All About Pocket Knives

Hope no one here is bidding on this one.
B-R

http://cgi.ebay.com/CASE-TESTED-XX-5254 ... dZViewItem

Blade Runner wrote:Hope no one here is bidding on this one.
B-R

http://cgi.ebay.com/CASE-TESTED-XX-5254 ... dZViewItem

I never really bid on items that have Bible quotations. For me, those that must use such a quotation are not "true". Those that must use these quotations are just trying to gain your trust. I'm rather contrarian, I don't trust those that use Bible quotations to gain your trust.

At least he isn't saying that it is a one of a kind prototype & worth $700.

He does say; "WEAR, PITTING AND PATINA ON THE BLADES.POCKET WEAR ON THE HANDLES. THE BACKSPRING AND MAIN BLADE DO NOT MATCH UP RIGHT. POSSIBLY REPAIRED? PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE MORE INFORMATION ON THIS."

Actually I have bought from this seller and not had any problems with him. He has always treated me fairly and seems pretty honest.
At least he could note the obvious "red flags" on this knife.
At 99¢ he won't get rich on it.

Just my 2¢,
Dale

This seller has had some red flags in the past, and has been noted in the counterfeit forums before. Me personally, I have never purchased from them, and based on what I have seen, never will. I have seen a few questionable knives from this seller.

I really don't see what's all that questionable about this knife, it's old, worn, pitted and looks right to me.

Hi Dale, My opinon was on the knife not the seller. No part of this knife is a genuine tested trapper IMO. I believe it is up to guys like us to try to curtail some of this junk coming off ebay to help our fellow knifers.
B-R

I bought one knife from them long time ago, before they had a Bible quote and before they accepted PayPal.
I knew the knife, a Bulldog and sent a cashiers check. I also said that I don't usually bid on non-PayPal auctions and probably would not bid again. since then they have accepted PayPal, I imagine many others complained also.

They were alright to deal with, nothing special, only the seller name reminds me that I had won an auction.

When I see a Bible quote in an Auction, I find myself NOT trusting them!

Blade Runner wrote:Hi Dale, My opinon was on the knife not the seller. No part of this knife is a genuine tested trapper IMO. I believe it is up to guys like us to try to curtail some of this junk coming off ebay to help our fellow knifers.
B-R

Thanks BR, I appreciate the fact that you were not attacking the seller. Apparently he also had questions on the authenticity of the knife from to judge from what he wrote.

Pardon my philosophizing, (I am not trying to start an argument), but I have been wondering; "What level of expertise should we expect from eBay sellers?"

There are a handful of eBay sellers who flat-out sell fraudulent knives. Knives they have doctored, put new blades on, buffed to death, etc, & knives that are flat forgeries. Even these sellers probably sell more authentic knives than they sell of the forgeries. It is always harder to defuse a lie that is partially truth than to expose a total falsehood. So even with the worst-case sellers, they still sell some good knives, (though if it is the seller that is known to me to practice such deception I will avoid him/her on principle).

I do not present myself to be an expert; there are a lot of people who know more about knives than I do. I suppose I do know more about some knives than the average guy on the street, however, I know very little about Case knives.
It is possible, if I sold on eBay, that I might buy some Case knives and put them up for sale without realizing that they had been altered. There are a number of members of this forum who are extremely knowledgeable on Case knives, to the point of legitimately being called experts.

I guess my question is; What is my responsibility as a seller, in properly representing the knives I am selling? How much knowledge of the specific knife do I need to sell it?

I have reached the point in collecting where I have an enormous amount of knives outside of focus of my collecting. I'm going to have to add another room to the house, or else sell some knives that are not particularly part of my "collection." I want to do this in an honest reputable fashion, but frankly there are some that I don't know a lot about. I have enough books to do some research, but frankly a good many of them are probably not in any of the books.

My question to the members of AAPK is this:
How should I list my knives so that I can get the maximum price for them, but do so in such a manner that is not misleading to the buyer?

Your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Dale

describe the knife honestly. list faults and if any, doubts. clear pics.

I agree with Johnie, BUT, I would add that one should give as much information as possible about the knife, show your expertise, especially if it is a knife that you collect and have information resources on.

