Frankenlisting from Old Bill

[tongueriver]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schrade-Walden- ... SwUKxYmcCr
Hmm. Tube says 825, sticker on knife says 832, and knife is neither one. Title says 3 5/8 inches (NOT!). Looks like buffalo horn, alright, but SW never did anything in buffalo horn. Well... no matter.... anything that comes up on the famous red background will sell for a stiff price from the Kindly Father.

[CheckSix]

Another esteemed eBay seller. Good grief!

[Chase]

A pure case of "Let's throw some SH@# at the wall and see what sticks" Lol

It's a shame because he does list some righteous Schrades from time to time, although usually very pricey

Tom

[Mustanger]

I'm seeing more and more mistakes like this from that seller. This one maybe being the worst. My guess has been that because he has gotten so big that he now has people working for him that don't have a clue. Just my guess from noticing mistakes made and sometimes changed or items being taken down and re-listed with corrections. It offends the sensibilities of collectors, but I don't mind too much. I have several knives in my little collection that I purchased at a bargain price because of the seller's mistakes and/or bad pictures. One that comes to mind is a Uncle Henry 168UH 'Walleye' filet knife. It was described as made in China with what looked like a copy/paste from the new Schrade website, IN VERY LARGE BOLD RED FONT. The word China was even used in the title at the top of the listing. The pictures clearly showed that the knife was a real Schrade from the paperwork, tang stamp and box. I got that knife for $25 in mint condition with all the trimmings. I have also gotten good deals on knives that were vaguely listed and not specific. Like, 'Schrade Knife For Sale', buy it now for $19. Turns out that it was a mint 100th Anniversary Uncle Henry 834UHS. Makes me wonder how many great deals I miss out on because they are listed in such a way as to stay off my radar.

[tongueriver]

Your theory may be true on some level, Mustanger. I hope I have not left the impression that the seller is malicious; I think all the errors I have seen have been honest mistakes. I don't think the man is on top of his game anymore but he is still making big money. What puzzles me is the buyer behaviour in the presence of his listings. I could list the same knife with better description and better images and not get a bite. His images, which are edited in such a manner as to not show the surface texture of the steel blade (burned out) always leave me wondering just what I am looking at. I have in the past bought some nice items from him. No bargains! I wonder how the nice buffalo horn handles got on that knife?

[kootenay joe]

Bill Swan might be the hardest working knife seller on ebay. He does it all himself, including driving hundreds of miles to look at a knife collection being offered for sale by family of deceased collector, etc. He also does his own packaging up & mailing, about 300 knives per week ! When you win from this seller it is always in the mail in under 24 hours.
In this instance the "832" sticker was there and knife in the 825 tube when Bill bought the collection. He passes them along to his buyers just as he gets them.
Question: difference between an 832 and the 834 ?
kj

[ea42]

Cal, I think he's mistaken the propwood or other wood that Schrade was using back then for buffalo horn. I've seen some of the wood handles that looked exactly like that with the light streaks through it. He does get some steep prices for some of his knives, I'll agree to that! Although with the exception of the occasional questionable ones and some obviously cleaned ones there have been a number of decent deals of late.

Eric

[Mustanger]

Your theory may be true on some level, Mustanger. I hope I have not left the impression that the seller is malicious; I think all the errors I have seen have been honest mistakes. I don't think the man is on top of his game anymore but he is still making big money. What puzzles me is the buyer behaviour in the presence of his listings. I could list the same knife with better description and better images and not get a bite. His images, which are edited in such a manner as to not show the surface texture of the steel blade (burned out) always leave me wondering just what I am looking at. I have in the past bought some nice items from him. No bargains! I wonder how the nice buffalo horn handles got on that knife?

No problem, I get it. I've followed that seller for quite a while and have seen the changes. Like mistakes in listings and the popularity of the seller grow at about the same rate as the prices that his knives sell for. More views by buyers = more competition = higher prices and less good deals. He currently has 2024 followers and 96 auctions listed. There are exceptions from time to time. Like a recent auction for a mint, complete 168UH that sold for $37.71, including postage. I think that's fair and I expected it to go much higher. But for the most part, his auctions go way too high for me. I have bought several knives from him in the past and still occasionally watch some of his auctions just in case they don't go crazy. I watched 3 or 4 of his auctions out of curiosity last week and they exploded, as usual. He is successful because he has good products and as his business grows it seems there are more mistakes in his listings and increased viewership means prices go up with increased competition. (Wrangler jeans are mostly poor quality "irregulars", now, ever since the Urban Cowboy movie came out and dude sales caused a market explosion. ) I agree that sometimes his pictures could be better. I often save pictures from auctions to my laptop and enhance them using Windows Photo Gallery 2012 to look for imperfections on a knife. It doesn't work every time but I can reduce glare, enlarge, brighten and sharpen fuzzy pictures. Sometimes when reducing glare, a blade etch appears that couldn't be seen before, or rust and wear. You are absolutely right about your listings or other's listings not bringing as much money to the table as his. He has become sort of a ebay rock star for knife collectors. An example of that is a couple of months ago I got out bid to the tune of $93.95 for a 787 Muskrat. As soon as that auction ended I searched for another one. Within an hour I bought a 787 of equal quality for more than $30 less on a BIN. That's kinda the nature of auctions anyway. It's frustrating for a guy like me on a tight budget seeing some really nice knives in his auctions go for ridiculous prices. Thank goodness he isn't reflective of "market value". He is an anomaly. And, what the hell, he deserves it. He works pretty hard, traveling alot to knife shows and such to bring nice knives to ebay and it's paid off. I wonder how his ebay earnings compare to his National Forest Service (or whatever it was) retirement?

