Shirogorov pricing

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I do have to wonder how the loss of one of the brothers will effect things moving forward, things like: production/output by the company...thus costs and pace of current/future design & production...then effecting the rarity & value of existing pieces in the marketplace...from their midtechs, Custom Division pieces and full Customs. It is a sad and unusual development and will HAVE to effect the company and its products at some point.
 
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JeremiahWeaver09 said:
i think people realized you can get other knives for the same quality for $220-$350
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I agree we are seeing a case of supply and demand, a market correction if you will but I have yet to see a 200-300 knife have the same quality as my Shirogorovs
 
Sikael said:
At 1495$ -- the price some delusional mofo is trying to sell a used 95T on Arizona Custom :highly_amused: -- it's twice what it should be... if that dude's looking to get back what he paid for it, he waited a little too long. :rolleyes:
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Crazy right? They have a ZT0888 for almost $2,000.00

Plus if I am not mistaken, they take a 25% commission??
 
I have not experienced holding a Shiro, but owners seem to love them.
I won't be buying one unless the price drops a lot... Not because they aren't worth decent money, but because there are so many nice folders that can compete when you get to $400 +...
 
Maybe it's a combination of the name, marketing, and availability. I don't see them often if at all, and not many outside of the hard core knife hobby ever heard of it. There's just no demand for it.
 
Many factors involved as some have mentioned.

First of all, the Shirogorov flippers are the peak in smooth high-quality production (mid-tech) flippers. They feel solid but slim. The F95 is a very elegant, practical and highly effective design.

Their prices were inflated the past two years and I've seen major price reductions in the primary market just the past six months. What used to be $850 a few months ago is $650 now.

Obviously, the Russian economy has a depressing affect.

They may also higher production numbers.

Granted, competition the past six months has been brutal! Almost like an impending Knife Bubble! Way too many excellent knife makers with way too many excellent competing brands and I don't see an ever increasing demand.

There's an inordinate price inflation...
 
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I have a Shirogorov/Begg collab for sale.
Only $6500.
Incredible knife.

Better hurry.....
 
Flavor of the month phenomena. Hype, as someone else put it. Happens in many luxury type items. I've seen it in wristwatches and in firearms and in other items (much more prevalent in wristwatches than firearms though). Especially if the flavor of the month is much lower on the supply side than it is on the demand side (sometimes naturally occurring/sometimes deliberately created occurrences). Once it is no longer the much sought after flavor of the month, and the item becomes more readily available (a case of demand coming down to meet or being less than supply) the prices deflate to closer to where they probably should have always been. The market can be fickle about flavors of the month. If you really want the flavor of the month, it's often best to wait a year or two and get one for a song compared to what they were going for when they were all the rage/the flavor of the month.

Buy an item before it becomes the flavor of the month. If not, wait to buy until after the fickle flavor of the month market moves onto something else.
 
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I would rather say that the price expoded with the 'hype' (not meant negatively here) - used Shirogorov knives had very high prices maybe also because the dealers sell them for quite a bit. If you order the knife directly from shirogorov.com (not possible at the moment), then you will end up paying considerably less than what you would have to pay in US to a dealer. Maybe the market had saturated a bit and that pushes the 2nd hand prices down. Just my opinion.
 
Reason 4: Single importer with big mark up leads to informal importing. Happens in Australia all the time. Which leads to a big supply on the secondary market, at decent prices.
 
P.S. where are all those bare used, underpriced Shorogorov knives? If anyone has 95T on bearings with Elmax steel for, say $300 I am all ears :D

But seriously - price for such a configuration would be actually less than $500 if ordered directly, but you are expected to pay about double than that in US. Now as mentioned above if the knives start to arrive for less via different channels, than it pushes down the prices on 2nd hand market.
 
I don't think Recon1 getting rights to distribute directly from Shirogorov has made as much of a difference as the fact that many industrious Ukranians and Russians have realized that people in the West will gladly buy these knives for more then they're sold for in their home markets, and have started selling Shirogorov's themselves.
 
Considering that Shirogorov have improved their production and output speed in the last year or so, I'm not all that surprised by this at all honestly, though it has come at the cost of not seeing nearly as many of the more rare configurations anymore, like the 95CF or any models using Vannax35.

Shirogorov used to make knives at a much lower rate; almost as low as Todd Begg knives as a matter of fact, and we ALL know what they did to the prices of both companies. As a result, they also had a very long waiting list in Russia, and another one for dealers in the US that was equally as long if not longer. Once they got the recognition for their quality that they deserved, they blew up in price exponentially, as one would expect in this market at this point.

