school of hard knocks

citytransplant

citytransplant

Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Messages
232
Newbie here got hooked on knives when he stumbled into the final Camillus auction. Paid more than I should have for a few knives that looked nice and the rest is history. Knives are now all that I think about.... well.... almost.

Recently I was at a live auction locally and bid on a pilot's knife until I was outbid at around $40. I never owned this type of knife before and wanted one. When I saw the blade below on fleabay at $20 BIN I jumped on it. After a couple of weeks admiring it (fondling, etc.) as we do, I put it up knowing I would at least get my $20 plus shipping back.

Closed item #150297263579

What did I miss?
 
What does it say on the stone?
I always wondered what they said

Are you gonna use it??

Those are pretty rugged knives...
 
so you didnt buy the one one the link but you bought one similiar for 20.00 bucks
Well if its in good usable shape then you did alright:thumbup:
I dont have one od these, yet but its on the radar
cheers
ivan
 
I apologize for not making myself clear in the original post and thank those that responded nonetheless. Simply put, I am new to knife collecting, saw a pilot’s knife at a live auction and wanted it. I went as high as $40 but was outbid. I then saw the knife on fleaBay shown in the listing number that appears above. I bought it for $28. After the thrill of ownership wore off, I put it up for sale on fleaBay and as one can see at closed listing above, only received $13 or so for it.

I understand why some pilot’s knives fetch $50 and above but I have no clue why I was only able to recoup only half of my purchase price on the one that I owned. I have yet to see a pilot’s knife with sheath and stone sell for so little on fleaBay. I thought the listing looked pretty cool and that I represented the item correctly. My question to those that know (much) more that I about these things is why did this item sell for less than most? Did I overlook a glaring defect or shortcoming?

As for the stone, although I tried, I couldn’t make out what was written on it.
 
Only the condition, and something is really only worth what somebody is willing to pay at that particular time.
The knife in your link was a perfectly servicable pilots knife, something i wouldnt mind having myself, that being said it had some heavy pitting to the blade and the sheath was servicable but well loved:), and the knife had been cleaned rather aggressively... (in order to remove the heavy rust)
We have all seen knives in worse shape than yours fetch astonishing prices and have seen the opposite too (just not as often)
The more you delve into this hobby you get a better idea of what kinda collector/user you are:) (personally usability and character mean more to me in a knife vs. Unused/Mint, also i can tend to afford the lesser examples easier:D)
cheers
ivan
 
The heavy blade pitting and the cracked leather handles "devalued" it..IMHO
Your pictures were good!!:thumbup:

I never knew the guards had 2 holes in it
Is that for "lashing" it to make spear??
 
Trent, I have a Camillus N.Y. 10-1975 that was issued to me in the Air Force in the 70's. When I retired in 1983, the knife went with me. I have never used the stone or even took it out until today. On the Stone is "C280 PV A Product By Norton Pike".
 
I bought a pilot's knife on Ebay and found later that it was a replica. The real thing will have date stamped in one side of the octogonal butt end. Another guy said that he has an original. Notice he added the date. My replica has Camillus stamped in the blade. It may be one of those that came from the factory at the time of closing down and was just never issued. I see the real deal going for from 40.00 to 60.00 depending on condition. When you sold yours for 13.00 you should have started the bidding at 25.00 or so. Maybe 20.00. 20 would get more bites.
 
redjohn48 said:
When you sold yours for 13.00 you should have started the bidding at 25.00 or so. Maybe 20.00. 20 would get more bites.
Click to expand...

Actually, prior to selling it for $13, I had it listed at $19.95 and that auction expired after getting plenty of watchers but no bites. As was mentioned, most go for $40+ therefore I was puzzled that it didn't go at $20+. I figured that the shortcomings with this one in my (newbie) opinion should have discounted it by about ... oh ... 25% ... so I figured I'd get $30-$40.
redjohn48 said:
The real thing will have date stamped in one side of the octogonal butt end.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that this knife used to have blade longer than 5" but the blade was shortened in early 1960's. The shorter blades were stamped Camillus but not dated. The company began dating the hex pommel in January 1967. I don't know this for a fact, but read it from 2 separate sources while researching my former knife.

I look at the >$15 loss I took on the knife as tuition paid for everything I learned about Camillus Pilot's knives prior to (and now after) putting it up for bid. I guess I will give greater weight to cracked leather and pitting when sizing up future blades for purchase. Thanks to all.
 
in all seriousness i saw your auction as it was going on, even with the condition i thought it would go for more than that, camillus prices have been increasing since the closure, good and bad. Hell i wouldve bid had i not had my spike knife coming.:D
Nice to see another camillus fan
ivan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top