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Anyone else collect knives?

Wryfox
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
Great story, beautiful craftsmanship and great design.

Do you own these now or are these pics in someone's collection? If they are yours, how did you acquire them? How did you first learn about them?

Seems like there's more to the story.

I live in Daytona, just down the road from Ralph. Didn't know him personally, but knew of him. Got the knives at his estate sale. He had one hell of a personal garage just steps from his house. Full of fascinating stuff. Very expensive stuff. He was a snap-on guy.
 
STANDY
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Can you post a picture of the spine of these please. Wondering if they have some tang decoration....
 
Dsloan
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NKD: para 3 in M390. This is getting a bit silly. So far this year: 2 new watches vs 6 new knives.

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STANDY
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Ringed Gidgee coming…
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Alpha
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Don't collect but this one resided in my toolbox for about fifty years, know nothing about it other than it has 'CK' on the top of the blade and it served well 👍

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laratta
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I love watches & knives. I was up to about 90 knives and it started to get out of hand so I downsized to a collection of 27 now. Importing to Canada has been tougher since 2018 when CBSA started to seize knives, I lost 15 to them and alot were high end so I have stopped the purchasing unless I can find something I like in Canada usually on the forums. A few of my favorites are Shiro, Chris Reeve & Microtech.
 
STANDY
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Finishing up a handle on a skinning knife for a order for my first sale……👍

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Waltesefalcon
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A Tod Cutler Rondel dagger. My son and I went to see The Last Duel and we got to discussing the design of the dagger used at the end, and we decided we should see one up close to better discuss its merits. My twelve year old daughter has claimed it as hers already.
 
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MikiJ
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Great lookin' blade but not the most comfortable handel. At least it won't slip in your hand.
 
Waltesefalcon
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MikiJ MikiJ
Great lookin' blade but not the most comfortable handel. At least it won't slip in your hand.
Surprisingly enough it's actually pretty comfortable and you're right about it being very grippy.
 
Dsloan
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NKD! Pretty sure this is the sharpest factory edge I've ever had.

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STANDY
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Bought a Custom knife ( research purposes I am claiming )


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A Sheath for every occasion was a bonus
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DManzaluni
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A few months ago I was called in to do a valuation for the estate of a chap who liked fountain pens and watches. They had been bought by, I suppose, once of the wealthiest men in America. While I was there his daughter showed me these knives. I have always been slightly interested but don't know anything about them!

Does anyone by any chance recognize what any of them are? The colour of the double bladed Chinese one makes it sorta obviously 18ct but I havent managed to find any comparables
 
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Twocats
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DManzaluni DManzaluni
A few months ago I was called in to do a valuation for the estate of a chap who liked fountain pens and watches. They had been bought by, I suppose, once of the wealthiest men in America. While I was there his daughter showed me these knives. I have always been slightly interested but don't know anything about them!

Does anyone by any chance recognize what any of them are? The colour of the double bladed Chinese one makes it sorta obviously 18ct but I havent managed to find any comparables
I can only help with the knife on the left. It is a Laguiole, they are not cheap but neither expensive and made in southern France. We have a set at home and the wife only takes them out when we are entertaining guests. I have zero idea about the remaining three.
 
BlackTalon
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The damacus on the right look a lot like Damasteel. There is likely a maker's stamp/ etching on the other side of the blade from whoever finshed the blade and made the knife.

The middle one looks like Delbert Ealy's leopard/ cheetah damascus pattern. I have a yanagi somewhere around in the kitchen made from a bar that looks very similar. But the blade would have been finished, and the knife made, buy someone else.
 
STANDY
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Two on the right are expensive and in the over $1k mark. (Could be a lot more than this up to $5k)
But without maker it makes it hard.
 
DManzaluni
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Thanks for that guys. This is a collector who had a habit of going into his nearest retailer and buying six-figure double/treble tourbillions, so I would imagine it likely that these are the most expensive knives around. but the estate doesn't know where to place them or how to value them. I'm not enough of a knife expert to know where the secondary market is for such knives.

Plus I heard a rumour that someone in China noticed that it isnt too difficult to replicate even the most high quality artwork and metalwork on these knives; and when they started producing the highest quality copies - all for around $500, the whole bottom fell out of the market.
 
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