"Rare" being the question

M

Mountainwind

Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
980
Looking on Ebay, you search for two weeks, and only one knife that you have been wanting, has been listed.
So you bid, even paying more than it's worth, just because you can't find another one.
After paying twice what it's worth, more then show up, the same day even, going for half the price. (yep, been there).
Codgers remark about the XT7B only being made for a few months, made me wonder, what will be rare of the modern Schrades.
I don't see a lot of the 13ot's, or 14ot's. I would like to find some of the rare one's before collectors grab them all.
Ideas anyone?
 
The reason the so called "rare " knives show up after a high sale, is that people are hoping to get the same bucks. I bought one knife for near $80, and a second one shortly after for less than $30. Go Figure!
Also, I've seen sellers add their knife to sell the same day as a similar one; I would guess hoping to find some people looking at the first one, which only one of them will succeed in buying. Some do show up in "clusters".
 
The very short time I have been around the boards have led me to one conclusion regarding Schrade products. It seems often times changes were made "on the fly" on the production floor. Some models hit catalogs but never made it out the door. Handle materials changed mid-stream. Patterns appeared, disappeared, re-appeared, etc. Some designs had very small runs while other, very similar patterns might last for decades. If this is true, then I would suspect determining "rarity" would be a tough thing to do.

Again the above is only my opinion; I could easily be wrong. One thing that is true, though. I always recommend to collect what you like, not what you think will appreciate in value. If the things you enjoy can also make you money, win-win. If not, you've still enjoyed your collecting.
 
Ebay sales are strange concerning Schrade knives...earlier today I was trying to get an Avatar AV-7 US made ( I don't know much about this knife...just kind of liked it...so if anyone knows anything about it I would appreciate the lesson)...the bidding got up to 27 bucks and I quit. Later this evening I find another one on e-bay and win it for 12 bucks...I might be wrong, but I swear that this morning there was only one of them for sale, and this afternoon/evening there were 2 or 3 more. Oh well...hopefully I got a decent deal and will enjoy the knife.
 
Shill bidding is where a seller has a friend, or someone, bid up the price! They may be trying to see how high they can push you!!
My personal experience; I quit, like you did, on a knife after upping my bid 3-4 times. Got an email the next morning offering me the same knife for my highest bid, saying there was a problem with the other buyer!! I smelled a rat, and told him to forget it, then watched to see what happened. The seller did not leave the other bidder negative feedback!!
In fact neither one left the other feedback.
May or may not be an indicator of bullsh*t; I have a strong intuition, but can't prove it.
Needless to say, I'm more careful, and bid near the end of the auction now, if I don't know the seller.
Caveat Emptor!
 
I contacted ebay about a clear case of shill bidding, but it was a waste of time. There is a seller who has about 40 to 50 new Case knives for sale at any one time and there is this one bidder who is listed as a bidder on every single item. In fact he was bidding on four or five of the exact same items(say Case yellow handle CV peanuts) at the same time. His feedback score was only 8, yet if you clicked on it, you could see that he had over 300 "purchases" from this buyer. I watched this go of for weeks and when I reported it, ebay came back and said they did an investigation, but could not find any evidence of wrongdoing. This shill bidder was bidding only enough to guarantee the seller a pretty fair price. They didn't appear to be going too far. I guess it was his way of not having to list a reserve price. I don't do business with people like that, so I will never bid on any of his/her items.
 
Eyegor ( nice name ) anyway I feel you are absolutely correct. I have said from the beginning of my collecting of Schrades ( some 50 years ) that one of the things that makes the study so interesting is that you may find anything. I bought around a half dozen Schrade knives last week. I am sure that many people would have looked at some of the pieces that I bid and wonder why I would have spent the amount of money that I did. Well like anything speculation is part of why we do some things however as with the stock market informed speculation is often the difference in material value as time goes on. In my particular situation the money while it always must be considered is not the mitigating circumstance. Also as the saying goes knowledge is power. There are many facts stories and nuances some which will be lost forever but like anything else if known allow many of the building blocks of this history to fall into place. the R&D room ( research and development ) turned out things that almost no one has ever seen. I have a complete set of pics taken just before smokey took control of the collection. In fact I was taking pics when there truck was rolling in. Unfortunately not real great pics ( since I am not a photographer ) but good enought to validate a lot of items which might otherwise definitely be questioned. I do not always hit a home run but, a gamble ain't a gamble if you know what cards will come up. Consistant winners are not usually the ones who rely soley on luck.

As far as the subject of EBAY and shill bidders well lets say this, EBAY is not our buddy they have no sense or care for right or wrong they like the communist Chinese ( just thought I would get that cheap shot in ) have there own agenda and care about one thing MONEY. there family type bull, like lets all go to Vegas and meet the ebay boss for a party are simply a way to make more money. Rules are not enforced because of what is right and wrong but only because of the possibility of culpability by Ebay. Shilling while unethical apparently can be done. Automatic knives if reported get taken off however many go through ( because they are not reported ) usually it is the rare stuff that gets taken off ( bidding gets to high and someone who wants it reports it and then makes the seller a private offer when it is taken off ). You can put on Japanese WWII items but not German. Certain memorbilia from groups that are not socially acceptable get taken off. I do not agree with the KKK however I agree with there right to have there opinion ( no matter how stupid ). If you are going to disallow these items then do not allow stuff from the NAACP.

I buy and sell on EBAY. In life we deal with a lot of people we may not totally agree with or even like however that is the way it is. Ebay is the best game in town however it is not perfect and will never even come close until logic and reason become at least a partial concern in there policys and that will never happen as long as we still use money. LT
 
The only thing you can do is keep checking ebay, or look periodically at bruce voyles online auctions and sales, or check vintage knvies.com

The same thing happens to me, I look for something find it, pay more than its worth, than another shows up! You never can tell!!

I bought one of the old blue ridge winchester teardrop jacks in the 80's when they came out. Years later I sold it. Then kept looking for another and after 10+ years of looking some go for sale on ebay. I buy two of them paying more than twice what they originally cost. I get the knives, they both are defective! After talking to the dealer who lied to me about their condition, I send them back. I would have given the benefit had this person not been in the knife business. So I finally, after much dealing with this person, I get my money back.

Then about a couple months later, I see one on ebay! I pay half of what one of the other ones had cost me!! So you never know what will happen!!!

I say, just keep looking!!! When it comes to Schrade, there were quite a bit of nice old knives produced. Many were worn out as that's what people bought them for, but there are ones still out there. You just have to keep an "eye" out! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top