Unissued Camillus WWII Fighting Knife?

[disruptors]

Has anyone else seen this? He's asking $1000. Is that a reasonable price?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USMC-WW2-Marine-Corps-Knife-Unissued/233678201100?hash=item36684e610c:g:pyMAAOSwRrVfM9hV

[siclfde]

If it is unissued, why is the condition "used"?

[mikedon]

It has been on there a while. I do not think the price is close to reasonable. The price book has that knife $150-$175. The prices are up these days but I don't think that much. I paid $175 each for the same Camillus guard marked USMC 1219c2 knives shown in the picture.

[siclfde]

There is a similar one at this site for $285.  This dealer is very reputable and can be trusted.   

 

http://www.militaryfightingknives.com/#John's Knives

[warguy]

I appreciate the above link as I have never been to that site. However I think it is important to note the knife for sale you reference on that site is an USN not USMC marked knife. In my experience, there is still a price difference between USN and USMC marked M2’s. 

 

In the original post, the knife for sale on the bay, did anyone pause on the condition?  Can a knife with its ORIGINAL paper “TakeCare Of Your Knife” issue tag age the way that one has from sitting in storage? Seems to me that it saw some use, albeit slight maybe, which would suggest the label came along later. I just would like to hear some thoughts on that, as I would not have thought the term “unissued” would apply here, but perhaps I am being too critical. Unissued to me look a whole lot more like the knives in post 3. 

 

Having said that I don't think a discussion about the value of that knife can be had without talking about that label though. At one time, I think those original paper instruction labels were adding about a grand to the price of a knife. If I am ever lucky enough to find a knife with the paper tag though, I would hope it actually looks unissued, especially if I was going to spend $1k on it. 

[SKIPH]

Way over priced! Scabbard is pretty rough, the CARE Tags have been reproduced in the past, and the knife is stamped USMC when magnified. Not worth anywhere near what the seller is asking. SKIP

[siclfde]

2 hours ago, warguy said:

I appreciate the above link as I have never been to that site. However I think it is important to note the knife for sale you reference on that site is an USN not USMC marked knife. In my experience, there is still a price difference between USN and USMC marked M2’s. 

 

In the original post, the knife for sale on the bay, did anyone pause on the condition?  Can a knife with its ORIGINAL paper “TakeCare Of Your Knife” issue tag age the way that one has from sitting in storage? Seems to me that it saw some use, albeit slight maybe, which would suggest the label came along later. I just would like to hear some thoughts on that, as I would not have thought the term “unissued” would apply here, but perhaps I am being too critical. Unissued to me look a whole lot more like the knives in post 3. 

 

Having said that I don't think a discussion about the value of that knife can be had without talking about that label though. At one time, I think those original paper instruction labels were adding about a grand to the price of a knife. If I am ever lucky enough to find a knife with the paper tag though, I would hope it actually looks unissued, especially if I was going to spend $1k on it. 

Yeah - you are correct.  Didnt even bother to look.  My bad

[disruptors]

It never occurred to me that the USMC stamped on the guard would decrease the value.

 

[mikedon]

3 hours ago, warguy said:

I appreciate the above link as I have never been to that site. However I think it is important to note the knife for sale you reference on that site is an USN not USMC marked knife. In my experience, there is still a price difference between USN and USMC marked M2’s. 

 

In the original post, the knife for sale on the bay, did anyone pause on the condition?  Can a knife with its ORIGINAL paper “TakeCare Of Your Knife” issue tag age the way that one has from sitting in storage? Seems to me that it saw some use, albeit slight maybe, which would suggest the label came along later. I just would like to hear some thoughts on that, as I would not have thought the term “unissued” would apply here, but perhaps I am being too critical. Unissued to me look a whole lot more like the knives in post 3. 

 

Having said that I don't think a discussion about the value of that knife can be had without talking about that label though. At one time, I think those original paper instruction labels were adding about a grand to the price of a knife. If I am ever lucky enough to find a knife with the paper tag though, I would hope it actually looks unissued, especially if I was going to spend $1k on it. 

It has been my experience also that the USMC marked knives bring more than the USN marked.

I have several Camillus care tags and they all have deteriorated somewhat, even the ones that came with excellent condition knives. They are very fragile and all of mine have yellowed. The Camillus care tags are still out there but are getting harder to find. In my experience they might add $50-$100 to the price of the knife. I got this Camillus guard marked USMC 1219c2 knife that came with 2 care tags, one on top of the other.

[warguy]

Very nice knives! Was Camillus the only manufacturer that issued the “Take care”  tags or did other makers do it as well?

[disruptors]

I would think an 80 year old piece of paper that came with the knife would increase the value more than $50 - $100, even with the yellowing.

[mikedon]

8 minutes ago, warguy said:

Very nice knives! Was Camillus the only manufacturer that issued the “Take care”  tags or did other makers do it as well?

Union Cutlery Company did but they are much harder to find than the Camillus tags. I only have one that came on a KA-BAR blade marked, (small letter), 1219c2, (USMC) knife. I think some Colonial and Pal Mark 1's came with them but I don't have one.

[mikedon]

12 minutes ago, disruptors said:

I would think an 80 year old piece of paper that came with the knife would increase the value more than $50 - $100, even with the yellowing.

Maybe now days it would. I have not bought a knife with a care tag in a couple of years. The Camillus knife with the 2 care tags above I bought for $82.00 in 2008. I was surprised to find the second care tag.

[disruptors]

Great knives. A knife with two tags should bring even more. What are the odds of that?

[warguy]

Thank you great info and beautiful examples 

[SKIPH]

Never bought on that had the CARE Tag, never see them.  SKIP

[Charlie Flick]

Guys:

 

I have added a few of the pics from the Ebay listing mentioned in post #1 above.   

 

As a friendly reminder, it is very helpful to all of us when the pics are harvested and posted here and not just the bare link.  The reason is that Ebay pics tend to disappear.  Thus, 3 years from now when a Member wants to see what the discussion was about the pics will be gone.  That is the reason why our Forum insists upon having posted photos hosted here rather than on outside photo hosting sites like Photobucket.com and others.  It is purely and simply because we want to be able to take advantage of the knowledge gained from the old threads with photos.  Some of the old threads created before we had that rule are now pretty much useless without the original pics.  So, in the future please do us all a favor by posting the pics in question.

 

Thanks.

 

Charlie

 

 

 

[capt14k]

Scabbard looks rough compared to tag.

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[Elton]

Never bought on that had the CARE Tag, never see them.  SKIP

I just got an e-mail from Bill Walters with a list of knives for sale and some were over $3,000 these are in mint condition.


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[sactroop]

There is more than condition to be considered in the value of knives that are also documented.   

[ccyooper]

I once tried to refill a box full of them.  I lost interest and gave up. Based upon the prices maybe I shouldn’t have given up. I think the box and one of the original knives is pictured in Bill’s book.