Sumthin' to show

[BoBlade]

Hi Roc,

We've had the pleasure of a number of visits from you over on the Randall forum, but I really haven't had much to contribute over here until now. Picked this puppy up recently and thought you might like to see it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Best,

Ron

[hammerdownnow]

Yeowza! That looks alot like a Richtig. Do you got a pic of the mark?

[BoBlade]

It's unmarked as many were. I have 2nd hand input from Mr. Suedmeier that it's the real thing subject to being able to confirm after he had it in hand. I was able to get the full name of the owner off the face of the hilt and have it matched up with his WWII service history.

Ron

[rhrocker]

Oh man Bo! That knife has some history!

[hammerdownnow]

Great score!

[BoBlade]

Thanks, Roc. I've looked at thousands of obscure auctions just on the slim chance that a great knife may not be properly described. The last tme I got lucky was about three years ago. If I calculated my time spent against my gains. I'm probably making about 75 cents an hour. No matter. It all seems worth it when something comes along.

Ron

[hammerdownnow]

It is a labor of love. Like treasure hunting or playing the lotto using your time as money. Glad to hear I am not the only one who has done an all nighter of "one more page" or "2000 listings? Ahhh, I can breeze thru that."
It helps to have a little mad money on hand to jump on a bargain. I have to stay away when I am low on cash so as not to get dissapointed. My friend is a worse speller than I am, but it works to his advantage more times than not. Creative searching can be fruitful. Simpler the better can work too. Someone asked me how I find all those antique bowies. Simple, type in "Bowie knife" and hit highest prices first. Even "knife" and highest price first can show some of the coolest art knives on the market.
A great place to study, if you can weed thru the BS and have a decent reference library to check the facts. Ebay is the perfect example to refute the old saying, "If it looks like a duck', because it may not be a duck just because it looks like one. It may not be what its quacked up to be. Oops, sorry about that one.

[BoBlade]

Looks like I'm in good company, Roc. Unfortunately I think there's a "lot of us" out there. The competition is pretty tough. We all have our personal search categories. I do the "knife" search with highest prices first at least once a day. You're right: you can learn a lot about knives doing this. If I see a mark I'm not familiar with I will "Google" it. Half the time I'll come up with something. This Richtig sat under the radar screen for most guys most of it's listing time. It had only one bid of 5 bucks going in to the last day and was under a hundred bucks going in to the last minute. The seller told me she had a number of buy-it-now offers, so I knew there was going to be some serious sniping at the end. I always try to come up with a bid amount in my mind that I won't be sorry if I win or lose. It's not easy to do, but most of the time I'm OK no matter how the auction ends up. On the money thing: Most of time I have to sell one or more knives from my collection in order to buy a new one. I "try" to stay one knife ahead, but circumstances don't always allow this. I've been frustrated a few times myself.

Hers's an interesting one I've been watching just out of curiosity (I have no intention of bidding on it). It's old and I can't come up with anything on "SMITHS"! Any ideas?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Ron

[hammerdownnow]

I don't think you got hurt a bit on that Richtig. Do you plan on getting it appraised? I hear people complain about sniping, but there is no other way to play over there. You cannot compete and win by showing your hand too early.

That Smiths is a looker. Great flow, beautiful lines, nice patena, maybe too nice. I would like to smell it and see if it smells like clorox. The layering in the one slab gives me the impression that it has seen some etching/ageing in the artificial way. I always wonder what BL would have to say. Should we go ask him? I am very curious.

[BoBlade]

It's going to end up on e-bay properly identified with provenance. You can't get a better appraisal than the highest bid on e-bay. I wish I could keep them all, but it's just not in the cards. I'm relegated to having a niche collection. Not just Randalls, but pretty much just Randall hunters. I told my wife four years ago that my collecting would be self perpetuating. I'll buy and sell anything I think I can make a few bucks on and learn some in the process. It ain't a bad gig.

Good idea on BRL. I'd be interested in what he has to say as well. Please be my guest.

Ron

[hammerdownnow]

Well at least my record for being wrong is still 100% intact.

Quick response from BL.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...77#post4019477

[BoBlade]

The only thing that's important is that we both learned something. If it's WWII, chances are that the blade grind was developed independently of Randall. Randall only made a handfull of "hunters" during WWII and the Model 3 didn't take on the blade shape we know today until mid / late '45.

[hammerdownnow]

Read Bernards update. It does look rather Ozzy.

[BoBlade]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MESO%3AIT&rd=1

Well Roc, I made a few bucks on the Richtig. I also sold a VN era Randall fighter Sunday. So now I'm on the prowl for an old Randall. Here kitty, kitty