Most ridiculous price you've seen on a knife?

Anyone who's spent some time collecting cheap autos on BladeAuction knows the Jaguar autos that usually go for between $7 & $10 (worth the money IMO). I saw some small auction site (might have been armauctions or armsauction or something) where people had bid that knife up to $65!!! I thought of emailing the bidders a link to the same item on BA for $7, but I didn't have the heart.

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Jason aka medusaoblongata
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"To give is a need, to receive is mercy." - Thus Spoke Zarathustra
"Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about." - Lazarus Long
"Knowledge is not made for understanding; it is made for cutting." - Michel Foucault
 
Benchmade
AFCK 800 210 $ US
Pinnacle 200 $ US
Stryker 910S 230 $ US
Darkstar 230 $ US
Large ascent 120 $ US
Axis 710 240 $ US
.
.
.

Spyderco
Steel police 200 $ US
G-10 police 220 $ US
Native zytel 120 $ US
Starmate serrated 230 $ US
Chinook 250 $ US
Gunting 240 $ US
.
.
.

Others:
Leatherman wave 150 $ US
Leatherman supertool 120 $ US
Gerber LST large 100 $ US
Gerber BMF (large survival blade) about 300 $ US


I'm just reciting the pricelist of a shop near my place.
Guess why I like to trade with American people?

greetz, bart.

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"If the world wouldn't SUCK, we'd all fall off !"

You can E-mail me at any time....guaranteed reply !

member of the BKS
http://www.expage.com/belgianknives
 
I once saw a Cold Steel Bushman at a military surplus store for $65.00. This one was used mind you. I approached to owner and tried to show him the "actual" price of a new one but he wasn't having it.
I was there not too long ago and the "Bushman" was still there.
tongue.gif
 
IMHO:
Anything for sale will command the price that the market will bear at the moment of the sale. There may be anomolies here and there but this seems to hold true.
Why the market may bear a high price for something is very subjective. One thing to consider is that almost nobody buys something based strictly on its physical properties. No knives are "worth" what they are sold for. If they were then far fewer knives would be made because there would not be much of a market for them.
Knives and makers, be it custom or production, have some sort of following that is not based soley on materials and construction. Other considerations are how it looks, who typically uses them, how the maker is regarded, etc. If all of these factors are positive then the capper is often a matter of availability? If a knife and maker are well regarded and the demand exceeds the availability then watch out, the price will rise quickly!
This is true for all makers whether you like their knives or not.

Arkham Drifter
An avid fan of musical chairs.


[This message has been edited by arkhamdrifter (edited 03-05-2001).]
 
I guess the worst price percentage wise would be $125 for a knife I bought new from another store for $25. But then his Emerson Commanders were $250, and all his BMs were over retail.

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You could put nacho cheese sauce on it...
 
My main question is, WHO CARES? I have more important things to worry about then what someone else is selling a knife for. If you have that big of a problem with someone's prices, open your own store and put them out of business.

As far a 75K sword beeing able to split an anvil, please, spare me the sarcasim. Price and performance are not realated. That paticular maker may be overpriced, but I have seen Japanese swords go for more than that. With a custom knife/sword your are buying more than just the materials. I would guess that half of the poeple on this forums (including myself) could not make a custom knife/sword like alot of these "overpriced" makers (if you would ,there would not be such a market for customs).

So if you don't like what someone is charging for a particular piece, DO NOT BUY IT. Move on with your life. They will find out on their own that the prices are too high.

Production pieces are alittle different. Compaines like Benchmade, SOG, CRKT, Microtech,...ect have MSRP's. I understand they may seem high to the "net" buyer, but stores have higher overhead. They need to have a larger profit margin to survive. Again, if you do not like it don't buy it. If you think you can do better, open your own store and give it a try.

Just my feeling on the subject.

Rich
PS I am the one that had the "overpriced" Emerson CQC5 for sale, and just to let you know, it sold. And I think that it was a good deal for both myself and the buyer. If anyone who was complaining about the price has a CQC5 that they want to sell for the original price, just let me know I would love another one.
 
LMFAO! Well said, RJ!! Good to see you and Arkham on here, defending the defenseless... I like musical chairs - had fun knocking the poor sap who took my seat off it at the end, too.

