Codger_64
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- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
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Notice I didn't say VALUE?
Most collectors have their own ideas of how much a certain knife is worth. Some look them up in an outdated price guide and use "Kentucky windage" to adjust to the modern date. Some just use a "gut feeling". And some are simply willing to pay whatever it takes to own that example, meaning they are willing to pay more than anyone else was willing to pay for it.
Some of us use a variation of Mr. Levine's formula for determining the current market price for a knife. His formula involves looking at the last selling identical item on eBay, discounting what the high bidder actually paid, and using the highest bid of the second highest bidder. There is a certain logic behind this method, and he explains it much better than I can, it being his logic and his method.
My own method, for the most part, involves looking at the last (most recent) three to five identical items and averaging the final selling prices. Usually. But this doesn't help much when dealing with knives which seldom appear on the market. Or knives with some special, unique feature making them different from similar knives and thus of special interest to us. Then what we are willing to pay is very much a function of our perception of rarity, regardless of true rarity.
But we all like to perceive ourselves as capable of finding and closing on a "bargain", myself very much included. My rule of thumb is that an older (25 years plus) limited edition, NIB and unmolested, even if the limit of production was a dozen thousand (12,000 not being uncommon for Schrade) is now worth at least double it's original MSRP.
An example? A 152GD Grand Dad's Sharp Finger made in 1975 would be now 33 years old.
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/FLYERS/SC-1973-1979/pages/SC-75-3.htm
MSRP at that time was $25.00 including display box and bling. Using an inflation calculator to adjust 1975 dollars to today's dollars, $25.00 in 1975 had about the same buying power as $101.29 in 2008. So by my method and reckoning, purchasing this knife at half or less of the adjusted original MSRP is a bargain. And that would be $50.00, not uncoincidentally twice the original unadjusted MSRP.
I have been watching off and on for a few years for an example of this very knife for my collection of Sharpfingers. Not studiously searching for, just taking notice when one came to my attention. Some brought what I would consider to be ridiculously high selling prices. Some were in lesser condition than I was willing to accept for this issue. And I am sure a pile of them simply passed under my radar when I was not looking. But I finally got one, #5931, at a price I am comfortable with, $47.00. Are they rare? No. Not with so many made. And being a special edition, most likely have a higher intact survival rate percentage wise than the regular production pieces, fewer being actually used as a knife as intended.
My interest in this issue? It was one of the very first uses of the Sharpfinger pattern as a commemorative, part of the Grand Dad's Old Timer series, unofficially the 70th anniversary of the Schrade company. It differs from the production pieces in several details including the black sawcut Delrin handle in place of the regular two-toned brown-tan handle and the use of a rope-bordered brass "Empire" or "cattleman's" shield in lieu of the production oblong nickle silver shield. Of course there is a special blade etch and serial number. And a black first-style choil strap sheath with brass furniture vs. the production brown sheath with NS furniture. To me, it is a "must-have" in a collection of Sharpfingers (Schrade's all-time best selling fixed blade), along with an example of Frank Giorgianni's 1976 Scrimshaw 152SC.
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/FLYERS/SC-1973-1979/pages/SC-76.htm
Here is the eBay picture of my get (with the seller's camera on the "eBay" setting):
Michael
Most collectors have their own ideas of how much a certain knife is worth. Some look them up in an outdated price guide and use "Kentucky windage" to adjust to the modern date. Some just use a "gut feeling". And some are simply willing to pay whatever it takes to own that example, meaning they are willing to pay more than anyone else was willing to pay for it.
Some of us use a variation of Mr. Levine's formula for determining the current market price for a knife. His formula involves looking at the last selling identical item on eBay, discounting what the high bidder actually paid, and using the highest bid of the second highest bidder. There is a certain logic behind this method, and he explains it much better than I can, it being his logic and his method.
My own method, for the most part, involves looking at the last (most recent) three to five identical items and averaging the final selling prices. Usually. But this doesn't help much when dealing with knives which seldom appear on the market. Or knives with some special, unique feature making them different from similar knives and thus of special interest to us. Then what we are willing to pay is very much a function of our perception of rarity, regardless of true rarity.
But we all like to perceive ourselves as capable of finding and closing on a "bargain", myself very much included. My rule of thumb is that an older (25 years plus) limited edition, NIB and unmolested, even if the limit of production was a dozen thousand (12,000 not being uncommon for Schrade) is now worth at least double it's original MSRP.
An example? A 152GD Grand Dad's Sharp Finger made in 1975 would be now 33 years old.
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/FLYERS/SC-1973-1979/pages/SC-75-3.htm
MSRP at that time was $25.00 including display box and bling. Using an inflation calculator to adjust 1975 dollars to today's dollars, $25.00 in 1975 had about the same buying power as $101.29 in 2008. So by my method and reckoning, purchasing this knife at half or less of the adjusted original MSRP is a bargain. And that would be $50.00, not uncoincidentally twice the original unadjusted MSRP.
I have been watching off and on for a few years for an example of this very knife for my collection of Sharpfingers. Not studiously searching for, just taking notice when one came to my attention. Some brought what I would consider to be ridiculously high selling prices. Some were in lesser condition than I was willing to accept for this issue. And I am sure a pile of them simply passed under my radar when I was not looking. But I finally got one, #5931, at a price I am comfortable with, $47.00. Are they rare? No. Not with so many made. And being a special edition, most likely have a higher intact survival rate percentage wise than the regular production pieces, fewer being actually used as a knife as intended.
My interest in this issue? It was one of the very first uses of the Sharpfinger pattern as a commemorative, part of the Grand Dad's Old Timer series, unofficially the 70th anniversary of the Schrade company. It differs from the production pieces in several details including the black sawcut Delrin handle in place of the regular two-toned brown-tan handle and the use of a rope-bordered brass "Empire" or "cattleman's" shield in lieu of the production oblong nickle silver shield. Of course there is a special blade etch and serial number. And a black first-style choil strap sheath with brass furniture vs. the production brown sheath with NS furniture. To me, it is a "must-have" in a collection of Sharpfingers (Schrade's all-time best selling fixed blade), along with an example of Frank Giorgianni's 1976 Scrimshaw 152SC.
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/FLYERS/SC-1973-1979/pages/SC-76.htm
Here is the eBay picture of my get (with the seller's camera on the "eBay" setting):
Michael
