A Question Not Often Discussed

mbjannusch

mbjannusch

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Apr 1, 2010
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Recently I have decided to attempt to collect the Buck Twin Sets. These sets were comprised of a 103 skinner and a 102 Woodsman(104 Twin set), or 118 and the 103 Skinner(115 Sportsman set), or a 116/103,(117 Trophy set). If any of you spend any time on the auction sights or as much time as I do on said sites, You will know that these sets don't come around very often. Buck made thes sets every year from pre incorporation days, all the way up until they fell off of the dealer catalog in 1990( the last years catalog was 1989). I was thinking about that the other day. Why don't we see these sets around as much as some of the other harder to find item. Just a thought, these were for hunting and in the process of ones trip they would get broken or lost. But this still doesnt explain there rarity. Is it because they arn't in production any more and the collectors have swept them all up, maybe. But with the amount of units made, dont you think they would be more prevelent. If from 1961 through 1989 they made these sets, that would be 28 years. This doesnt include the pre incorportation years. Where are they all???

Maybe they Buck fierys will monitor this page as they have done before and they will start showing up at auction.
 
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They may have made them for many years, but how many did they make each year???

My guess is the numbers were very, very low as compared to other knives.

Not much demand for an outfit like that from the average guy.

Maybe Joe has numbers in his computer?
 
True the demand for the product may have been small. But the demand was enough to keep the product line for 28+ years. The demand for a hunting with a higher than average price tag for the time was enough to keep the business afloat. If Joe has numbers somewhere I would love to see hard facts.
 
I finally got a twin set (104) It's hard to believe that there are not more avaliable...and the price they demand is a little crazy also...but patience pays off. Mine came from the auction site and I got it for quite a bit less than I had set as a maximum..some one must have fallen asleep or forgot to run up the bid :rolleyes:

Bob
 
Do you have the 115 set and 117 set reversed? Switch the 116 and 118 in the two sets.
I feel like you see one these sets once or twice a month at auction. That isn't exactly "unobtanium".

OK, I looked at completed auctions last 90 days
2 117 sets
6 115 sets
3 104 sets
That's 11 sets the last 90 days. Pretty good really.
 
I've not seen or handled any of the sets mentioned but was wondering if you can tell if an individual knife was part of a set at one time? My thinking was that people bought the set but found that they used one knife more than the other so they bought a sheath for it to use by itself. Along the way the double sheath is lost and the knives that started out as a set end up being sold here and there as individuals.
 
Even so, it's a good baseline.

When you compare more than 40 with 2 or 6 or 3......
 
mbjannusch said:
Recently I have decided to attempt to collect the Buck Twin Sets. These sets were comprised of a 103 skinner and a 102 Woodsman(104 Twin set), or 116 Caper and the 103 Skinner(115 Sportsman set), or a 118/103,(117 Trophy set). If any of you spend any time on the auction sights or as much time as I do on said sites, You will know that these sets don't come around very often. Buck made thes sets every year from pre incorporation days, all the way up until they fell off of the dealer catalog in 1990( the last years catalog was 1989). I was thinking about that the other day. Why don't we see these sets around as much as some of the other harder to find item. Just a thought, these were for hunting and in the process of ones trip they would get broken or lost. But this still doesnt explain there rarity. Is it because they arn't in production any more and the collectors have swept them all up, maybe. But with the amount of units made, dont you think they would be more prevelent. If from 1961 through 1989 they made these sets, that would be 28 years. This doesnt include the pre incorportation years. Where are they all???

Maybe they Buck fierys will monitor this page as they have done before and they will start showing up at auction.
Click to expand...

Well Matt,

Have fun on you 2X set hunt. Like Desoto said, in the last few months I have seen more of these sets for sale than I have in years. Also the price is down a bit from what they used to draw. It must be a sign of the hard times we are in. However, it is a good time to be on the hunt for those 2X sets.
jb4570
 
Yes DeSoto, thanks for getting the right knives w/ the correct models. Also, the twin set had a different number prior to incorporation. DM
 
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Please excuse the error, it's been changed. The point was not that these sets were unobtainable, just hard to come by. The sets DeSotosky mentioned were on auction and I was able to obtain one but a few of those sets were in terrible shape and I want collector pieces, not scraps of what was once a twin set. DeSotosky pointed out that in 90 days, 11 sets were at auction. 11 Sets are few and far between when there is 5000 knives at auction a week. Lets break this down even farther. Me being a collector, I am looking for a one line 115 set, or a two line 117 set with bone hard fiber spacers. How often do these sets come up? Yes the sets are out there but to find specific sets that fit into what you are doing/collecting, the reality is that these sets are hard to find. Badhammer pointed out the fact that some sets may have been broken up for one reason or another. In the same breath you can say that people may peace meal the sets together as well.

In response to DM statement that the sets had different model # proir to incorporation, he's right, in '61 the 103 was called a 110 and the Twin set was called a model 210 Twin set. I believe that the 210 set was the only one offered in a catalog. I'm sure you could have requested whatever you want and Buck would have made it. Thats just the way it worked back then, it must have been nice...
 
I agree.

What it boils down to is that there are very few sets up for sale and a good portion of those are pretty beat up.

The reason is, as I said before, these were not in great demand and were made in fairly low numbers (very low numbers as compared to a single 102 or 105, etc.).

It will take you a long time to find your specific collector quality sets (unless, of course, you're willing to pay high prices).

But that's ok......if it was too easy, it wouldn't be fun.

:)
 
I completely aggree, Its the chase that makes collecting fun. Just as long as the chase has a favorable end.
 
Good luck on your quest Matt as I am sure others will help with your collection. I will have an eye open and give you heads up if I run into any of the ones you are looking for. I know the feeling as I have 3 knives left to finish a Kabar Collection my cousin started, and have already started on the Bucks, Good Luck on your Hunt
 
I think these sets are much like the old Buck knives made by hand and created in a lean-to by Hoyt Buck, the numbers were incredible. It is estimated that Hoyt Buck made tens of thousands of the colorful lucite handled knives, so prized by collectors. Yet the numbers of known lucite knives are less than a few hundred, at the most. Would it make sense that as the older generation (WWII) give or take ten years, begin to leave our world that more of these hard to find knives will show up at auction and in estate sales and so forth. This generation was known for holding on to things for ever. Most that own them probably dont even know they have then let alone know that they are worth a small fortune.
 
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SCORE, I found a one line set with the old style strap keeper sheath. Its on its way and I will post pics when it arrives.

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE,


as long as you have the right amount of cash!!!
 
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