Couple questions about knives.

[bob535]

I have a couple knives, that I do not know how to value. I guess my first question would be, what do knife collectors look for in knives? I have done ebay searches and the values have a big range. I can tell that some of the value comes from the knife maker, but if i do a search on one of the knives I have by the knife maker the value is not really worth trying to sell, to WOW i really should sell. 

Anyways below are some pictures of two knives that I would love to find information on. Value/date/anything.

The first one is by Solingen (?) from Germany, and above that mark is E.C. and it is bone handled. 7.5" tip to handle butt.





This next knife has no maker marks on it at all. All i can say about this one is that it is about 15" from tip to butt of handle, the blade is thick (3/16") and, it is heavy I would guess probably 1.5 - 2 lbs. The handle is wood, and the bolster is a yellow metal, like copper or maybe brass.

[fancypants]

I'd say that your smaller knife was made in the 1940's .... many of this type were sold/traded to U.S. servicemen in Europe for a pack of cigs (according to my dad , who brought back 4 of them) , esp. after the 2nd World War ended .

They were more commonly made with antler (horn) handles .... can't really tell if yours is , but I'll take your word that it's made from bone .
Aluminum was the most common mat'l for the butt of these type of knives (some were made from antimony alloys too) , with a slotted brass nut that tightens the leather/horn/bone/brass handle assembly to the knife blade , which has a threaded tang at it's end .

Generally speaking , many knife collectors will look for items that are in pristine condition as a "upper limit" guide for pricing 'tip-top' knives (just like collectors of many things) , with values declining @ a 'per defect' basis that an item has .
Many folks who are 'home based' sellers will check Ebay & sim. websites to get a feel for what folks out there are willing to pay for such items , just as you have ....
Some knife shows will garner better prices than the next one , and negotiation is sometimes the key to the happiest buyers & sellers .

These little knives are/were very functional & solid , but have no great value to collectors that I know , except for the ones that are 'like brand new' .

Cool little knife that brought back memories , bob535 !

[mart]

That second knife almost looks like military issue, but looks like the handle has been replaced so not much collector value there.  Wayward is right about the first one,, had one almost identical I cleaned fish with !!!  One thing I can say is they hold an edge pretty well !!

[waywardangler]

Mart said "Wayward is right about the first one,, had one almost identical I cleaned fish with." Wayward said  Mart, I think it was fancypants as I just got on here.  I agree with everything fancypants said especially about knife collectors wanting pristine examples. For some reason that I cannot fathom, knife collectors want knives no one has ever handled let alone sharpened after coming from the maker/factory. I had 3 really good knives once and shopped them around at a gun show. No one wanted them, let alone pay any money for them. I put them on eBay and was rewarded with $$$. Ones was a Kabar Trooper boot knife, one was a red, stacked Delrin-plastic washer, hunting knife (Western I think and an unusual color), and the last was one I forgot. The point here is that buyers at a gun show that weren't selling any guns did not want to spend money on buying knives. The same might hold at a knife show. If the table sitters aren't selling, they do not want to buy either.

The first knife is a good hunting knife. The steel is good and it still looks useable. Probably $25. E.C. could be for Eclipse Cutlery, a hardware brand basically that imported knives from Germany. The second bowie type knife depends on the quality and age. Could be homemade from a kit.

[mart]

Sorry Fancypants !!  Really had my mind somewhere else !!  Didn`t I ??  Today has just been a busy day !!

[fancypants]

No worries , wayward .... my mind has been the same !

[bob535]

Thanks for your replies guys!!!
I only say bone handle because it looks that way  it could be antler as well, I am no expert at these things. I was thinking the second one might be home made as well....at least that was my first thought.

I guess knife collectors are like match cover collectors hahaha. They don't like the strikers on the match books to be used, and although I am not a collector of match covers i went through my great aunts collection and found some of them pretty interesting and cool. My thought was if i were to collect these things i think i would like the ones that had been used, and here is is why:

I came across some old casino match covers that had been used, and at first i was thinking...wow if this match book could talk what would it say. I could just picture some Gangster (Damn Hollywood!!) lit a smoke with it and layed it on the table beside him while he did what ever.

The new pristine ones were cool i guess, but felt like someone who collected these things just picked this up for his collection, and that matchbook would have nothing interesting at all to say, because it was stuck in a safe place and could not see what was going on around it 

[mart]

I am the same about some of the items I have !!  If they were not used by someone,,, they have no history and are the same as a new one !! And I don`t want new !!