there. I am not rich by any stretch, not even a couple of year's retirement these will deliver.

Now the real deal: The people I have met, the education I have gotten, the new direction my photography took, the hours of conversations, and the pure satisfaction that handling and admiring all of these knives has provided was the singlemost best 'investment' I have ever spent my money on. Damn those blue chip stocks, even if they seemed to win in the long run. Not even close.

I am mindful of resale so I am a BIG proponent of NOT using a knife--if I don't need to. Yup, that restricts some of the joy. That's not the biggest source of my pleasure. That comes from the ever-sappy friendships I maintain.

BF members: Thanks for being a part of it! :thumbup:

Coop
 
2knife said:
I feel torn about my views of knives, being art, functional art. If you use the knives you love, you are contributing to their ultimate destruction. But, how else do you know what you have, how else do you "know" what they are about? And, if you think of them solely as investments or art, you never participate in what the maker's vision was making them.

It's a contradiction, to have a knife that is an "investment" and not an "instrument".
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A knife is a tool, but is can also be a piece of art, or craft.

The minute that you sharpen a knife, carry it, or even have it refurbished, the potential value goes down. I the case of a professional refurb, maybe, MAYBE 20%, using hard with scratches and some things that cannot be completely worked out, maybe you lose 50-60% of the value.

Now, that said, we go back to why people collect knives, which is a question that we will never really answer, because there are so many different reasons.

For me, with many of them, I like owning them, and having them to look at and hold, and "cut air". Some I use lightly, some I thrash. The ones that are thrashed are not investments, they are tools that I use, and enjoy. The lightly carried, used knives, may be investments in that I got to use them, and maybe they hold their value in the long run. An example, a seriously well- used, carried for a year, and refurbished small model 4 Kit Carson clip point that I paid $350.00 for in 1999 will still sell for that amount if not more.

This is not the norm, this is the exception. If you are a knife collector, the long term best that you can hope for is to beat Vegas odds, and either hold value, or grow it roughly 25% of what you have into it.

My swords, which are not knives, are all used, except for a Howard Clark wakizashi which is in full polish, but I DID cut with it quite a bit before I had it polished. When you make the decision to USE a collectible, you also willfully make to decision to ignore the value, and concentrate on the enjoyment. If you can make your money back or more, you have been very lucky, or very astute.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I have my collection and my users. My collector knives will never be used. This doesn't cause me to lose any sleep worrying about the fact that the knives are not being used for the purpose they were designed for.
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Same here...
 
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