I remember when these little weirdo knives started showing up about 4 years ago on Ebay. You can research them emerging right in this forum. Back then old forum members were saying WTF are these things? Even people that worked at the factory had not seen them.
They were very limited in numbers. They were sold in sports magazines, given internally as awards, and the salesmen gave them to favorite customers. This is what I've found from people that owned them from the start. I've contacted every seller and asked them, this is what they said. Several got them from an estate sale, or did not know the history.
Some comments when they first appeared were similar to Calvin's comments in a similar thread, and people were paying well over $100.00 then. That was just the LB-4, and then the other two started showing up every now and then too. I've seen thousands and thousands of Schrade USA knives sell on Ebay and I've seen about 15 of these three patterns combined. Supply and demand plays a big part in pricing.
They are not anything special as far as how they were made. The patterns were not popular or they would have made them longer and they'd be like the rest. A used one is mighty rare. I've seen two that were used.
I don't understand it all either, but it all has to do with the blade and handle obsession living in many forum members in varying degrees, and comes out in different ways. Some buy lots of knives, some spend a lot of money. Some do both.
