What would you do?

[QTCut5]

When I first began collecting knives, I did the same as KJ; I bought anything and everything that appealed to me that I thought was a good value...and, admittedly, also quite a few that were not. I ended up deep in debt with a huge assortment of knives many of which I had lost interest in. So, that's when I began selling the ones I no longer wanted. I eventually paid off my debt with the proceeds of the sales. The whole process has been (and continues to be) a marvelous journey of experience and discovery. Were I to start over, I honestly think I would do it pretty much the same way because the experience and knowledge I gained has been invaluable...I don't know how else I could have been exposed to such a wide variety of knives which allowed me to determine exactly what specific qualities & characteristics I preferred to focus on for my collection. However, I would try harder to stay within my means and avoid going into debt.

~Q~

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

I was raised to be frugal and my father HATED debt. He thought the entire "use other people's money" craze of the 1980s was complete madness. He said that credit cards should only be used for convenience, and you should never spend money you don't have. He paid cash for every car he owned. Of course, there were always exceptions for major purchases like buying property or a major piece of farm equipment (he was a farmer), but that was about it for his debt, and those were business deals, not personal luxury items. I always found his risk-adverse spending & investing curious until I realized two things: 1) he was 10 years old in 1929 and grew-up on a farm in the depression; 2) all of his risk was in his crops, where at any time weather, disease or market prices could conspire to wipe him out. His "cash is king" thinking has carried over to me, and I have used debt only where I needed it - on our primary residence and vehicles, and even on the vehicles, I have never bought a car I couldn't have bought outright if I really wanted to. It might have meant selling investments I didn't want to sell, but I could have done it if I had to. I know my knives will never be a valuable collection. I'm OK with that. I'm (hopefully) still about 10 years from retirement. 2008-2012 were some rough years financially (out of work twice for 6 months & 4 months), but the last 5 years have been the best of my entire career. I could spend much more on my toys & hobbies (I have had MANY hobbies over the years), but I don't think it would give me any more pleasure. I'm happy shopping in the sale bin, doing research and just looking on in awe at the Mammoth ivory and mint antique horn knives you guys show.

[kootenay joe]

By buying almost every knife that appealed to me while showing lack of discipline has resulted in me knowing a little about a wide variety of knives. However i lack depth of knowledge about any or all knife brands. I do envy the collectors who have limited their collecting to a specific brand or pattern. They are the ones we rely on to provide authoritative answers and thus are most valued members of our hobby. It is only rarely that i can provide an answer that can be relied on to a high degree. However i have enjoyed and still enjoy learning something about so many widely differing knives.
kj

[TripleF]

They're probably priced that way because they bought them at a lower price 15+ years ago.....then they collected dust.

[deltaboy]

Buy and enjoy them!

I grabbed a OLD Stock Gerber Gator about 20 years ago when an old hardware store was closing down!