Your Two Cents!

[jc57]

My Dad always taught me it was bad luck to give a knife; it must be sold so that the recipient did not feel beholden.
Thus the low price of a small coin evolved to retain the friendship.

I had no idea about this custom. I guess there are some people who think me rude for not sending them a coin in exchange for their gifts. I hope I kept their old mailing addresses. Now I just have to find some coins worthy of giving.

 

[leghog]

Shiny as a new penny should be.

 

[MT Damascus]

Our friend Duane sent me this dollar coin, it is with me every day.

Kris

 

[LeatherMan64]

I don't have access to the computer that houses my pictures, but I would like to add my two cents. A few months ago, the most generous Duane sent me three beautiful knives and, wrapped up alongside them, a silver '48 quarter. Now, looking back through this thread, I, like Scruffuk, realize that I too have a few coins of my own to send out thanks Duane for that great gift.

Edan

 

[Jack Black]

Here's a really cool 1896 penny from Mr. Jack Black that he sent me along with a 10 pence piece and a wonderful Frosts knife:





...I think I sent a coin his way when gifting a wee fixed blade to him...memory fails at times...but I usually put a coin or coins in with a knife when I gift them (unless I forget).

You certainly did kind sir. I'll try and find the photo

My Dad always taught me it was bad luck to give a knife; it must be sold so that the recipient did not feel beholden.
Thus the low price of a small coin evolved to retain the friendship.

I've spoken to people from scores of countries where it's also very traditional to ask for a coin when gifting a knife, it seems surprisingly universal.

 

[Jack Black]

You certainly did kind sir. I'll try and find the photo

Here we are

 

[jon_slider]

BTW, did you know I was born in 1944?

No, but I will take the credit for it anyway
I went to a coin store and pointed out two walking liberties that caught my eye. I simply liked the patina and appearance. I dont see well enough to read the dates. I might have figured out your birthday, because I knew you are about 8 years older than me, but thats not how you ended up with the 1944.

What happened is I got home, pulled out the magnifying glass, and looked at the dates of the two Liberties. I kept the older one, 1935, for myself because I liked that it contained the number 5 that is my birthday. The one with two 4's seemed appropriate to you, as it is during WW2 as are the steel pennies. So it was serendipity it ended up being also your birth year. I am sometimes psychic, but I did not invoke my superpowers of deduction this time, just blind luck, literally

Thanks yet again for adding to my trivia base, did not know it is considered bad luck in western culture to make someone beholden for a knife gift, and that a coin breaks the bad spell of obligation.

Curiously, the gifting of a Puukko carries a quite different connotation. Ive recently read it demonstrates a bond of friendship in which the giver in a way becomes a life mentor to the giftee, as the Puukko is a means of survival. Certainly for me, I took Duanes gift of the Dog Chew Puukko to heart as a deep gesture of care and support for my safety, comfort, and wellbeing.

Recently when I went camping without my hatched, the Puukko was the tool that split the wood for my evening fire. Hence Duane has already been responsible for my comfort and survival in the wilderness of Big Sur.

Dog Chew Puukko made this fire in the hole possible.

A few more pics of that outing here
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1137737

Plains Indians made fires in a hole to prevent being spotted across the prairie. The second hole adds air to the fire so it burns hotter and reduces smoke. There are other applications of two hole fires in indigenous cultures of the Americas, as cooking stoves, in which the second hole is used also to keep feeding fuel. The Malena in the following video is an interesting variation, along with various forms of rocket stove.

[video=youtube;qaFblm89oKU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaFblm89oKU[/video]

 

[Gevonovich]

A framed set of coins and knives from our brother Jack Black

 

[Shotgun]

If a knife is gifted, the requisite coins are given

Well not everyone believes in magic and superstition. If you enjoy that tradition that's cool but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's necessary or to say people who don't do this are somehow doing it wrong. Those are pretty cool pennies though. :thumbup:

 

[B.F.U]

My Dad always taught me it was bad luck to give a knife; it must be sold so that the recipient did not feel beholden.
Thus the low price of a small coin evolved to retain the friendship.

That's very interesting. Gift giving is a very interesting phenomenon. I like the idea of a small token in exchange, I had not heard of it before this thread.

