I gots a pretty nice knife here that I have no need for. As you well know, I've quit COLLECTING stuff and have been in to SELLING stuff, so it's got'ta go. As usual, it's headed for eBay if nobody here wants it. Here's the back story. I had a buddy who loved knives and had a small collection. He passed away from a heart attack early this year and I helped his sister (one of our closest friends for over 30 years) clean out his apartment, sell his car for her and even helped with funeral arrangements (he was a veteran). She sent his knives to their brother in California, but gave me one of them for helping out. So, that's how I acquired it and it's been sitting on my desk ever since. It's time to make it go away.

It's hand made in France and here's a video from the company (it's in French, but has subtitles).

https://www.fontenille-pataud.com/th...full-video.mp4

If you go to the website, the knife is shown here: https://www.fontenille-pataud.com/en...alo-horn.html#

The difference is, my knife does not have the Laguiole logo inscribed on the blade, rather it has the numbers L15-136. I don't know the significance of these numbers and I'm assuming Laguiole is not inscribed because the blade is a Damascus steel finish. (?) At the hinge point is the GILLES logo on one side and Hand Made in France on the other. The knife also has a nice sheath (leather case with sharpening steel) with the FONTENILLE PATAUD website stamped into the inside of the strap.

The pricing from the website shows the case listed at 39 Euros ($46.00) and the knife STARTING at 119 Euros ($140.50). Since the knife has a Damascus blade and the one on their website is plain, I'm assuming the Damascus steel was an extra cost option (but could not find the option listed on their website). I'm thinking this knife may be an earlier version as their website says this model has no GILLES inscription, although this one does. There is also a testimonial from a previous buyer alluding to the extra cost of the Damascus option:

My Laguiole arrived today and is a real work of art which I will treasure and eventually pass down to my son. One day, I hope I will be in a position to buy a Damascus version.

So, I guess the BASE price (total) is $186.50 plus whatever the Damascus option costs. There is a Laguiole Sport knife offered with the Damascus blade and they're QUITE pricey ($750-$3130). I'm wondering if this particular knife was a special edition at one time, hence the number L15-136 on the Damascus blade?

Anyway, I'm just putting some feelers out here to see if anyone is remotely interested while I continue with my research. If not, I'll prolly throw it up on eBay as an auction piece if I can't find an accurate value for it. Hopefully the eBay crowd will know it's worth and the bids will reflect it. (FWIW, I HATE auctions and only use them if I don't know what something is worth)