Suggestions for "Investment" Knife

Randalls and Ruanas are a pretty good bet for holding value. Even Randall sheaths are worth money long after they have been made.
 
Maybe I misunderstood the OP, I did not think he was talking "Retirement Income" type investing. I assumed he meant a nice knife that sitting around was going to cause it to maybe double his $$ over time, not turn out to be a loser.
I certainly WOULD NOT suggest knives as part of your investment portfolio (My God, No)
I'll stand by my original recommendation of an XM-18. Nice knife and will not lose you money IF you can buy at MSRP. There are other knives that you can make more BUT you will be shelling out more up front too.
 
A Loveless knife will always be worth more than you paid for it. Same thing for a Dozier in D2 that was actually made by Bob himself (hard to come by any more). Ruanas? Sigh. I love 'em to death and own a bunch, but for investment purposes, not so much.

But Randalls. There's where you can't screw up if you try.
 
The key to investing in knives ( or anything ) is to buy low and sell high. One way to do is in the used market. You look on the exchange-flea markets-eBAY ETC. When you find something that's going less then it should (and it's real) jump on it.
This may mean looking at a hundred knives before you find a hit.
Another way to go would be to specialize in a certain type of knife-learn everything you can on that type and hunt for that nugget of gold among all the trash.
Another route might be to spot a talented maker early in his career and buy before the rest of the market sees his talent. Picasso once sold one of his painting for an egg.
I agree it's not the best investment area, but can be fun.
 
I would say Busse. I bought one for $275 and sold it auction style and it sold for $1100 only 10 years after I bought it, It was a steel heart 2 that I planned on using but my wife bought me a basic 7 that I never could put down.


Mike
 
If you want knives that increase their value over time, look into balisongs. Seriously, look at all the PCC balisongs, what they origionally sold for, and what they cost now. $750 is a huge increase from the origional value. The benchmade 42 has tripled it's value and it hasn't even been out for 10 years (and that price was before it was discontinued). Almost every balisong that has been discontinued fetches an obnoxiously inflated price.
Why has nobody mentioned these yet?
 
I made the 401(k) post to illustrate that buying a knife is not making an investment. Any knife is likely to go down in value. If it does go up, the increase will likely be at the inflation rate, which is about 50% over ten years. If you get lucky and find a knife that DOES increase in value, you will have transaction costs that eat into your potential profit (10% if you sell on Ebay and use PayPal.)

Consider the Randall, Hinderer, Strider, Chris Reeve ideas. Every one of them sells for less on the exchange here than @ retail elsewhere. How would you make money? Maybe get on the Randall wait list for 5 years and then sell it 5 years after for twice what you paid? That's 7.2% per year and ypu can get that rate eleswhere with more certainty and some tax breaks.

By all means buy a great knife or knives and cash in if you can make some money on it, but don't do it as a money-maker unless it is your business.

Sorry for the sermon.
 
rubiconss said:
Maybe I misunderstood the OP, I did not think he was talking "Retirement Income" type investing. I assumed he meant a nice knife that sitting around was going to cause it to maybe double his $$ over time, not turn out to be a loser.
I certainly WOULD NOT suggest knives as part of your investment portfolio (My God, No)
I'll stand by my original recommendation of an XM-18. Nice knife and will not lose you money IF you can buy at MSRP. There are other knives that you can make more BUT you will be shelling out more up front too.
Click to expand...

You are right on with your above post. I enjoy knives, but have no intention of making a living or any real money from my hobby. I have nice knives(spyderco's, case xx's, benchmades, etc), but no really nice knives. I would just like to "invest" in a knife a bit above those I have listed, that I could enjoy, whilest my children might realize some price appreciation on if they chose to sell. Sorry if my OP made it seem like I was looking at the investment side only.
However, with the $600bn QE2 stimulus, etc,etc, I'm not sure how smart it is to hold cash either. I was pretty lucky tohave holdings in gold and silver before the run-ups of the last 3 -4 years.
Also, thanks to all for their excellent suggestions that have thus far been offered here!
 
