All About Pocket Knives

Please help me figure out the value of my old Cattaraugus Physician's knife. I checked a couple of price guide books, but I assume the prices are for near mint condition knives. There are a few chips in the bone scales and the blades are a bit worn. The knife is pretty tight with good snap. Any thoughts?

Here are some photos.









Medium chip in bone near bolster.


Small chip in bone#1 near bolster.


Small chip in bone#2 near bolster.


Tang stamp on main blade.


Tang stamp on pen blade.

augustus, I don't know much about Catt. knives but here's a link to one selling on ebay right now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cattaraugus-Cutlery ... 3cb36e87f2

A nice old Cat doctor knife and no one has an opinion on the value??? That doesn't happen very often on AAPK.

How about the age then. Anyone want to take a shot at the age??

Mint condition, about $425.
With the blade wear and handle issues I would say about $200 to $250.
Still a great old Doc's knife.

Paul

My bad.......didn't see the big chunk out of the bone at the pill crusher end.
Now value well under $200.

Paul

Here is a price from a 2010 price guide. Mint $390.00 so in the same ballpark as Pauls estimate but I think $200.00 -$250.00 in that condition might be a bit high (just my opinion). I have sold more than a few older valuable knives over the last 30 years and I have found people will spend the money on them but condition is everything once you start to get over $100.00 unless its a very rare knife which this one isnt.
It is a cool old knife however!
(Just my opinion)

Thanks for the replies folks. Now I now a reasonable price range when someone asks how much I want to sell the knife for. I knew that a mint version of this knife was in the $400 range. Unfortunately the price books never address the less than perfect condition of knives that most people end up collecting.

Have a Merry Christmas!

See if you can obtain a copy of The American Blade Collectors Guide to Antique Knives by J. Bruce Voyles. It was printed in two editions. I'm sure they are both no longer in print.

Bruce valued knives using a range of conditions from "poor" to "pristine mint"with a dollar amount for each grade.

The values are, of course, outdated, but a little guesstimation based on inflation, etc would get you in the ballpark.

Charlie Noyes

I felt I should jump in. I have a lot of experince with old knives and I tend to think many over value them. In my opinion the pattern is VERY collectable, but condition is good, blades have been sharpened alot and handles aren't perfect either. If I were buying this knife, I would expect to pay no more than $75 to $100 for it as presented. Now if the blades are loose and wobble, perhaps less. I am just being brutally honest. Unfortunately CAT's haven't held the value that I feel they should. GREAT knives, Great history, but some historical events have hurt them in the market some. Again, JMO.