We buy, we sell, and everyone goes home happy. Would I spend $2,500 dollars on an Emerson 8 if I had the cash? Bet your ass i would. Why? Because a) I want one, b) I can't have him make one for me anymore, and c) because it's my money, and I'll spend it how I wish. Am I a "fool" (RDangerer)? No. I like what I like, and I'll do what I have to to get it. Would I spend $250,000 on a Ferrari? Yep. Are they worth it? After driving one, I'd have to say oh, yes.

I guess what it boils down to is, if you ask a certain amount for something, and it gets bought, someone wanted it bad enough to pay it. End of story.

Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week. No aplause, just throw money. I got Emersons to buy...

[This message has been edited by See2 (edited 03-05-2001).]
 
How about a Buck bayonet (Phrobris III) for £125? Got suckered there.

Or a Gerber BMF sawback for £169?

These were in the days that both were available with no problems. Perhaps the price on the Buck is not so bad...
wink.gif


Still like that knife...

Pity about the steel.

W.A.

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RJ,I was talking about a production piece the Leatherman Wave.Up untill this store the highest store price I have seen was $79,this in a mall store which has about the highest overhead your going to find.The store that wanted $145 also has a CS 3 inch tanto folder for sale.This knife was made BEFORE the Voyager series and has been for sale for so many years I lost track.Now I'm not a store owner but I don't see how having knives sit in your case for years helps you meet your overhead.
 
I once found a machete at a store called "big lot" for 2.99$ Later that week I saw the exact same cheap machete in a pawn shop for 79.99$. I told the clerk and she laughed at me and told me I must not know much about knives, and that this one must have been a lot better than the other one. SHe then told me that this one had to be good because it was official army issue.
smile.gif
They also had cheapo Frost knives for around 200 dollars.
Kyle
 
I see a couple of the "Usual Suspects" drifted over to defend themselves. No reason for that really.

Hey, if you own an Emerson, and sell it for a profit, I figure you did very well and deserve an attaboy.

If you bought the Emerson from the guy who made a profit, well, sell it before the music stops...

Assume for a minute that I could find a couple custom makers who were better folder makers than Ernie (this is not that hard to do, even though Ernie is a good maker), and that I could convince them to make me a nearly exact copy of a CQC5, CQC6, CQC8... whatever... and they made the knife sterile, i.e. with no markings so they didn't get accused of ripping off Ernie with an identical clone. Assume the fit/finish/blade steel/heat treat were noticeably better than Emerson's customs. How much would you pay for said knife? More or less than Ernie's knives?

What if I got a copy of a CQC8 by a better maker for $500. For me personally, that would be great, because I don't get any buzz by paying an extra $2000 to be in a fraternity of slavishly devoted Emerson worshippers, I don't care about bragging to my buddies about my custom Emerson. In fact, I don't HAVE any friends or local acquaintenances (other than dealers I know) that would even know who Emerson was! I'm gonna carry and use the knife. I'd love to have a CQC8 copy ground on the CORRECT side for a right hander to use as a defense carry piece. Great design. But I wanna carry and use the damned thing too without scrubbing off a couple hundred bucks in my pocket.

So for a user, custom Emerson's are losers... you devalue it by using it. And that is the only reason I can see to buy an Emerson ... buy it, fondle it carefully, keep in a drawer in a sock, hold it, and sell it later for profit before the music stops.

And if I'm gonna spend $2500 on a knife to have & hold, yer damn straight it'll be an e.g. Ron Lake, Michael Walker, David Broadwell, Jerry Fisk piece, etc, something that deserves such a price based on materials and craftsmanship.

This might seem like heresy, but Bob Loveless stuff is sloppy compared to George Herron or Geno Denning or a large number of other makers. And there is a 10-20x multiplier between their work! But Loveless is a design genius IMHO, the minimalistic design champ of dropped hunters and semi-skinners, but there is no way I'd buy and USE a Loveless for the prices he gets for new, much less old Loveless knives. Those are investments. And my stock market dealings tend to appreciate faster than Loveless stuff even after taxes.

Now, Ferrari's... that is a different story. That is like fine pu$$y...
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Ahhh... rant complete. I feel better.

