I can easily see some of the fancy sebenzas being safe queens. Unique graphics, fancy woods, mammoth ivory, no one wants them to get ruined during use. I have some unique sebenzas that are not used and are safe queens. So I can see that, even though I should use them...........As for the umnumzaan, its built to be used and used hard. Unless its one of the fancy limited edition zaans costing $1800, USE IT. If this is your first expensive knife, its always tough to get a scuff on it, but you will get more enjoyment using it than admiring it, believe me. Admire it WHILE you use it.. The regular umnumzaan is readily available, is only available in the regular present version. A MINT one will not be worth more than the $400 and unless your a dealer, you woud probably not get $400 for a mint one anyways. I see used zaans going fopr $325 all the time and thats a good price for a used one I think for what your getting. I use mine for everything under the sun that you "Should" use a knife for and there are virtually no marks on it. The zaan is a true workhorse and should be used.