Pawn shop find + History lesson

metalhead357

metalhead357

Joined
Sep 2, 2012
Messages
281
Today I went into a Pawn shop to sell some ammo and check the knife case. Upon inspection I found a Buck 112 and a Schrade Old Timer 858. Now normally I would have just bought these and went on my way. But something special about the Old Timer caught my eye:
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My first thoughts were this might be a company member or something so I looked him up and found it was some Joe Shmoe that lived a few miles away from me. I was going to go talk to him, then found that he used to live near me. This was the closest I could get to speaking with him:
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I hate that this man's family heirloom ended up in a pawn shop, but love when I get history on a nice knife.
Any body else have experiences similar to this?

Also, pictures of the day and my new knives :D
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Very cool you were able to trace it like that. Makes me wonder how the knife's days were spent during the near 20 years since his passing.
 
Crone said:
Very cool you were able to trace it like that. Makes me wonder how the knife's days were spent during the near 20 years since his passing.
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My theory would be: Passed down to relative, possibly female. That didn't care about knives, or the owner fell on hard times and had to pawn it.
 
I picked up two Imperial "Frontiers" from a local pawn shop and was able to get some history on these folders. Seems the guy was quite a Knifenut and when he passed away his two son's divied up his collection. His wife brought his EDC and his backup EDC to the pawnshop because his sons didn't think they were worth anything! I bought them immediately. The black one has real character and the white one is NIB. I've traded the white one off but the EDC is part of my "permanent" collection.

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qncygnnr said:
I picked up two Imperial "Frontiers" from a local pawn shop and was able to get some history on these folders. Seems the guy was quite a Knifenut and when he passed away his two son's divied up his collection. His wife brought his EDC and his backup EDC to the pawnshop because his sons didn't think they were worth anything! I bought them immediately. The black one has real character and the white one is NIB. I've traded the white one off but the EDC is part of my "permanent" collection.

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Nice! My guy must've used his clip point as a pry bar or screwdriver as it is missing the tip and has almost no "walk and talk" I plan to put the schrade on my knife shelf and just enjoy it from there.
 
Richard R Blessing was only 48-thats my age.
They got the knife to commemorate his birth.
Thought provoking.
Also how hard must times be to pawn a knife like that?
 
We hear a lot about a knife having history and this one certainly has a lot. Too bad no one in his family wanted the knife.
 
Very few people care about knives, let alone if it was a family heirloom. The only family heirloom anyone cares about these days is green and has pictures of presidents on it.
 
I have many knives that have been engraved with initials and names. Makes you wonder, cause if the knife was important enough to mark with a name, shouldn't it be important enough to hang onto?

Great detective work on your part, makes for an interesting discussion.
 
glennbad said:
I have many knives that have been engraved with initials and names. Makes you wonder, cause if the knife was important enough to mark with a name, shouldn't it be important enough to hang onto?
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It's really all speculation on our part. For all we know, the owner in question had it engraved himself with his birthdate, and was such a jackwagon no one wanted his knife once he was done with it.

A (slightly) rosier spin is that others gave engraved knives to people who either didn't want or use knives, or thought the engraving too "precious," or didn't like the giver(s), or preferred other knife pattern(s), etc. and didn't use/treasure/pass down the knife or knives.

It's seldom wise to attach our own perspective or sentiments (let alone a sense of "should") to others' possessions.

~ P.
 
You're so practical, Sarah. The thing that I find almost as sad as the sale of the knife is that Richard's wife, Marjorie, passed away less than three months after he did. Those must have been a hard couple of months for her.
 
JAlexander said:
You're so practical, Sarah. The thing that I find almost as sad as the sale of the knife is that Richard's wife, Marjorie, passed away less than three months after he did. Those must have been a hard couple of months for her.
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Or maybe, she'd been looking forward to some peace and quiet without him before she was done, and dagnabbit, surprise ill health took her too soon after.

;-)

Sentimentality has its place, and there have been many great love/family stories written in real-time, time and again.

Maybe Richard's & Marjorie's was one of those stories, after all.

Who's to say? ;)

~ P.
 
pertinux said:
Or maybe, she'd been looking forward to some peace and quiet without him before she was done, and dagnabbit, surprise ill health took her too soon after.

;-)

Sentimentality has its place, and there have been many great love/family stories written in real-time, time and again.


Maybe Richard's & Marjorie's was one of those stories, after all.

Who's to say? ;)

~ P.
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Sounds like it could have been an automobile accident with both in the car. Tragic, at any rate; 40 something is mighty young.
 
pertinux said:
Or maybe, she'd been looking forward to some peace and quiet without him before she was done, and dagnabbit, surprise ill health took her too soon after.

;-)

Sentimentality has its place, and there have been many great love/family stories written in real-time, time and again.

Maybe Richard's & Marjorie's was one of those stories, after all.

Who's to say? ;)

~ P.
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Or her heart couldn't stand the strain of the joy? The knife is a neat find, regardless.
 
pertinux said:
It's really all speculation on our part. For all we know, the owner in question had it engraved himself with his birthdate, and was such a jackwagon no one wanted his knife once he was done with it.

A (slightly) rosier spin is that others gave engraved knives to people who either didn't want or use knives, or thought the engraving too "precious," or didn't like the giver(s), or preferred other knife pattern(s), etc. and didn't use/treasure/pass down the knife or knives.

It's seldom wise to attach our own perspective or sentiments (let alone a sense of "should") to others' possessions.

~ P.
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Like me I think you have the discerning eye of a cynic. What you say is true . We should not paint this mans history or life with the colours of our own imagination.
But that knife looks to be the same age as Richard R Blessing.
 
meako said:
Like me I think you have the discerning eye of a cynic. What you say is true . We should not paint this mans history or life with the colours of our own imagination.
But that knife looks to be the same age as Richard R Blessing.
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I was wondering if there was a way to date Schrade OT's.
 
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