Value of Busse Knifes

suttond

suttond

Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
866
I’ve got a few busse and swamp rat knifes. What I want to know is there any sites that tell you the value of busse knifes are? I see people advertising knifes as one of a kind. How do I know they are one of a kind.? Before I plunk down a $1000.00 dollars or more for a knife I would like to know if it will hold its value or not. For instance I went to a show recently and saw a satin skeleton game warden for $372.00. Why is this worth so much when I can buy a standard game warden for under $250.00. If anyone can provide me with any guidance it would be appreciated.
 
Did it have some nice stabilized wood inlays or something? The satin finish is going to increase the price over a coated one, that is for sure. Your best bet is to do like the rest of us and observe the trends on the exchange. I don't think anyone among us has the free time to maintains a site that tracks the value of all these knives. If you are looking to by a certain model, you can always ask about. I know many here contact known h=Hogs rather regularly to ask a question about a particular blade here or there. There is no one clearing house and it takes foot work to get the info you seek.
 
What PG said! :thumbup:

Observation is your best bet. Also asking around here is fairly painless as the HOGs are generally a helpful and friendly bunch! :thumbup:
 
I keep a Busse notebook, and I note what sells when and for how much...what I pay for a knife, and the knives I wanted to buy but didn't, and how they do one the secondary market. I didn't always do this, but I found my notebook was very handy in convincing my wife I was "investing" not just buying very expensive toys.

--BubbaThud
 
Great idea, but I don't think it'd fly with my wife. When I told her that I was trading, she said "well where did the money come from originally..."

GregB
 
It must have been a custom shop with inlays, you can't get those for $250.


edit- oh, about the prices. Keep an eye on what things sell for in the exchange. If your not sure PM someone or just ask in a thread for an idea.


edit agin- What MikeH said below is very true and well said
 
Any of several hogs, and even some piglets like me, can give you some idea of prevailing prices. However, only you can decide the value of a particular knife to you.

If you want it more than you want the amount of money being asked, then you should buy it, regardless of the price. If you want to hang on to the money more than you want the knife, then the value isn't there for you, regardless of what someone else would pay for it, and you should not buy it.

There are some pieces out there that I might pay more for than others think reasonable, because they would fill gaping holes in my collection, and there are some that just don't grab me and I won't pay the prevailing price for. (Argonnes, Assault Ring Fighters, and anything with flying serrations, for example.)

The price, not the value to you, becomes paramount only if you are buying primarily as an investment.
 
suttond said:
I’ve got a few busse and swamp rat knifes. What I want to know is there any sites that tell you the value of busse knifes are? I see people advertising knifes as one of a kind. How do I know they are one of a kind.? Before I plunk down a $1000.00 dollars or more for a knife I would like to know if it will hold its value or not. For instance I went to a show recently and saw a satin skeleton game warden for $372.00. Why is this worth so much when I can buy a standard game warden for under $250.00. If anyone can provide me with any guidance it would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Was that in Kentucky? Or did Mike have it in Indy? It sounds like a Bad Warden, which was not a higher volume 'production' model, but a Busse Custom shop piece. I'm sure you could see that it had a lot more work in it than a regular Game Warden. As MikeH wrote, what counts is the value to you. I would not pay $372 for that knife, but others certainly have.

If you become a paying member of BF, then you can use the search function to look up old sales. If you only have few knives you want to check on value, then post some info here and you will likely get some help. Just be careful to not use this a sales tool. You need to be a Gold member to sell on BF. As far as one-of-a-kind claims, it would be reasonable to ask the seller to substantiate that in some way.
 
I have in show stock a Bad Warden with yellow inserts for $347. Setting on the yellow table cover it looks like a skeletonized Warden, and many people have mistaken it for being skeletonized.

Wash has a great pic of one in his sig line.

The price differential between it and a coated Skeleton Warden ($157) goes to the labor involved to put the hand done stain finish on, and to cut/fit the inserts. Too, that is why these are out of the Custom Shop.

There are far fewer Bad Wardens on the market than Skeleton Wardens.
 
I have two Bad Wardens. They are pretty cool, but pricey.

The first one I just wanted. The second one I used a Busse shop credit to knock down the price a bit.

They are a perfect neck knife and if you have a thin sheath they are very low profile in your pocket (although carrying like that isn't legal around here).

Busse doesn't make too many inlaid handle knives so I guess it adds a little rarity but I didn't buy as an investment.

Another ~poor investment Busse that I love is the SOW.
 
Bad Wardens are nice, but the Police Recruit is even better:

wardens03.jpg


This BW went over the Pond to someone in partial exchange for something else.
 
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