Sears Craftsman Tall Tale 141BH

Jackie and Larry, between the two of you (and I'm thinking grey menace as well), we could probably show a match for every fixed blade catalog add ever printed:D ! Really nice, mint collections guys. And Michael, excellent research as usual:thumbup:

Eric
 
Roland,the "secret" is to start collecting Schrades at least 6 years ago.....I was like a kid in a Toy Shop in the Schrade Section on Ebay and there was little need to settle for much less than Mint.....then I built up friendships/trust <I know sounds hard to believe for me!> with Schrade dealers/ collectors who then offered me items direct bypassing Ebay.I had access to a lot of the "wall" collection and Schrade factory clearance knives.Wish I had bought more but couldn't afford them even though by todays prices they were absolute bargains.
e.g. I was offered and bought a complete box full of the orange handled USA MIB Schrade 147OT's Pro Fisherman's @$11 each, 2 complete sealed boxes <12 in each> in consecutive numbers Camillus 100 year anniversarys with coins shown on my 'corner' on lrv's site.15 mint sets of mixed GDOT's 1974/75 with 6 of the GDOT Barlows sets in consecutive numbers...
those "Wall" Mint 2OT's and 3OT's shown in Sargents I have .....which I got both for less than the cost of one 2OT now on Ebay... my choice of any number of 70 Mint in Box USA 153UH Golden Spikes <I bought 15 @ $15> bulk Mint in Case USA Schrade Stag handled DU LB7's <I bought half dozen>none of these knives ever saw an Ebay auction..I could never have competed on Ebay on price....these bulk collections are/were available if you build up trusted contacts...apart from the scarce orange handle USA 1470's which I'm sorry to report most I sold/gave away to fisherman mates down at our local wharfs because of their excellent blades, I still have mostly everything I have ever bought....hope this is not "talking Turkey dinners to a Biafran"...just an insight since you asked...... of what was available.....and may be again if my wife has her way!...Hoo Roo
 
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Larry, your account above is very interesting to those of us who have begun our Schrade collecting more recently.
however, to take advantage of what was offered, you had to know Schrade knives fairly well. i.e. it didn't just happen, you must already have put a lot of homework in.
so at present there's ebay and direct offers from other collectors. that's what i'm missing then, 'cause i haven't had any offers yet ! but that's o.k.
"hunting" on ebay is a lotta fun even if the knife scored isn't like the "mints" shown here.
actually i did just score a "mint" for $13.50.
i'll post on it when i can get some pics.
roland
 
Sounds like you sure did your work Larry.I started collecting a while ago, about 12 years ago and Schrades just weren't a real big deal,seemed like everyone was on the Case bandwagon. You could pick up Schrades super cheap, i could never afford the prices they get now, especially some of the anniversary models. we have alot of antique and second hand stores here in Washington which were very helpful, and i got in with people at knife shows, and i later got alot through Blue Ridge Knives which was one of the companies that bought most of the warehouse stock,its been alot of fun and i'm not done yet, happy collecting,G.M
 
Another thread where photos have survived...Sears Craftsman....many unique early Schrade/Imperial knives in these photos...very hard to find now in this condition....enjoy.....
 
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