Midget Hunter #50 Western

[Jemyaz]

I received this knife from Harvey Platts in 1979. Just curious about the value now and does the letter he wrote me make a difference.
Thanks!

[edge213]

I have no idea what this is worth. It is an awesome collectable.
I would say having the letter definitely increases the value.

[peanut740]

Ditto what David said.You can probably find that copy of Knife World he refers to with your picture in it also.That would make a nice family heirloom.

[treefarmer]

That is very neat! Have you figured the age of the knife, as Mr. Platts referred to it as and old knife and that was in '79?
By the way, to AAPK!
Treefarmer

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

To the right collector, I would guess that would be worth a lot - but that would still be less than what it would be worth to me if I was the person that had originally received that letter and knife. That is pretty incredible!

[djknife13]

The 50 midget was listed in their 1941 catalog and I don't have any full catalogs so I don't know if it was listed later. For years I concentrated on collecting Westerns and tried to get this one and the no.51 but was always outbid. The knives I was bidding on weren't nearly as nice as yours is, and if my memory serves I was bidding up to the $75 range. I don't remember what the bidding stopped at on these but I was always outbid. I did find one after years of trying but again not nearly as nice as yours and I don't believe mine came with a sheath. I think I still paid around $50. With the connection to Platts and the condition yours is in and the original sheath even with knife prices dropping in the past few years my guess (and it's only a guess) would be somewhere between $150 and $200. I'm sure others would estimate above me and non Western collectors would probably place a value below me. That's a collectible little piece of history. ___Dave

[zzyzzogeton]

When the 1941 catalog came out, Western introduced many new patterns that did not survive WW2. These knives were only made from whenever the 1941s started being produced to shortly after Pearl Harbor. Many of the patterns only had a single production run. Maybe NONE of the patterns had a second run. All of these "low production 1941s" are sought after by hard-core Western collectors, at least the ones who don't insist that a 75+ y.o. knife be in mint/pristine condition.

Most of the 1941s I have seen have seen use, frequently hard use - they were bought right before the war and there was very little new production available for over 4 years. And by hard use, I don't mean batoning concrete blocks or stabbing lawn mower housings. I just mean they were used to cut a lot of stuff.

Some knives were produced for the civilian market during the war, but just some of the "standard" models, like the L48A and L66, but those were most likely made from blanks that had already been stamped right before PH for the Christmas and spring sales runs.

99.9% of Western's production during the war was limited to the Bx54 (Bushman), W31 (USMC Parachutist),G46-8 (no name), G46-6 (Shark), G46-5 (Baby Shark), L71 (Seabees), L76s and L77s (Commandos), and Life raft knives.

[Jemyaz]

I want to thank you all for the info!! I have forgotten alot over the years since I was only 9 when I received this and my father was in the knife business. Mr Platts included a copy of the Western States Catalog page with the knife though it didn't have the date. I appreciate all the info, so thanks again!

[knife-nut]

The midget hunter came with cracked ice celluloid or goldstone celluloid. Usually they had advertising stamped on the handle. I,ve seen some with “Garden of the Gods” and other Colorado tourist attractions. Sometimes they will have an etching (Western States ) on the blade. Western made three different patterns of miniatures.