A pretty nice haul ... I hope.

[Thumper]

I went to an estate sale this morning and I think I did pretty well. I picked up about $250-$300 worth of vintage hand tools, a cool antique lamp (value unknown, haven't researched yet), a nice, vintage Wilton shop vise as well as a bunch of little crap I can't even recall. (most is still in my truck) I went through the kitchen and started digging for cast iron (found a couple no-names with heat rings, but didn't even grab 'em), then I hit the kitchen drawers to search for some decent kitchen knives (a BIG part of my eBay business). It was a pretty big disappointment and after going through all the drawers finding nothing but junk stamped "Made in Taiwan ... or China", I spotted one in the back of a drawer that caught my eye. I've only found one before, but I recognized it immediately. It was a Case tomato knife. Generally, not a knife the average person would get excited about, but they're pretty rare as they weren't all that popular. Why did my eyes light up when I spotted it? It the same knife they used to make Eddie Kruger's glove for Nightmare on Elm Street and Kruger fans pay dearly for the silly things! They will bring $200 all day long (I paid a quarter). Then, in a drawer across the room in a little breakfast nook kinda area, I spotted another nice Case ... just a simple paring knife, but a POPULAR paring knife which brings around $50-$60. Between the two, I have $0.50 invested. Check your kitchen drawers for an Eddie Kruger knife! Here's a pic of ol' Eddie hisownfineself with his tomato knife glove ... as well as the kitchen knives I picked up today.

DSCN6232.JPG Freddy_Krueger.JPG


Now for the biggie of the day ... I dug out a box of large, fixed blade knives and started looking through the stash. Cool ... I dragged out 6 Gerbers, 4 Bucks and 4 others that I can't even recall now (they're still out in my truck). I do know one of them was a neat old French, Oyster shucking knife.

vintage-rowoco-oyster-shucking-knife-france.jpg

Anyway, they had some ridiculous price on the box of knives ... $1700 I think. I offered $500 and they gave it to me. Gulp, I didn't expect them to accept it, but they called my bluff. I haven't really checked to see what I have yet, but I should be able to make a buck or two. (I hope) The SUCKY part? For some silly reason, the scabbards and cases for the knives were in a separate box, but some dufe picked up the box and bought the whole thing for $40.00! They told me they would have included it with my knives if they'd realized what it was. Dang it!!!

I can't complain ... my total tab was $520.00 .... now I just need to sell sumpin'!

[Thumper]

Well, it's a rainy day here right now, so I decided to drag those knives out of the box and take a look at them, then snapped a quick pic to post here. They all appear to be new, but they're coated with some type of thick grease or oil of some sort. It cleans right off, but I decided to leave the stuff on them until I get ready to take photos and list them on eBay. From the top, the four on the left are all Bucks and the six on the right are all Gerbers. The others are various makers and I haven't even researched any of them yet. Two (including one of the Gerbers) are folders. That square thing in the center is one of those silly, brass belt buckles with a knife you can remove to stab bad guys with. I kind of stepped up to the plate with these things, but I should be able to turn a small profit ... I hope.


knives.jpg

[Bwana]

How much for the little Buck, 3rd from the top?

[Thumper]

I pulled 'em out'ta the box, snapped the pic, then put 'em all back in the box. I'll pull it out a bit later and figure out what it is, then get back to you Bwana. We're having a heck of a thunderstorm right now and I keep losing my i-net connection.

[Bwana]

I assume you have the sheath too?

[Thumper]

I assume you have the sheath too?

Well, you just lost a few points off your noticer status.

Thump quote:

The SUCKY part? For some silly reason, the scabbards and cases for the knives were in a separate box, but some dufe picked up the box and bought the whole thing for $40.00! They told me they would have included it with my knives if they'd realized what it was. Dang it!!!

Bwana, you may have a good eye there. I pulled that knife and have been trying to research it, but it's getting difficult. It's starting to look like a pretty rare item. (I think)

Here's what's going on so far:

1) It's an early, one-line Buck, (so there is no model number on the blade), which narrows it down to 1961 - 1967.

2) The name "BUCK" is inverted ... which throws it into a whole 'nuther can o' worms ... BUT .... the "Buck" is followed by an asterisk (inverted BUCK*), which makes it even more rare as they were only made for a short period in 1967.

Heck, so far, I haven't even had time to figure out which model this thing is, but I believe it's a vintage 118 Skinner (?).

It's slow moving, but I'll get there. What slows me down is knowing this guy was a collector, so he may have some odd-ball (as in rare)knives that may be misidentified if I don't really do my research. Then again, he may have been a dufus collector and nothing he had is special in any way. All these knives are new. I understand he would buy them, then immediately put them into his display case. (That's how the knives got separated from their sheaths.)

I see no outward signs on ANY of them that they've ever been used, carried or sharpened.

[Thumper]

Here's some of what I'm dealing with trying to identify these knives. The blades are generally referred to as "one-line (BUCK), two-line (BUCK-USA) and three-line (BUCK-model number-USA)" Bucks. Then you can throw in the knife you're interested in, which is just referred to as a "BUCK asterisk". Throw in some "inverted" Bucks, and it starts to get a bit crazy. Then in 1986, they started to use codes next to the model # ...


buck-datecode-graphic2.jpg


.... the 110's and 112's used a series of dots:


1974-1980
One dot on each side of model number

1980-1981
One dot on left side, two dots on right side

1981-1986
Two dots on each side

[LJ3]

It must be a crappy picture then because those bucks sure do look used to me.

[Thumper]

Sheeesh! Of course it's a crappy pic, I took it! BUT .... whatever happened to the finely-honed noticer skills that used to be so prevalent around this joint? Yes, they DO look like crap in the pic.


Thump quote:

They all appear to be new, but they're coated with some type of thick grease or oil of some sort. It cleans right off, but I decided to leave the stuff on them until I get ready to take photos and list them on eBay.

[LJ3]

I noticed Lynn keeps calling me to meet up with her. Does that count?

[Thumper]

Come on down ... we'll go for a little canoe ride ... I know one hungry gator who'd like to see you again.

[LJ3]

Hehehehe, I was telling some people that story last Friday and they didn't believe me! I just about called you and put you on speaker!

Who knew I could row backwards so well!

[Thumper]

The fun part was, I was paddling FORWARD as hard as you were paddling BACKWARDS .... (I just didn't tell you).

[LJ3]

I know you were! Which makes you an asshole You should be ashamed for scaring an innocent Virginian like that!