Today, there is no longer a waiting list to buy from Shirogorov in Russia to my understanding, or if there still is, it is much shorter than it used to be, and that is because they have greatly increased the speed at which they can produce knives, to a similar place as CRK it seems. In addition to that, you now have a market where multiple dealers and sources can get and sell their knives, and there are also private dealers like Vladimir here on the forums. The increase in competition decreases the price so that they can compete, and that benefits the consumer.

Like others have said, I doubt that some of the more rare configurations, like the 95CF or any of the models done in Vannax35, will drop all that much unless we see precedent for it, but the more regular models, especially those that simply use S30V or plain finishes, will probably stabilize just about where they are now or maybe a little lower.

The fact remains that they are fantatstic knives either way, and I feel no issue with what I paid for my 95T M390 over a year ago, nor what I paid for my 95CF S90V more recently (those are just the Shiros I still have...I have handled and owned too many Shirogorovs...). I cannot say for sure that I will keep BOTH of them if this trend continues too much just because financially it isn't a good idea, but my 95T M390 will probably be a knife I always keep forever, and that is something I am abut 99% sure of as long as I have a say in it.
 
Misanthropia said:
I don't think Recon1 getting rights to distribute directly from Shirogorov has made as much of a difference as the fact that many industrious Ukranians and Russians have realized that people in the West will gladly buy these knives for more then they're sold for in their home markets, and have started selling Shirogorov's themselves.
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I agree... the fact that the NA market was mostly in the hands of one terrible, over-priced supplier (alright, TNK; just my opinion... if you like TNK, that's :thumbup:) meant that often anyone who wanted a Shirogorov had to make their peace with getting raped on the price. Possible reasons for this 'drop': Recon 1 is a part of it, and so is the Bladeforums Dealer Exchange. Vladimir_K is probably the largest single factor; he's a great person to deal with, and he simply started asking fair amounts -- often far less money than you'd find on the secondary market -- for brand new knives coming straight from Russia.

Shirogorov is becoming more established (or less trendy, if that's how you see it), the supply is flowing more like the way it should, and the prices are 'normalizing', not plummeting ;) . That's a matter of perspective, of course (and hair-splitting); but the market for Shirogorov was definitely not normal a year ago, in the sense that the inflated pricing was related to largely avoidable problems of availability.
 
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leghog said:
Flavor of the month phenomena. Hype, as someone else put it. Happens in many luxury type items. I've seen it in wristwatches and in firearms and in other items (much more prevalent in wristwatches than firearms though). Especially if the flavor of the month is much lower on the supply side than it is on the demand side (sometimes naturally occurring/sometimes deliberately created occurrences). Once it is no longer the much sought after flavor of the month, and the item becomes more readily available (a case of demand coming down to meet or being less than supply) the prices deflate to closer to where they probably should have always been. The market can be fickle about flavors of the month. If you really want the flavor of the month, it's often best to wait a year or two and get one for a song compared to what they were going for when they were all the rage/the flavor of the month.

Buy an item before it becomes the flavor of the month. If not, wait to buy until after the fickle flavor of the month market moves onto something else.
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I suspect this too. Wonder if we will see the same thing in the near future with all the $500 bottle openers floating around these days. The latest trendy, "in" crowd, flavors of the month.
 
uofaengr said:
I suspect this too. Wonder if we will see the same thing in the near future with all the $500 bottle openers floating around these days. The latest trendy, "in" crowd, flavors of the month.
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I'm convinced that without the guys over at USN, companies like TAD and anyone else making those super expensive stamped steel/ti caplifters wouldn't be in business.
 
I cant believe anyone spending big money on those ti bottle openers, carved beads,prybars,and the like .I really think people are wasting their money when it comes to those....
 
goldie said:
I cant believe anyone spending big money on those ti bottle openers, carved beads,prybars,and the like .I really think people are wasting their money when it comes to those....
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Agreed. It cracks me up that beads & bottle openers go for over a hundred bucks, often several hundreds...yet people hesitate to pull the trigger to save 50 or a hundred bucks on an authentic, beautiful Shirogorov knife. They are simply knives of amazing design & quality. Am I biased? Maybe. But Shiros are still awesome pieces. Once you own one and really experience it, you understand the difference.
 
For me, a Shiro CF 100 NS is a "grail" knife. Have quite a few other fabulous folders/flippers, but "must" experience this one.

Instead of buying it on credit (which, as a patriotic American, I should do), I'll just wait for the price to come to me.

If it doesn't, it will continue in "grail" status. Could be happy on my deathbed without one.
 
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