Prototype Knives Worth more? or Less?

[TCriv]

Have a Benchmade 47 Bali-Song Tanto and 40 Trainer both etched “ Prototype 2001” does this increase the value or hurt it?

 

[eisman]

A prototype is usually a one off, and by definition pre-production. Those are rare and there are collectors who search for them specifically. I my opinion the small runs often made prior to full production are not true prototypes, even though I have some of those. At a time when some production runs are 25 pieces (or less) a "one of one hundred" should not be considered a Prototype.

Add to that the number of knives marked as such by dealers who had them made up from parts after the original manufacturers shut down, or from their own left over bits, and you can see that a true prototype usually requires provenance in the form of documents from the maker.

Look at the hundreds of "prototypes" available on the major auction sites and ask yourself, " Is that really the first of that pattern ever made?" Does Case really need to make a prototype for every different scale material they use? On patterns that are a hundred years old? Is it really a prototype?

Spend more for those if you want...

 

[Danke42]

A big part of that will depend on the actual knife. Was the prototype a precursor of a wildly popular model? Is it a one off that showed a new feature? Did it get huge traction in the press? Is there actual provenance for the knife and the chain of custody? How many protos were made, one, five, six hundred?

If there are yeses ticked off on that list and there aren't a bunch of them in the public view then there would be value to a collector.

 

[TCriv]

That makes sense.....

 

[camhabib]

It's worth more only as long as someone is willing to pay more for it. I'm personally not, especially considering how many "limited" runs Benchmade puts out, but to each their own.

 

[b00n]

I can see a situation where a prototype of a popular knife might be worth something to collector, for example a personal PM2 prototype that used to be in Sal's Desk for the past decade. I wouldn't bid on something like that, because ultimately in my experience prototypes are just that, pre-production proofs of concept, generally with less quality and refinement to them, although it could be the opposite as well, since more care CAN be given.
But yeah, you might get the right person who gets nuts over it and would pay crazy money for it, or you might get no interest.