Selling discontinued knives

W

Washington

Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
38
I'm wondering if I'm better off selling a knife I currently have, or waiting a bit if it'd be worth more in the future. It's a black BM555HG, and from what I've heard, they've been discontinued. Would selling it for retail now be a worse choice than waiting bit and selling it later?
 
It's impossible to predict the future with regards to future value.

Sell now while the interest in that is higher, or risk that a certain brand/model will fall from favor, interest, or memory?

Sell now while more are available, or wait until they're more uncommon?

Your best bet, if interested in realizing every cent of value, is to study the past and current collecting trends and values of previous Benchmade knives.

Good Luck!
 
well ,i can understand the blue thing, put up a pic. somebody might want it or at least trade.:)
 
1. Remember that as a Registered User, you can't get too close to offering a knife for sale here, and certainly not in a discussion forum. Please read the FAQ and the membership information:

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2. If you hold the knife to sell at a possibly higher dollar price later, you may find inflation has reduced the dollar value of your sale. In any case, you aren't talking about a high-dollar item, so the sale price would be relatively little, quite likely less than the original price in any case.

3. If you do decide to sell, study successful ads here and on eBay, for example. Good pictures put buyers at ease. Clear and complete descriptions do, too. Well-written ads use good grammar, spelling, punctuation, and layout.

Be patient. A knife you think is worth a lot may not attract buyers immediately. Give it time, perhaps drop the price if you find similar knives are going for a bit less. But wait, wait ... the right buyer may not have seen the ad yet and when he does, it's the knife he wants and you've got your sale.
 
With a few exceptions, the Spyderco Shabaria comes to mind, most mass produced "Tactical" knives don't appreciate in value in the short run. Perhaps in 20-30 years a Griptilian might increase in value but I wouldn't hold onto one hoping it will. Unlike traditional slipjoints the market for "tacticals" is geared towards the newest designs with older designs just fading away. There are exceptions of course but these tend to be the higher end knives. All you have to do is keep up with this forum to see that is true. Unlike the traditionals sub-forum where 100 year old knife designs are talked about and still bought and sold in this sub-forum no one talks about about even 5 year old tactical design for the most part. It is a different mindset I think. Tacticals are all about the newest and the best. I have seen people in here dismiss some of the older steels as junk just because a new steel has popped up. The same can be said for new grip materials and lock systems.

If you don't like it then I would sell or trade it while the model is still in favor, unless you want to box it and keep it mint for 20 plus years I think it will be worth more now than it will be in a year or two.
 
BM555HG is a nice model of BM, but even if they "discontinue" it, they would do other griptilians with various steel, as it's a model they sell a lot...
So basically, unless you find a creazy Griptilian collector, nobody will offer you much more money than you pay for it..:D
 
Absintheur makes some good points. I would also like to add that selling a "collectable" tactical for a profit requires patience, a special knife and a good buy at your initial purchase.

The best example I can give is the first generation of Kershaw Onion collaborations, the Mini Task in particular. The Mini Task was only produced for a couple of years in the late 1990's, came on polished G10 handle scales, had excelent build quality and a very good quality discontinued steel (CPM 440V). 2 years ago I bought several for 50ish bucks. They were recently selling for way over $100 for the more common CE. The PE Mini Task was selling in the 150 range. What changed? As far as I can tell, discussion of the model broke out here on BFC in the Kershaw Sub, then, the prices skyrocketed on ebay b/c so many people decided their collection wasn't complete with one. Prices stayed up long enough for the casual knife collector to get that ever so important herd mentailty (thinking that if it is expensive and desireable it is a good buy). That drove the market for a while, interest waned and prices come back down.

If you are looking for something to study on your own, watch the prices on the Spyderco Yojimbo and the Dodo. If you get motion sick you might want to keep some Darmimine close at hand. Those things are like a roller coaster and the market changes like the wind.

My final note on this subject is that very good "collectable" tacticals in the "perfect storm" situation (low supply, inexplicable demand) still rarely reach their retail, let alone, MSRP on the open market. It takes a special knife, and the right buyer/sucker in the right place and time to bring top dollar.

As for the OP, sell that Grip now and get close to street price or wait 10 years for Grip nostalgia to set in and sell that Grip for close to street price.
 
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if it's a blue grip, sell/trade it to me!

i agree with the other posters, though - that knife isn't going to appreciate in the near future. I would either trade it for something you want more, or use it and enjoy it.
 
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