* - I started to title this thread "Collecting used vs mint knives" but decided to just stick to what I put up. Didn't want anyone to think I was criticizing their style of knife collecting. Been around long enough to know that it is all good. Plus Marvin was such a knife enthusiast I thought a few of you would enjoy reading a bit about him.
I had a great uncle named Marvin. Like a lot of his generation in my hometown he made a living in the coal mines and wore the mark of it in various injuries and physical problems as he grew older. He only had a few hobbies, gardening and collecting knives and shotguns. His garden was the stuff of local legend as was his gun and knife collection. His wit and sense of humor was also legendary. He was quite a character even for my hometown which had them in spades. Tall and lean and spare, he looked exactly like what he was: one of the true old mountaineers.
After a heated argument I witnessed at the local garage and loafer's hangout where he egged on one of the other locals (a favorite sport of his) about 'planting by the book' he challenged this fellow to pick the worst day, the ABSOLUTE worst day of the year to plant his garden. The day was picked, his garden was planted, and the town watched with some measure of humor as Marvin's tomatoes and beans and potatoes reached their usual grandeur with no ill effects reaching from the Farmer's Almanac to his spacious garden. He claimed it was his best garden ever.
Marvin was a knife guy. I mean a real honest to goodness knife nut. His two main interests were old Case and Benchmade knives. Especially Case. Every time I would run into him he would have a new knife to show me... well it might be better to say he had a ~different~ knife to show me. Sometimes he had a "new" knife but more often than not he had an older knife that had a lot of blade left that he had traded for. They might have been carried for a while, they might have a patina and a little pocket earned polishing of the handles but they were always tight and always in great shape.
He didn't care one bit about whether the knife could be considered "mint" or not. MOF he seemed to prefer the ones that had been sharpened once or twice, carried a little bit, and then put away or forgotten. Maybe those knives were easier to get someone to trade? Maybe he figured that those knives were more likely to be original and authentic? Maybe he like them the best because he wouldn't feel guilty carrying the new acquisitions for a week or a month before stowing it away. I never asked and he never told me on his own. But for whatever reason most of his collection was of very old Case knives that had a little, but very little, wear and tear.
He seemed to be able to smell a lightly used 30, 40, or even 50+ year old Case from miles away. I've no idea how he managed to get his hands on them but he did. Not only did he find them but somehow, some way he would manage to make a trade where he came off on the best side. It was uncanny. He'd buy the occasional new knife for trading fodder and most of the time it got replaced in short order with one of the old classics we only rarely see nowadays. When he passed on in the mid 90s he had rolls and rolls of his beloved Case antiques stowed away. I'd guess he probably had 500+ genuine Case antiques. Maybe more. A few in mint condition, like this one stag trapper I remember him showing me, but most of them very lightly used. My uncle Larry now has the lion's share of the collection and he takes them to knife shows once in a while mostly just to exhibit.
The last time I ran into Marvin he was coming out of the local garage after a bull session/poker game. He had the little cart with the oxygen bottle he had to have around in his later years and was headed home. "Billy!" he said, "you've been losing weight. Last time I saw you, you were big as a horse. Now you're no bigger than a good sized mule. Let me show you what I just picked up."
He reached into his pocket and took out a pristine big Case bone handled stockman which he handed to me. I can't honestly remember what the tang stamp was exactly. I do remember that it placed the knife as being made a long time before my dad was born and thinking that I was holding a 70+ year old knife in my hand that looked in better shape than the one I'd been carrying for only a few years. He leaned in and said "Billy you wouldn't believe what I traded for that knife. Man practically gave it to me!" He cracked a smile and laughed. I don't know which he enjoyed the most owning the knives or trading for them. Either way it was something he loved up to the very end of his life.
Will
I had a great uncle named Marvin. Like a lot of his generation in my hometown he made a living in the coal mines and wore the mark of it in various injuries and physical problems as he grew older. He only had a few hobbies, gardening and collecting knives and shotguns. His garden was the stuff of local legend as was his gun and knife collection. His wit and sense of humor was also legendary. He was quite a character even for my hometown which had them in spades. Tall and lean and spare, he looked exactly like what he was: one of the true old mountaineers.
After a heated argument I witnessed at the local garage and loafer's hangout where he egged on one of the other locals (a favorite sport of his) about 'planting by the book' he challenged this fellow to pick the worst day, the ABSOLUTE worst day of the year to plant his garden. The day was picked, his garden was planted, and the town watched with some measure of humor as Marvin's tomatoes and beans and potatoes reached their usual grandeur with no ill effects reaching from the Farmer's Almanac to his spacious garden. He claimed it was his best garden ever.
Marvin was a knife guy. I mean a real honest to goodness knife nut. His two main interests were old Case and Benchmade knives. Especially Case. Every time I would run into him he would have a new knife to show me... well it might be better to say he had a ~different~ knife to show me. Sometimes he had a "new" knife but more often than not he had an older knife that had a lot of blade left that he had traded for. They might have been carried for a while, they might have a patina and a little pocket earned polishing of the handles but they were always tight and always in great shape.
He didn't care one bit about whether the knife could be considered "mint" or not. MOF he seemed to prefer the ones that had been sharpened once or twice, carried a little bit, and then put away or forgotten. Maybe those knives were easier to get someone to trade? Maybe he figured that those knives were more likely to be original and authentic? Maybe he like them the best because he wouldn't feel guilty carrying the new acquisitions for a week or a month before stowing it away. I never asked and he never told me on his own. But for whatever reason most of his collection was of very old Case knives that had a little, but very little, wear and tear.
He seemed to be able to smell a lightly used 30, 40, or even 50+ year old Case from miles away. I've no idea how he managed to get his hands on them but he did. Not only did he find them but somehow, some way he would manage to make a trade where he came off on the best side. It was uncanny. He'd buy the occasional new knife for trading fodder and most of the time it got replaced in short order with one of the old classics we only rarely see nowadays. When he passed on in the mid 90s he had rolls and rolls of his beloved Case antiques stowed away. I'd guess he probably had 500+ genuine Case antiques. Maybe more. A few in mint condition, like this one stag trapper I remember him showing me, but most of them very lightly used. My uncle Larry now has the lion's share of the collection and he takes them to knife shows once in a while mostly just to exhibit.
The last time I ran into Marvin he was coming out of the local garage after a bull session/poker game. He had the little cart with the oxygen bottle he had to have around in his later years and was headed home. "Billy!" he said, "you've been losing weight. Last time I saw you, you were big as a horse. Now you're no bigger than a good sized mule. Let me show you what I just picked up."
He reached into his pocket and took out a pristine big Case bone handled stockman which he handed to me. I can't honestly remember what the tang stamp was exactly. I do remember that it placed the knife as being made a long time before my dad was born and thinking that I was holding a 70+ year old knife in my hand that looked in better shape than the one I'd been carrying for only a few years. He leaned in and said "Billy you wouldn't believe what I traded for that knife. Man practically gave it to me!" He cracked a smile and laughed. I don't know which he enjoyed the most owning the knives or trading for them. Either way it was something he loved up to the very end of his life.
Will
