Traditionals that got away

[glennbad]

Like John, I don't really sell knives. I've given MANY away, and got tremendous enjoyment out of giving them away. The only ones I truly miss are the ones I once threw away mistakenly when I was young and stupid. (Now I'm not young anymore, but maybe still stupid, LOL). Some of those knives belonged to my dad or other family members...I think to this day, I'm still chasing knives in an attempt to get those ones back.

Now that I think of it, I once traded away one of those old Millers Bros Navy rope knives. It wasn't mint, but it was a nice piece. The person I traded with certainly got the better end of the deal. However, I also made a knife friend, and that's more important than the knives really.

 

[sf fanatic]

I sold this several years ago to raise funds and rationalized that I would never carry it because of its size so what did I do when the Texas Stogie came out, I bought two .

 

[Bigfattyt]

This custom J. Oeser xl Stockman.

I bitterly regret selling this years ago (I sold.ir in a moment of worry over Christmas presents gor the kids, and closing on my first house).

It would cost me
Nearly tripple what I sold to get it back if I could find it. It is a one off.

 

[Yadeadman]

There was a blue bone Schrade ProHunter years ago that I let go past me on ebuy....but the one that the knife god smacks me on the head with is my Waynorth City Stock....I got it as a 60th birthday present( to myself)...dropped it in a drain in Sydney, got the fire brigade to help me retrieve it...Then lost it...I think it went through a hole in my shorts pocket while I walked through the forest...

That is one of those "it wasn't meant to be" moments lol Crazy how you can go through so much to get something back only to have it disappear again.

Technically, these didn't get away, because I know where they are.

After our Mom passed away, the family was getting the old homestead ready for auction. Mom was always very organised, which made things easier. My son was bringing things down from the attic, and came up to my one brother & me with a cigar box. He opened it up, and it was full of old Barlows, scout knives, jack knives, etc.

They were knives that we thought we lost when we were kids. Most had either my brother's or my initials crudely scratched on the scales. We chicken eyed, and coon fingered them a bit, then gave the whole box to my son. Finders keepers.

That's awesome that you found them, and even better that your son has them now.

Way too many to list. In my insatiable apatite to try new things, I've traded and sold away many beautiful knives so that I could buy something new to try.
Many GEC stags, the like of which we probably will not see again.

There used to be so many stag GEC's back in the day, painful to think how many I had and let go back then.

I haven't sold any yet. I have given some away, to forum members here and elsewhere. They were all freely given, with no lingering regrets. I hope the recipients all have enjoyed them, or passed them on to others who did.

My main "ones that got away" regrets were knives that I could have bought but passed on at the time. I was around for the time when GECs would still actually sit in dealer inventory for a while and not sell out. There were a few I took too long mulling over. At the time, they were all in the $80 to $100 range which I thought were a bit pricey. Little did I know!

I also just missed out on the Spring Street Barlow Forum Knife - I was busy at work that week and just missed the ordering cutoff.

All in all, though, I have what I consider a quite nice collection for my tastes and budget, most unused or underused. I suppose I am acting as a storage buffer to eventually release these to some future generation of knife collectors through selling here, or through my estate sale.

The days that GEC's would sit on websites and not sell out were amazing times for us traditional folks, really didn't know how well we had it back then.

This custom J. Oeser xl Stockman.

I bitterly regret selling this years ago (I sold.ir in a moment of worry over Christmas presents gor the kids, and closing on my first house).

It would cost me
Nearly tripple what I sold to get it back if I could find it. It is a one off.
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That's an amazing knife, cannot imagine having let that go. But at least you got to experience it and can say it was yours for a while.