[KnifeSlinger#81]

He is correct that it's an 832 at 3 5/8". Not correct on buffalo horn or the view pack. I think schrade called these handles wonda wood or something ridiculous.

[tongueriver]

He is correct that it's an 832 at 3 5/8". Not correct on buffalo horn or the view pack. I think schrade called these handles wonda wood or something ridiculous.

Not correct. It is, as the catalog cut says 3 5/16. The Propwood handles is the only thing differentiating the 832 from the 834. Some of those Propwood handles are very nice. They don't resemble the crappy Pakkawood stuff at all. The first ones were the Propwood version, and later they went to a sort of 'barnboard' Delrin. My scan shows this.
Well, I learned a few things about Bill Swan from this thread and I appreciate the knowledge. I am seeing the guy in a slightly different light now.

[KnifeSlinger#81]

From what I understand in the catalogs the "old" 834 had a clip, spey and pen and changed at some point to a clip, sheepsfoot and spey. The 832 was the wood handled version of the 833 (833 being peachseed) and both had a clip, sheepsfoot and pen. Somewhere along the line the 832 pen changed into a spey, same as the "new" 834. Not sure when the barnboard type delrin came in, but the aforementioned "old" 832 and 834 were in the catalogs with the different blade configuration at the same time for a number of years. This is my 832, but not my pictures.

[1967redrider]

Ol' Sporty strikes again!

[kootenay joe]

Paul, what a beautiful 832 ! I have never seen one in this mint condition. Yours is absolutely a top example.
Thanks for the explanation of 832 vs 834.
The handles being described as "barnboard Delrin" are i believe a plastic that Schrade-Walden used briefly just before Delrin came along. They called it "Meerschaum Bone", but my spelling of this term might not be quite right.
My 'connection' with Bill Swan is from winning quite a few of his auctions over the last 10 years. He bought about 140 knives from me and paid me a very reasonable amount up front. At auction he came out ahead but certainly did not 'make a killing'.
I have an acquaintance who lives about 30 miles from Bill and joins him every couple of weeks for a coffee and chat about knives. It is he who has told me of Bill working long hours 7 days a week, driving around to check knife collections being offered for sale, or taking pics of knives or packaging up & mailing out knives.
My take is that he is not a wealthy man, but he is a hard working self starter, opposite of someone who expects any government support payments. I have benefitted from his hard work as it has resulted in many fine knives that now are in my collection.
And he is totally safe to buy from because if you don't like the item you receive, he accepts return for refund, no questions, no hassles.
kj

[stagman]

I met him about 20 plus yrs ago,, mid to latter 1990's at Jim Parkers old knife show in Pigeon Forge Tenn.
talked at length and bought 1/2 dozen Marble's knives over the yrs on ebay from him
No problems ever, shot him a few emails thru ebay just to say Merry Christmas and such
I always liked him and the knives I recieved,, good fella in my book

Will
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/clearcreekknives

[KnifeSlinger#81]

Roland if you want to be floored check this out. A 1/2 dozen pack of mint 832's!

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/aap ... tore_id=75

[kootenay joe]

WOW !
I am Floored. What a find and it's my old friend Rich L. whose got them. He lived in Ellenville for a long time and he & wife were friends of the Baers (bears too). I bet he has other treasures stashed away. I know he has the 1966 Schrade-Walden Buck 301.
kj

[Mustanger]

Okay, my memory sucks. I previously wrongly posted that Bill Swan worked for the Forest Service, (or something like that), when actually he was just involved in hunting conservation. The information that I vaguely remembered about Swan came from a profile article I read a couple of years ago. So in the interest of truth and anyone curious about the man and his ebay business I am posting a link to the 2013 article. If I wasn't so lazy I would have dug it up and posted it yesterday. Here ya go, for anyone interested.....

http://nooga.com/161089/bill-swan-selli ... the-world/

[CheckSix]

Thanks for posting the article on Bill Swan. He's a fellow Safari Club member and outdoorsman/hunter.... so now his eBay store and business have a new meaning. I'll pay more attention to his offerings. Initially I was put off by the mismatch and confusing description of the item in the OP but now understand it and him a little better.

[kootenay joe]

With all sellers who are knife knowledgeable, i pay attention to how the description is written. For example "This 2 blade Jack is marked circle Remington on the master tang", vs. "This 2 blade Remington jack ---".
I read the first as the seller being unsure that knife is all original, or sure that it is not.
I read the second one as clearly stating the knife is an all original Remington.
I do 'read the knife' and put most weight on this part of the assessment, and then i read how the seller describes it. Any hint of uncertainty on his part and i don't bid.
Reading how the knife is described is helpful with Bill Swan's auctions.
kj

[tongueriver]

Thanks for posting the article on Bill Swan. He's a fellow Safari Club member and outdoorsman/hunter.... so now his eBay store and business have a new meaning. I'll pay more attention to his offerings. Initially I was put off by the mismatch and confusing description of the item in the OP but now understand it and him a little better.

X2.

[knifeaholic]

I have bought some nice Case knives from Bill in the last few months, though I win only a fraction of the ones that I bid on. I just got the first one that I will have to return since it has a crack that was not in the description (but hey I have done that too).

It just amazes me that he can put up a bad fake every once in awhile.