What was your first “expensive” knife?

What a great thread with a bunch of great stories! I got my first “expensive” knife around the age of 15, while on tour of the Buck knife factory in El Cajon. I also got to meet Chuck Buck, and got a free piece of mammoth tusk as a souvenir. I was very surprised my very frugal parents paid $100 for me to get a special edition 110. My first expensive knife as an “adult” (age 25, circa 2011), my dad and I both bought D2 Griptilians at Cabelas. Some of the knives in my collection are now about 20x that dollar figure, but will never beat the memories…
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For a good many years I hovered in the Spyderco, ZT and ProTech price range; not what is typically considered "expensive" - the $150-200 price range.

My first expensive knife was a CRK Large Inkosi with micarta inlays; that certainly did have a snowball effect.
 
My first "expensive" knife was a BM Griptillian that I bought circa 2007 for about $80. I could not believe I spent so much on a knife. But to me, that was A LOT back in those days. I used that thing hard for abut a decade before I ended up selling it.
 
Back when I got this BM it was the most expensive knife I bought.
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Now this is the most I've spent on a knife...
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I started my “knife journey” with expensive stuff. My first knife was an Extrema Ratio RAO, then more Extrema Ratio, then Busse, Crusader Forge, than custom stuff.
 
I bought a Cold Steel Tanto sheath knife back in the 80's. I paid $100 for it. That was expensive to me back then. I ended up selling it to a fellow employee for $100 a couple years later.
 
May mentioned it before, while in college, I spent money for my Kabar USMC knife, first real big knife, for about 50.00, that was expensive to me. When I got married I spent about 70.00 for a Blackjack Model 1-7 in leather handle, so thst was the next big step in what I considered expensive, different stages of collecting, then my first real custom was a ML hunter with a 5 inch blade, but I felt I had entered a whole different realm of knives with that one, it had Curly maple handle and nature scene in the sheath.F47927B6-D506-44C7-AEEE-BB941514FFBD.jpeg
 
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The Kershaw Shallot 1840CKT was the 1st knife that I purchased that I considered "expensive."

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Paid around $80 for it in the mid-80's which was a lot of $ back then. I had a Buck 110, a SAK Explorer and bought a few Spydercos before/after that but none of them cost more than 1/2 of that back then.

Lost that knife due to a loose clip that I never properly fixed but made up for it buy building a 10 knife collection of Shallots since.
 
Chaparral purchased in the mid to late 90’s, i guess?. It was way over my budget at the time. haven’t carried in close to 20 years, just sitting in a shoebox with other beaters. Recently added a LNW clip and pop, she is back to pocket time!
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Probably a 90's MT in the 90's. Or CRK.
Expensive is a relative term. My 1st $100 knife was a huge leap. Then $250, $500, $1000, $2000
were all giant steps. Last week paid $2400 for one. This week, bought one for $150.00. ;)
 

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'Expensive' is completely relative and subjective. But I'd say the first time it ever really stung to pay for a knife was an early model Dave Curtiss F3, acid washed blade, sculpted g10, totally sterile with no branding anywhere, actually bought it partly because at the time I wanted a Hinderer but they were impossible to get, and I felt like that was a similar design. Still have that knife and love it. That was my first knife beyond a Spyderco or Benchmade in price.
 
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