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Your knife collection - Personal likes or for Monetary value?

I buy what I like, not for my descendents monetary benefits. If they can make money on them when I take the dirt nap all the more power to them. Some are over 113 years old now, the knives not my descendents.
 
A lot of my collection probably wouldn't be considered desirable to a lot of folks that's why its personal picks for me. I bought a very old schrade Barlow with bone handles that was scratched and scored and the blades had been sharpened to nubs, but it was my first real bone handled knife and I'll keep it.
 
Only people making money off this hobby is the dealers and manufacturers. Maybe if you get lucky and are able to buy out the entire collection cheap from the widow of a knife collector. But that's not really investing in knives, that's stealing from widows. :(

So I just buy what I like, with the full expectation that if I were to want to sell them I'd be lucky to get 50% back, after you include auction and PayPal fees plus shipping.
 
I collect what I like I dont collect to try and make money down the road. I dont see how buying to make money later something u dont even like can be fun! I think me and alot of others collect because its fun to us
 
All of mine are users. I got most of them to try different blade steels and heat treatments from different companies. Some I bought just because I loved the design.
 
I collect for personal enjoyment and its fun to have and use a different variety of knives, although my favorite knives that I try to buy most often are large, heavy duty folders. I dont buy knives to flip them or ones that I wont use, that doesnt appeal to me. Im selective with what I buy, mostly about quality and country of origin, I dont care about stuff like bulk in pocket, weight, deep carry clips or other things that so many people seem to fuss about:D
 
Personal likes. I doubt I'd ever get more for my knives than I've paid for them.

If I keep them nice I might be able to sell them for what I paid for them.
 
I collect knives because there's just something about knives that I really like. But I also like that almost all of the knives I have will retain their value, since I mainly go for limited editions, discontinued knives, and knives that are "mainstream."
 
For me, if it doesn't get used, I sell it or give it away. The only time I will keep a knife that I don't use is if it was something I inherited.
 
I buy mine usually for the purpose of a type of "task". A camping knife. A whittling knife. A garden knife. A crappy knife I keep around for the purpose of lending to "someone who I know is going to not care for it", a garage knife, etc...
 
A bit of both. I collect the knives I want, but I put a lot of focus on possible investments as well. Some of the SAKs I've managed to snatch up go for prices higher than I'm willing to pay outright. So if I can get them for about $5 a knife, I stand to make some measure of profit a few years down the line.
 
Mostly personal likes. I have never sold a knife. That said, I do have more than a handful in my safe that are strictly for investment. But even these are knives that I like. If they don't get sold, no biggie. They certainly aren't intended as a source of retirement income. ;)
 
I buy what I like. That being said, what I like frequently is also what tends to hold value but not always. <P> IMO, Randall Made Knives are investment grade. Not as in retirement or anything like that but as some sort of diverse hedge for a knife nut sure. Purchase a half dozen or so Randalls that you like, put them in a safe and enjoy looking at them over the years. In twenty or thirty years you will probably come out ok.
 
PCL said:
My initial drive to collect was personal and I wanted knives of all shapes and sizes. I have a modest collection of 70 knives, tomahawks, machete's, folding knives (modern and old), fixed blades (modern and old).
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That's what I did, and still do, buying a wide variety of bladed items. Just whatever catches my eye. Sure learn a lot and end up with some interesting stuff. However I would call that "Accumulating" rather than "Collecting" since the knives were bought for no particular reason.

After years of Accumulating I have 'settled' on a few areas in which to specifically Collect. I do it for the historic interest, curation and education, and the friendly competition.

Just curious about the reasons behind other peoples choices. And who keeps collections for retirement money.
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I don't think buying pocketknives is a good investment. It's just too difficult to predict which knives will increase in value, and whether there'll even be a future market. Of course it's a fine way to spend money not needed for retirement. :)
 
At first, I bought what looked cool to me. As I got older, I started buying knives just as I would any tool for a specific task. However, once I started gaining an appreciation for what materials were better and what manufacturers offered better workmanship, that had the inevitable result of carrying with it higher price tags. At that point, I started searching for "high value" knives that I could afford but would also be well suited for certain roles. For the knives I liked best but also wanted to put to good use, I bought duplicates.

At this point, most of my knives would have little or no significance to anyone except other knife enthusiasts. Very few are vintage, custom, rare or otherwise desirable to most people. Several do have some degree of sentimental value to me, though, and will be handed down or given as gifts as I get older. In the meantime, there are those that I take out of the case and "play" with, and others that stay put.
 
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