I now don my body armour and full face helmet, and sit back to relax and watch the sparks...


[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 03-05-2001).]
 
Most ridiculous price. That's easy. I used to watch the "knife show" on some home shopping club channel a couple of years ago. Man, you could get the entire "Big-Uns" set for $120.00. That included 12 huge fix bladed knives.

But in all honesty, I was at one point the poor guy who used to go to sporting good stores and mall knife stores to buy his knives. Yes, those stores are overpriced. Yes, they do sell junk right next to their quality stuff. But, the truth of the matter is that unless you were guided into knife collecting buy someone else, you had to get your experience they hard way. I used to spend ours in knife stores studying the different knives. I remember comparing the knives to each other. Every once in a very great while, I would buy a knife. I quickly learned the difference between cheap stuff and quality stuff. So, yes, I've paid too much for a lot of cheap knives while educating myself. But no education comes cheap.

So, if there are any knife store owners reading this, I thank you for your patience and the things I learned from you. As you probably already know: sell a customer a mediocre knife and you will have made a sale; educate the customer about knives and sell them a high quality knife, and you will have made a knife enthusiast.



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Stay back! or I'll...OUCH...cut myself.
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Clayton Hufford:
<snip> Personally, I can't imagine paying $190 for any knife, let alone $300-$400 for one.</font>
Click to expand...

Production? Yeah, I can agree with that - Custom? Your getting started - If you want engraving with that... GOOD engraving COSTS


 
Bart Student - the belgian prices you quote are relatively low compared to the prices in Denmark. Last Gerber BMF I saw a couple of years ago was around 420US$ and any Benchmade is at least 25% more expensive than your prices. A knife like the Gigand Spectrum runs at three times the price at Knife Center. I dont do much knifebuying locally anymore!

Regards Jan
 
Anything being sold at Paragon in NYC. The list price at S & R Knives in Toronto are also insulting, except that at least there you can negotiate and actually get a reasonable price.
Knives on Ebay sometimes begin above the retail price! But my favourite has to be what they try to do in specialty Outdoor or Sportsman stores like Beretta, Wilson's, etc. I've seen Kellam KP's being sold for more than twice what Kellam or Knifecenter sell them for. It's these little outrages that upset me more than the occasional, laughable fool.
 
The most ridiculous prices I had ever seen on knives was at the U.S.Cavalry store in Columbus, Georgia. For example: $79.99 for a CRKT M16-13Z (Zytel handle) and $189.99 for an EDI Genesis I folder, $139.99 for a Spyderco Calypso Jr. and countless other overpriced knives. I once had a "discussion" with the manager about this and I was told that this was the way their buyer priced them. I used to hear alot of bad remarks about the store from the soldiers at Fort Benning, but they eventually closed the store.
 
RDangerer -

The prices for Ernie's knives are up there because there are people like us ("us" being Emerson Acolytes, Devotees, Suspects, whatever) willing to spend what we have to to get a piece of his work. Some of us buy them to collect - a long-term, expensive hobby. Others buy them to use - there's a British LEO who's a Suspect on the forum, who has actually used his CQC6 in the real world. Some of us like to keem 'em pristine, others to use them as intended. Would I be nervous carrying a knife I paid over $2,000 for? Yep, but (personally) I would rather carry it - USE it, than put it away. As for finding someone to make a copy on the "cheap"... aside from being completely wrong, it wouldn't be the same as an Emerson. Would I pay the same money for one? No - for that reason. There's a mystique to Emerson knives... a knock off is just that. To use the Ferrarri analogy (and yes, they ARE like fine pu$$y
biggrin.gif
) it'd be like spending a quarter of the price for a kit car... it looks like the real thing, but it isn't.

For me it's like a status symbol (like the Rolex was for SpecOps personnel during Vietnam). Owning a custom Emerson gets you admittance to an exclusive club - one that I want to be a member of. So, I'll continue my quest for my "8" (some of which, by the way, Ernie is starting to make with a "V" grind - to address your "sharpened on the wrong side" comment). Hopefully I'll get it soon. After that, will I want a "5", "6" and "7"? Sure! Will I be able to afford 'em? Doubt it.
biggrin.gif


[This message has been edited by See2 (edited 03-06-2001).]
 
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