Codger_64
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- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Messages
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I see people, collectors and users, frequently lament that the genuine U.S.A. made Schrade Sharpfingers are hard to find and overly expensive if found at all, I tend to disagree for several reasons.
First, if one knows what to look for to identify them, and looks in the right places, there are plenty available in every condition imaginable from relic to lightly used to new in the box.
Second the cost vs. value. If I take the original MSRP of $14 in 1973 and do inflation calculations to today's dollars, that same MSRP would be $82.05 in 2020. The disconnect it seems is when comparing modern import copies sale prices which is apples and oranges. Reversing the MSRP on the copies from today's dollars to 1973, we find a knife that would have sold back then for $4.74.
Third, apparent rarity and availability today. For many years I and others have repeated the information given by former employees of Schrade that the Sharpfinger was the most produced fixed blade made by the company, taking the statement as gospel without any real proof of the claim. So I decided to check the actual reported end of year production figures available, 1973-2002. Thirty years of the thirty two years it was produced.
The survey was complicated and time consuming as the report format changed several times over the years. Often special orders were obscured by product numbers specific to major customers where the pattern itself is not spelled out. Additionally seconds, remainders and reprocessed products aren't specified.
I did my survey in three ten year tranches. 1973 - 1982, 1983 - 1992, 1993 - 2002. Beginning with 1973, the first mention of the 152OT in production reports with 9,533 pieces shipped (Baer called this 'filing the pipeline') the final combined production tally of the 152OT base knife for those thirty years was 3,118,099 knives shipped. This does not count varients such as the scrimshaws, Uncle Henrys or other limited or special editions. Those add another approximate quarter of a million pieces of the pattern.
As the pattern is uncomplicated in construction, resistant to wear and damage under normal use and quite impervious to destruction, a good percentage of those approximate 3 1/2 million knives survive today circulating in and out of the market. Retail prices vary from one venue to the next and even seasonally. So I am reluctant to pin down prices such as one finds in popular price guides. Each buyer has his/her own criteria for determining what is a reasonable price to pay considering all factors.
First, if one knows what to look for to identify them, and looks in the right places, there are plenty available in every condition imaginable from relic to lightly used to new in the box.
Second the cost vs. value. If I take the original MSRP of $14 in 1973 and do inflation calculations to today's dollars, that same MSRP would be $82.05 in 2020. The disconnect it seems is when comparing modern import copies sale prices which is apples and oranges. Reversing the MSRP on the copies from today's dollars to 1973, we find a knife that would have sold back then for $4.74.
Third, apparent rarity and availability today. For many years I and others have repeated the information given by former employees of Schrade that the Sharpfinger was the most produced fixed blade made by the company, taking the statement as gospel without any real proof of the claim. So I decided to check the actual reported end of year production figures available, 1973-2002. Thirty years of the thirty two years it was produced.
The survey was complicated and time consuming as the report format changed several times over the years. Often special orders were obscured by product numbers specific to major customers where the pattern itself is not spelled out. Additionally seconds, remainders and reprocessed products aren't specified.
I did my survey in three ten year tranches. 1973 - 1982, 1983 - 1992, 1993 - 2002. Beginning with 1973, the first mention of the 152OT in production reports with 9,533 pieces shipped (Baer called this 'filing the pipeline') the final combined production tally of the 152OT base knife for those thirty years was 3,118,099 knives shipped. This does not count varients such as the scrimshaws, Uncle Henrys or other limited or special editions. Those add another approximate quarter of a million pieces of the pattern.
As the pattern is uncomplicated in construction, resistant to wear and damage under normal use and quite impervious to destruction, a good percentage of those approximate 3 1/2 million knives survive today circulating in and out of the market. Retail prices vary from one venue to the next and even seasonally. So I am reluctant to pin down prices such as one finds in popular price guides. Each buyer has his/her own criteria for determining what is a reasonable price to pay considering all factors.