The link in the post I am linking todoes not work, but this all has jarred my memory. We have discussed this seller before, and guess what, about a Case pattern 5254, and there are alot of things that are still in play on this new one.
1: Still use the Bible passage to gain trust
2: Throw a disclamer in there saying the knife may have been repaired
3: And they always have a stock of these hard to find rarer patterns for sale.

Here is the link to the old discussion. You can't view the Case 5254, as I was curious if it may have been the same knife.
Pretty Ironic though 6 months later this seller still pops up on the radar.

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... 71&start=0

In reading this knife, the picture of the backspring and blade to not fit. The seller mentions this as well. The balde should be the same width as the spring, and the metal is mashed on the spring, which makes me ask myself "Why?"
There are 2 other things I don't like on this one, and therefore would not bid on it, as I would not have a warm & fuzzy.

i have to agree with muskrat man, the knife looks good to me. its old and pitted and shows some damage and wear but i dont see any problems. ive seen other case knives where the blade and back spring didnt join just perfectly and may have an over lap or under lap and on brands other than case knives as well. i dont know the seller but have bought a knife or two from them before and had no problem. i looked at their feedback and it seems that while they have had a few neutral feedbacks, their feedback is 100% with no negatives and with thousands of feedbacks.......seems pretty good to me, but just my opinion.

Thanks for the input guys. I really appreciate it.
I did go back & reread the old thread SFC ADP mentioned. There was some interesting stuff there. I did notice that one seller was wondering how people would interpret her auctions and the fact that she said she was not an expert & said so.

I guess there is such a thing as being too cautious, as we all know, "you can't please everyone all the time."

I would love to hear what anyone else has to say on this topic.

Thanks again,
Dale

For those who are obviously not versed in the evolution the Case trapper went through over time. Note the long bolsters and shorter handle material on the top knife(NOT A TESTED FRAME). Those familiar with older trappers should have spotted this knife at a glance. Read the knife, look at the shield(open c and short s). Real Tested Trappers have tested shields(closed c) or XX era shields(open c and tall s). Look at the space between liners and springs, they look like a train wreck.if it was repaired then why is everything from a distant time frame.Bottom knife is the real deal(short bolsters and long handle material) an honest to goodness tested frame. Even has a tested shield. Read the knife, Read the knife.

Thanks BR.
Your tutorial makes sense to me. I see what you mean about the bolsters. I have 3 Case knives in my collection & two of those are older stockmen, 1 I bought for the carbon steel blades & 1 was given to me. Both are good user knives & that is why I keep them. Compared to a few hundred Schrade knives,............I know nothing about Case.

I did notice that the real tested trapper appears to have nickel silver pins, while the other seems to have brass pins. Would this also be an indicator that the knife had been tampered with?

I noticed that the seller's pics seemed to show a spring that had a piece missing (perhaps filed out) on the clip blade, and the obvious problem with the fit of the clip blade and the build up on the same spring. These things I could spot as one who has worked on knives. What I didn't know was what the real Tested Trapper was supposed to look like.

Thank you for taking the time to explain it and post the correct example.

Thanks again,
Dale

Yes the knife in question has both brass pins and liners, which I have yet to see on a tested trapper. As far as I have seen the brass first showed up in the USA era but was pretty rare within that period. Then it became very common say in the late seventies or early eighties. Thanks for talking and listening
B-R

Hello, great article on this subject in a past knife world. I get it out every so often just to review it is my most re-read article on knives.

Stockman

stockman wrote:Hello, great article on this subject in a past knife world. I get it out every so often just to review it is my most re-read article on knives.

Stockman

Thanks for the kind words stockman. Of all my articles that one was very special to me mainly because of all the nice feedback recieved from readers like yourself who have said they have read it over and over. Also that issue was part of a special theme on case knives at that time, and was the largest mailing Knife World had ever done. There were also (I forget the exact number) of special editions mailed of this issue to Case Collectors Club members, courtesy of Knife World and Case. And just to think, I was quite flabbergasted that my work was the feature article on the front page Quite an honor for a little 'ol country boy like me.
B-R

if you don't have that issue(my favorite) here's part of it. right here on our great site.

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/art ... rapper.php

thanks gary.

Thanks for the link Johnnie
Great article Gary. I will have to dig around and see if I can find my Nov. 2005 Knife World.

Dale