Actually, LL, it works out to be more than that for Randalls, since you don't pay for the knife until the end of that five-year waiting period. And all the time you're waiting, it's appreciating in value just through simple inflation. Now, due to their four-knife-a-year limit, nobody's ever going to get rich quick, but the knives are already worth significantly more than you paid for them the day they arrive in the mail.
 
Knives are a poor idea for investment... If (and more likely when) our American dollar sings it's last serenade all those high dollar knives will be nothing more than high dollar knives nobody is going to want. Nobody is going to give a rip about a Hinderer when gas is $80 a gallon. You will have to keep your costly knife hidden away in your sock drawer until things get back to normal , in the next 5-10 years...

Have any of you bothered to look what is going on with silver and gold ? Now there's a worthy investment.


Tostig
 
Tostig, I've been watching you for a while now and generally agree with what you have to say. But in this case, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you.

First and foremost, I don't agree with your "doom and gloom" version of the future. People have been saying that for a long, long time now, and it turns out they were wrong. Yes, I admit that these are trying times, but you know, I've been around long enough to say that they've pretty much all been trying times.

Assuming that you're right, though, I see a wonderful piece of hand-made craftsmanship only increasing in value as times get harder. I guess we'll have to just wait and see who's right, but you could put your money in a lot dumber things.
 
Boker Leo V, 250 handmade out of Germany. I have the Leo IV #244 and it is a thing of beauty. I am saving for the V. both are hand forged 600 layer, 4 different steels.
 
Tostig said:
Knives are a poor idea for investment... If (and more likely when) our American dollar sings it's last serenade all those high dollar knives will be nothing more than high dollar knives nobody is going to want. Nobody is going to give a rip about a Hinderer when gas is $80 a gallon. You will have to keep your costly knife hidden away in your sock drawer until things get back to normal , in the next 5-10 years...

Have any of you bothered to look what is going on with silver and gold ? Now there's a worthy investment.


Tostig
Click to expand...
Words of wisdom. A particular knife may triple in value but there's also a very great chance what Tostig described will come to pass also. Silver is where it's at IMHO. More industrial uses than gold.
 
Tostig said:
Knives are a poor idea for investment... If (and more likely when) our American dollar sings it's last serenade all those high dollar knives will be nothing more than high dollar knives nobody is going to want. Nobody is going to give a rip about a Hinderer when gas is $80 a gallon. You will have to keep your costly knife hidden away in your sock drawer until things get back to normal , in the next 5-10 years...

Have any of you bothered to look what is going on with silver and gold ? Now there's a worthy investment.


Tostig
Click to expand...

I can't say I can agree with you either, long before gas hits $80/gallon, the global economy will have shut-down...permanently. You won't have anywhere to drive with your $80/gallon gas by then.

Implements of war, like a Randall, will still be valued, since your scenario will necessarily include a lot of war.
 
Samael said:
Actually, LL, it works out to be more than that for Randalls, since you don't pay for the knife until the end of that five-year waiting period. And all the time you're waiting, it's appreciating in value just through simple inflation. Now, due to their four-knife-a-year limit, nobody's ever going to get rich quick, but the knives are already worth significantly more than you paid for them the day they arrive in the mail.
Click to expand...


Didn't know that. Have to order one then. :)
 
CWL said:
I can't say I can agree with you either, long before gas hits $80/gallon, the global economy will have shut-down...permanently. You won't have anywhere to drive with your $80/gallon gas by then.

Implements of war, like a Randall, will still be valued, since your scenario will necessarily include a lot of war.
Click to expand...
Knives will still be valued, I just think you'd have a hard time making a profit in that scenario. Most likely you'd get shot for it or it would get stolen. I'm not saying knives don't increase in value, I just see it as riskier than precious metals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top