Over the past year or two, prices on certain folders have jumped beyond any reasonable expectation Any good explanations?
Specific Examples:
2 years ago I bought a Charles Marlow jig bone tac folder for $265. I struggled to re-sell it for the same price a couple of months later. Today, the same folder would bring at least $1000.
2 years ago I bought a Carson Model 4 for $550 and struggled to resell it for $500. The same knife is going for around $1200 now.
3 years ago I bought a Carson M21 and a M16 in stellite for $600, AS A PACKAGE. I resold them a few months later, separately for $800.
1 year ago I passed on a Lum tanto folder on Ebay for $330 because I did not think it was re-sellable. Today, it would bring at least $1000.
Two years ago you could barely give away a Sawby Combat Utility for $350. Today, they start at $750 and go up.
This is not the case with all makers of course - you still can't get your money back on a Bob T. and you can barely break even with a Lightfoot, Elishewitz and several other well known makers of high quality folders.
I understand that the rich have gotten richer in America (and other places) and that Bob Lum doesn't make many folders and that Marlowe's folder production has dropped to make more balisongs and that Kit is a very fine maker. What blows me away is that while all three make very fine work, there is nothing inherently unique about the pieces. Phil Boguszewski has earned an astronomical increase in price becase he makes very few pieces per year as well, but he also makes a mechanical flipper that really totally unique in the industry. Scott told me that he had several years when he had virtually no orders for the Combat Utility and now he has them coming out of his ears (including three I have on order).
Am I missing something, or is there just some kind of spontaneous recognition of quality that just wasn't there for all those years that Bob, Charles, Kit and Scott were cranking out quality work?
No negativity intended or implied on the makers that aren't seeing this kind of wild appreciation in value. I understand supply and demand and all, but sheesh!
Specific Examples:
2 years ago I bought a Charles Marlow jig bone tac folder for $265. I struggled to re-sell it for the same price a couple of months later. Today, the same folder would bring at least $1000.
2 years ago I bought a Carson Model 4 for $550 and struggled to resell it for $500. The same knife is going for around $1200 now.
3 years ago I bought a Carson M21 and a M16 in stellite for $600, AS A PACKAGE. I resold them a few months later, separately for $800.
1 year ago I passed on a Lum tanto folder on Ebay for $330 because I did not think it was re-sellable. Today, it would bring at least $1000.
Two years ago you could barely give away a Sawby Combat Utility for $350. Today, they start at $750 and go up.
This is not the case with all makers of course - you still can't get your money back on a Bob T. and you can barely break even with a Lightfoot, Elishewitz and several other well known makers of high quality folders.
I understand that the rich have gotten richer in America (and other places) and that Bob Lum doesn't make many folders and that Marlowe's folder production has dropped to make more balisongs and that Kit is a very fine maker. What blows me away is that while all three make very fine work, there is nothing inherently unique about the pieces. Phil Boguszewski has earned an astronomical increase in price becase he makes very few pieces per year as well, but he also makes a mechanical flipper that really totally unique in the industry. Scott told me that he had several years when he had virtually no orders for the Combat Utility and now he has them coming out of his ears (including three I have on order).
Am I missing something, or is there just some kind of spontaneous recognition of quality that just wasn't there for all those years that Bob, Charles, Kit and Scott were cranking out quality work?
No negativity intended or implied on the makers that aren't seeing this kind of wild appreciation in value. I understand supply and demand and all, but sheesh!