Hi Willhunt!
Firstly, thanks for lurking in the past, and for finally jumping in here. Everyone has
something to contribute.
Thanks as well, for sharing your story and photos of this very rare find.
To any RMK buff, this knife and it's particular history is truly incredible. Your friend is quite fortunate that you enlightened him to the treasure that has inherited. That this knife has survived for almost sixty years, and has remained in the possession of the family who originally obtained it from
the knife-maker, for whom the father worked up in his Michigan fishing and hunting stomping grounds makes the knife
really special.
If I was in your friends shoes I would keep it! However, if he really has no interest in it and wishes to sell, it would be very difficult to place a monetary value upon it.
These kind of situations always attract profit seekers, who only see $$$$$ signs. So often the item in question will travel through the hands of several purveyors before it settles into the hands of someone who truly appreciates its intrinsic value.
Whatever fate now awaits this knife after its discovery, I'm sure it will be well treated in its elder years, being doted on and pampered in ways it has never known.
Thanks again!
David
P.S. Thanks to Ron for enlightening us to the aprroximate age and details of this knife!