New Thread for rprocter

thawk

thawk

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rprocter said:
today on ebay a 36 OT NIB (tan) sold for $201.55. an 897UH NIB (gray) sold for $35.01. these knives are from "a wearhouse (sic) of knives from an old knife shop in Pennsylvania that closed years ago". is this price close to a record for a regular run Schrade (i.e., not Schrade/Walden) ? and, are these old knife shops that close, yet keep their stock for a decade or more, a regular occurrence ?
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That 36OT is a rare pattern, but that is well over twice what I've ever seen one sell for, and then some. I would have guessed it would have went in the $80.00 range. Gosh, this could have been a dreaded Koala Trap.

I don't think it is a regular occurrence just like that. Most people don't close stores and let inventory sit for years, but it happens I guess. I bought a few a month ago from a guy who bought a sporting goods store in a resort town in California and found a box of them buried in his back room. There are a lot of stories of where they have surfaced.

However, you will find regular posts in this forum called "hardware store finds" or "still out there" or something similar, where we walk in current businesses and find these Schrade knives on a sporadic basis. But like a fishing hole that loses all of it's keepers, I have to keep going farther away to find them. Once a guy finds them, that's it. I've come across several places where a "cleanout" occurred already.

There are a lot of places that sold pocket knives over the years. 2004 wasn't that long ago, and a well stocked knife case took a long time to sell out each knife, in each pattern. This is probably where a good number of these NIB Schrades are coming from, getting recycled around on Ebay, and the price is going up, at least for now.

The "hardware store finds" will go by the wayside eventually. I've found Schrades in about 12 stores in the last 6 months, and have checked probably 50 or so. I don't always buy them all. Only the ones I or someone else I know might want. Most are in the Blue Boxes, quite a few "Sharp Idea" boxes but once I found a three in Brown Woodgrain boxes. They are usually a fair deal but not always a great deal, but usually better than Ebay.

It varies greatly I'm sure from area to area, but I've found them in just about any type of place, you just have to check. There are very few people out there, other than knife collectors or people that sold them, that have any idea that the Schrade company went bankrupt.
 
with NIB Schrades now going for up to $200 (there is another 36OT on ebay,with 9 days to go and is already at $52), i was wondering if the history of finding boxes of old (10 years or more perhaps) stock are really true. however, from your post, i guess it is, with more still out there to be found.
i live in an isolated part of SE B.C. and there are still a few old supply and hardware stores. knives in general, including Schrades, are not as common or numerous in Canada as in the US, but i am going to do a little treasure hunting here this summer and see if i can find any old Schrade stock. if i do find some, i'll post and you can add that as another reason to vacation in Canada, 'cause no-one else but me around here is looking for Schrades.
 
I recently bought a knife on Ebay and in checking out the other things he had for sale he must of had 50 boxes and sleeves for sale.I didn't post that on here because we have enough sellers combining wrong boxes with knives to kick up the price.Arnold
 
Right, that is why i was asking questions in another thread about dates & tang stamps; because usually only an assumption that the accompanying box is the correct one, can be made. the sleuthing necessary in Schrade shopping is a big part of the fun for me, plus i learn every time. roland
 
if this is my own thread, am i talking to myself ? that 36 OT at $201 made me think i need one too. so, back to ebay and bought the next best (or better?) thing for $7.51; a 1920's or '30's for a 3 1/2 inch Imperial serpentine cattle jack. has a wide clip blade, pen blade and awl, with cracked ice celluloid. looks to be in ex. condition. i'm excited (as only a knife can do). i think i like it better than a 36 OT. i like $7.51 better. pretty good eh ? roland
 
hi, i can say finding new old stock in stored does happen , back about 95 i found a full box of queens, [i collect them too] with a stamp of 1982 from a hardware store 1 mile from the queen factory, bought them ,still have them and now they go for crazy prices, back than you could barely give them away, they were fish knife patterns, so it does happen from time to time.thanks.
 
this thread is rather old now, but i didn't forget about the 36OT for over $200. i ebayed one today NIB(Sharp Idea box) 36OT SKOAL for $36.55. now that's a better price. do you think there was less bidding because of the SKOAL stamping ? roland
 
One thing I have noticed, is over the last few years, sellers in the ebay stores would be selling knives way over what they were selling for at auction. I told myself they would never sell them at that price.
Now, auction prices have passed the store prices of that time, and those store items are long gone.
Since they keep going up, I guess it's a safe bet, that even if you paid a lot for something, some day, what you paid will be a decent, or even cheap price.
 
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The Skoal Series are the same pattern as the 36OT, probably were produced in less numbers, but do not bring as much on Ebay as an original brown 36OT, for whatever reasons. You can see in the pictures above what the finished product looked like.
 
Hal, thanks for the pics. you just posted. that is the knife i just won, BUT, the box and papers shown with the one i won is the Schrade "Sharp Idea" . so not the original box. it was listed as NOS, so i guess these were scooped up at closing auction and then put together. but i really do not mind. i wanted the knife, not the box. still think it a good price for an unused 36OT. "watchin' 'n waitin' ", the ebay way. roland
 
I've got one similar to the Skoal, with a GREENWING shield, and no etch, which there should have been, and it has the Schrade/36OT stamp, carbon blades.

I also have a SKOAL version, which is stamped Schrade+/SKOAL USA, stainless blades. The 36OT was a short run, 1990 to 1992. I think the green ones came out a couple years later.

I've also seen (post in this forum) a Green 36OT with the Old Timer shield, carbon, 36OT stamp, and a fairly high serial number. I believe the official Greenwings had the serial number on them.

I like any Schrade with a punch blade.
 
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