 

[B.F.U]

Well not everyone believes in magic and superstition. If you enjoy that tradition that's cool but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's necessary or to say people who don't do this are somehow doing it wrong. Those are pretty cool pennies though. :thumbup:

I wasn't familiar with the coin tradition, but from what I have studied of gift giving it is not a response to superstitions but to the nature of gift giving. If you give someone a gift, the natural assumption is that they are in your debt. This is demonstrated in the many instances of opposing heads of states presenting gifts, in order to forge a somewhat forced alliance through debt. So the coin absolves the receiver of that debt, and therefore turns the gift from a marker of social debt to a show of friendship.

Or at least that's how it looks to me.

 

[leghog]

Well not everyone believes in magic and superstition. If you enjoy that tradition that's cool but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's necessary or to say people who don't do this are somehow doing it wrong. Those are pretty cool pennies though. :thumbup:

I just send a thank you note.

 

[jon_slider]

I just send a thank you note.

That is also a very kind gesture. Whatever feels good, is right. Now you have an excuse to go look at old coins too

Sometimes Im tempted to send a knife in return. Recently I received just such a suprise, I gave a knife to stich, no expectations of coin or anything else in return. To my great suprise, his thank you included a Camillus, which I of course now treasure:

 

[Campbellclanman]

A tradition I didn't know about before the addiction hit me.
I have lots of coins from great people- a lot who have posted here - but please accept my apologies as we are smack in the middle of shifting and it's impossible to unpack and set up any photos for some time.
Lovely reading everyone- I look forwRd to reading this once I settle down tonight after the big shift today.

 

[Shotgun]

I wasn't familiar with the coin tradition, but from what I have studied of gift giving it is not a response to superstitions but to the nature of gift giving. If you give someone a gift, the natural assumption is that they are in your debt. This is demonstrated in the many instances of opposing heads of states presenting gifts, in order to forge a somewhat forced alliance through debt. So the coin absolves the receiver of that debt, and therefore turns the gift from a marker of social debt to a show of friendship.

Or at least that's how it looks to me.

I've always heard it in reference to "severing a friendship" which to me is a superstition. I don't have any problem with the tradition itself if you believe in that sort of thing or just like getting cool coins. I just take issue with someone trying to obligate others into their beliefs. If I'm wrong on that account I apologize.

 

[B.F.U]

I've always heard it in reference to "severing a friendship" which to me is a superstition. I don't have any problem with the tradition itself if you believe in that sort of thing or just like getting cool coins. I just take issue with someone trying to obligate others into their beliefs. If I'm wrong on that account I apologize.

Oh no I totally understand what you mean. I'm not trying to say you are wrong at all

 

[sitflyer]

Curiously, the gifting of a Puukko carries a quite different connotation. Ive recently read it demonstrates a bond of friendship in which the giver in a way becomes a life mentor to the giftee, as the Puukko is a means of survival. Certainly for me, I took Duanes gift of the Dog Chew Puukko to heart as a deep gesture of care and support for my safety, comfort, and wellbeing.

Recently when I went camping without my hatched, the Puukko was the tool that split the wood for my evening fire. Hence Duane has already been responsible for my comfort and survival in the wilderness of Big Sur.

Dog Chew Puukko made this fire in the hole possible.

Jon, when I did that GAW I had hopes that someone who won it would enjoy and use that knife. It is with great interest and immense pleasure reading your posts and looking at the photos of you enjoying it. The personal reward for me is very great when I gift a knife and it is well received. Knowing that a friend made across many miles and sometimes across continents, by a simple act, will carry and use a tool that I have personally used, or had a hand in its present state of being, is just amazing to me!
My dad would always include a coin or coins with any knife he gave to one of us. I don't have any idea where he came up with this idea, but it was for luck, so the new owner wouldn't be cut by the knife.
If a wallet was gifted, it had to include at least a penny, so the new owner would never be broke...
Personally I don't have any superstitions about these things, but to me they just add to the fun of it all.

 

[Jack Black]

Asking for a coin in return for a knife is a traditional custom, not a superstition, and people can choose for themselves whether they want to follow that tradition, or not.

If someone gives you a knife and asks you for a penny, why on earth would anyone object to taking a coin out of their pocket?

 

[pertinux]

If someone gives you a knife and asks you for a penny, why on earth would anyone object to taking a coin out of their pocket?

Duane once sent me a knife and a penny.

I think he was trying to get rid of me.




~ P.



[I shall edit some knife picture/gift content into this post once I have the opportunity.]

 

[wazu013]

Makes cents to me:thumbup: