Are vintage knife collectors a dying breed?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Scott King on May 22, 2009 at 20:54

Mike
Good stuff. Thanks for the energy and reasoning you applied to answer the questions. I'll think on this and reply.

Permalink Reply by Steve wells on May 27, 2009 at 10:27

Mike you have nailed it. and for as me the top pryority is condition. It does not have to be mint but well taken care of. You will find alot of old knives counterfited, so have your ducks in a row on the pattern you are collecting. all way remeber its the HUNT that turns us on.

Permalink Reply by Roger Cunningham on May 27, 2009 at 14:47

I don`t think (hope) we are a dying breed.I think Mike summed up all the points pretty well. It seems the best, most desirable old knives don`t last for sale long,unless the price is really pushing the limits,Scott you know what I`m talking about.I do believe some collectors of newer knives will evolve to collect older stuff.

Permalink Reply by Steve wells on June 24, 2009 at 18:38

Just time will take care of the oldest knife. It will get to be a musem piece , and cloth gloves will hold it,and very few will ever touch it and fell the blance and the blade that was made to cut and scrape. No the oldest will not even sell , because who owns it will not let go. Yes the old knife collectors will fade, becuase there will be very few old knives to buy. So a hint to the new collector - buy a few now and cherish it the rest of your life.

Permalink Reply by Scott King on June 24, 2009 at 20:00

Interesting take here Steve.

I think fewer folks will be drawn to "old" knives, as we know them. Although new old knives will sought after at that point (new old knives are- knives that are new to us now...could be productions/customs and or tacticals). The old old knives- the ones we chase, will be fewer and fewer and more expensive to the point only a handful of collectors will chase them.

I have heard B Levine say "Rare knives are not always collectible"...meaning so few are in circulation folks can't/don't seek them.

Permalink Reply by Richard L Campbell (Dick) on June 24, 2009 at 20:14

I believe that the great old New York Knife Co., Remington, and Case knives in mint and near mint condition will always be in demand. There are also many old English knives that have been and always will be desirable, even with prices going out of sight. Northfield, Winchester, Shapleigh, E C Simmons, Russell and others will also continue to be collected. Just be sure you can tell if one of these jewels is authentic.

Permalink Reply by Scott King on July 27, 2009 at 19:46

I agree Dick. I think, like Roger C does, and that is there will always be a group of collectors, at least in our lifetime, who are into old knives- enough for us to be able to sell ours anyway :)

Permalink Reply by Rob Gregg on April 14, 2011 at 22:32

I wouldn't give up on the next generations of knife collectors. Very few of us had much of a sense of nostalgia in our younger days.  But most all of us in time come to appreciate a fine example of  an old collectible. And lets face it almost everything now-a-days is collectible. A young friend of mine started out trying to collect license plates from all 50 states for the year he was born. (1968) He did pretty well at first sticking to that goal. But it didn't take long before he couldn't stand it any longer and his collection began to grow with older and older plates. Been awhile since I talked to him, but at last count he had more then 300. It's the same with knife collecting. The "now" generation may start their collections with Spyderco's or maybe A/O Kershaws, but eventually they'll realize that there are WWI and WWII military knives that fit into the Tach category and they like my young friend won't be able to stand it. From there it might be Scout/Camp knives in general. Then they'll aquire a certain brand of one of those they particularly like and they'll be like, heck I'd sure like to have me a few more of these Camillus or Kabar, etc... knives. Sound familiar anyone? There was a point in time when I was dead reckoned on collecting nothing but Toothpicks. Yah right! No, I wouldn't give up on the next generations of knife collectors. If anything I see them to some degree being more aggresive collectors of the older knives then we are. Can't none of us take 'em with us, so there's bound to be an ample supply for many years to come. That's how I see it anyway.