One explanation for the phenomenon of quality knives being sold for surprisingly low prices at pawn shops is that sometimes people will find knives in the property of dead loved ones, not know anything about their value, and because they have no use for the knives or interest in keeping them they are happy to sell them for whatever they can get.
I know a guy who works in a pawn shop and he says that people bring in stuff that they inherited all the time with no idea what the stuff is worth. He told me that the show "Pawn Stars" has taught a lot of people who otherwise didn't know, that a pawn shop is a place where you can sell stuff quickly for cash instead of bothering with yard sales, classifieds, etc.
It's also a fact that not everyone who works in pawn shops knows the value of the knives brought in to them.
Between my friend at the pawn shop, and guys I've known who work in gun stores, it's not uncommon for women, or parents, to walk in with guns that belonged to their dead husband or son and not have any clue what they are worth. And sometimes the guns are extremely valuable.
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