Ok, I can hardly contain myself. I went down to the NWKC show today in Kelso, Wa. with my primary purpose of seeing Frank Towsley who was a personal friend of Rudy Ruana and has one of the largest collections of Ruana knives in the world. Thankfully, as I entered the Red Lion Inn, where the show was taking place, Mr. Towsley's collection was situated in the first conference room. I went in there just in awe at the number and raw beauty of his collection. Anyways, I first meet his assistant and told him how I came across the knife. I explained to him how it all came about up to the point as to how much I paid. When I asked him what he thought the value would be he told me that first I would have to talk to Frank personally and make sure I tell him as well the whole story.
He introduced me to him and I proceeded to tell him (BTW, I ended up telling the story several times today as nobody could believe I paid what I paid). So, he gave me a brief history of the knife itself starting with the stamp. The "S" stamp means that it was saltwater tempered which he did between 1956-58. Rudy was at the time playing around with different tempering techniques. The "M" stamp knives mean they are medium tempered. He went onto explain that my knife is a fairly rare Model 17B with a six inch blade. Apparently Rudy didn't make a lot of 17B's and I was extremely lucky to have one. Anyways, he told me that on Ruana knives that the market has softened over the last three years. At this point I started feeling let down. Boy was I in for a shock.
In my limited research, I estimated that I might get $900-1250 for this knife. Frank wanted to know if I was interested in actually selling the knife. I told him that I had always wanted a Ruana growing up in Montana but if the price was right I might consider it since I am trying to buy tools so I too can start making knives. He said that about three years ago, he saw a 17B "S" sell for $2800 and that if I wanted to insure it, I should value it between $2200-$2500 (
). According to Franks wife, the look on my face was priceless. He did go on to say that a dealer would probably offer me $1200-1700 for the knife if I NEEDED to sell it.
Frank himself did offer to buy it for $500 plus a couple of new production Ruana blades so that he could put it in his collection. I declined. I thanked him and told him I would be back to buy his book, "The Hammer Still Rings", which I did and he did sign it for me.
I only spent 5 hours at the show but word somehow to a couple of dealers and they both offered me $1200 for the knife. I once again declined.
I just want to thank you guys here because without your knowledge and friendship since Ive been on this board, I may not have gone to that estate sale at the beginning of August and stayed long enough to see this particular Ruana.
