How does one determine knife values?

[Daezee]

I've had requests for "are there any knives in the Sawman Estate?" So, I and his wife and a trusted friend of his gather all of them up today and I brought all home. 1 box the widow says are valuable as she got them out of a safe. Other box is called not valuable as they were not kept in a safe. I saw military knives in the not valuable box. To me, not a knife person, there are a lot of them. How does one determine value for purposes of selling for the estate? Ones he carried in the military often have his initials and sometimes his rank on the sheath and sometimes on the metal. To me, such provenance could either reduce the value or enhance the value. (Note: I did find his Trident pin and Seal patches in an ammo can marked "MISC"...all that can contents are being kept by his wife.

Somethings are easy...a new looking SOG tomahawk I found on Amazon for $33.18, so that I'd probably put out for $25 (or buy it myself to carry in my Mule). So I guess I start IDing them and looking for ads on the Internet. I don't want to inadvertently either rip off a buyer or give away a valuable piece to someone not being honest with me. I would think anything marked "CHINA" would be cheap. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Grits1/5]

eBay selling prices are probably your best price guide..

 

[Welldoya]

Yep, most likely anything marked China is cheap and not worth much.
Brand names such as Case, Buck, Schrade, Benchmade, Kabar etc should be pretty easy to find comps.
Just be advised some of the older models are worth more than the newer models of the same knife. Look for Made in USA.
I would be interested in any Puma knife you might be selling.

 

[ccc]

I like Case and Old Timers Deazee

 

[Duckyou]

Knives are like guns - they can look like shot but still be worth a lot. Best put together a list of brand and pictures and start looking at resent sales prices.

FYI- I am interested in any auto and assisted opening knives…

 

[5lima30ret]

Made in Japan especially Sekia (sp?) is worth much more than made in China as well.

 

[DGladden]

Bladeforums.com would be the place to ask. You have to be a paid member to discuss values, but it may be worth it to get an idea of the current market value.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[Daezee]

Thanks for the tips. Counted knives in the not valuable box and found 24. One caught my eye, a Victorinox with the main knife blade marked in French which translates to Swiss Officer. That’ll go with my Swiss firearms and items. Found a used one that looks less used than this one for $24. The supposed valuable box had 21 knives in it. I gotta lotta work.

 

[no woryz]

I doubt Bill’s Randall gets listed for sale but if it does I’d buy that… he talked me into getting one but I haven’t found the one I wanted yet…

 

[Welldoya]

I doubt Bill’s Randall gets listed for sale but if it does I’d buy that… he talked me into getting one but I haven’t found the one I wanted yet…

I didn’t even think about Randall. Way above a poor retiree’s means.

 

[Longtooth]

Id be interested in his Microtech knives. Depending on which ones are listed.

 

[kendive]

Yep, most likely anything marked China is cheap and not worth much.
Brand names such as Case, Buck, Schrade, Benchmade, Kabar etc should be pretty easy to find comps.
Just be advised some of the older models are worth more than the newer models of the same knife. Look for Made in USA.
I would be interested in any Puma knife you might be selling.

I have a few Puma knifes they are nice. Don't forget about Marbles Knifes back before they went full retard china. I also have a few from there Custom Line from back in the day and a bunch of other valuable knifes. I have not looked into value at all.

@RidgeRunner Dan might know a thing or two about knifes.

 

[Welldoya]

I have a few Puma knifes they are nice. Don't forget about Marbles Knifes back before they went full retard china. I also have a few from there Custom Line from back in the day and a bunch of other valuable knifes. I have not looked into value at all.

@RidgeRunner Dan might know a thing or two about knifes.

I had a friend in high school who’s dad was German. He used to bring out his Puma collection to entertain us boys.
I think he had every Puma made.
So when I went to Germany in 1988 I bought several and have picked a few up here and there since.
Like everything else, the newer ones are cheaper and not made in Germany but I believe some of them are still quality.

 

[Jdcujo]

I had a friend in high school who’s dad was German. He used to bring out his Puma collection to entertain us boys.
I think he had every Puma made.
So when I went to Germany in 1988 I bought several and have picked a few up here and there since.
Like everything else, the newer ones are cheaper and not made in Germany but I believe some of them are still quality.

Now I gotta go look up puma knives

 

[Daezee]

A member with retail experience in that field has generously offered to help value the knives, so I'll try to get together with him next week. As part of our agreement, since he'll be seeing items before other forum members, he will also back off from offering to buy any knives other than 2 he'd previously talked to me about when he learned I'd be selling Sawman estate items (for example, he wanted to buy a Sawman owned Gerber dagger...turns out there are 5 Gerber daggers of different designs/lengths, so that part of the request will be easy to comply with). He will be assigning "value" vs what a reasonable selling price at this time and area would be so as to not have to sit on an items forever waiting for it to sell. I also have a few requests for specific makes that if present will be made known to the requesting persons.

 

[Duckyou]

A member with retail experience in that field has generously offered to help value the knives, so I'll try to get together with him next week. As part of our agreement, since he'll be seeing items before other forum members, he will also back off from offering to buy any knives other than 2 he'd previously talked to me about when he learned I'd be selling Sawman estate items (for example, he wanted to buy a Sawman owned Gerber dagger...turns out there are 5 Gerber daggers of different designs/lengths, so that part of the request will be easy to comply with). He will be assigning "value" vs what a reasonable selling price at this time and area would be so as to not have to sit on an items forever waiting for it to sell. I also have a few requests for specific makes that if present will be made known to the requesting persons.

Good people.

 

[Daezee]

The collector/knowledgeable (compared to me!) with years in the business finished his examination of all the knives today. A $5 pile, a $10 pile, a $20 pile and individually priced knives were made. On individually priced ones, what they've sold for recently and a reasonable price for this area were established. Price for this area and to move them was less and is what they'll be offered for. To a non-knife person (me) I was surprised at the low value of some neat looking ones and the higher value of others.

Sawman's Model 14 Randall was sold to the first person that had asked about it and for the entire amount Sawman had valued it at and had told his wife to not take less than that; his wife is very happy with that sale and I was amazed at the value. It will be a prized part of his collection. True to his word, the knowledgeable person said he wanted to buy more, but would wait until the other knives are offered on the forum and others have a chance at them.

For members in this thread that asked about specific makes, I've taken photos and will be sending them via PM today. I'll then start posting in the for sale section, probably tomorrow. And, FWIW, the Swiss Officer's knife I wanted was valued at $20...just what my research showed I should pay for it.

 

[DoubleDee]

Puma knives made in Germany are very good knives. I have a couple and really like them.

 

[Southernlost]

Huge knife collector here ..there's a few fb groups to move knives that can be sold quickly and easily and avoid eBay as well as eBay sometimes can pull money that is not equal to real world local values

 

[fl57caveman]

I didn’t even think about Randall. Way above a poor retiree’s means.

5-6 yrs waiting time for a new one..