Not sure if anyone else followed today’s Centurion Auction, but this one sold for $11,750.  They also sold another, not near as nice as the one shown below, for about $1K less.  Those of you who found one years ago, you invested wisely!  My wife was having none of it when I tried to convince her today of the great investment opportunity…wives are funny that way.  
 

 

 

 

I watched both of them sell today. Those prices are over the top.  Then add 20% buyers premium on top of it.   

10 times what I paid for mine in 1984.

Well, I pulled out my Case 1998 remake, stared at it, then stared at the V-42 photo, and then gave myself a healthy reality check.  My hat’s off to whoever purchased it.  

I am also glad I have an original V42 in my collection.

 

There were a lot of high prices at that auction.

I had previously bid on about 20-25 items, these were definitely retail, as in Rodeo Drive retail prices.

I walked away empty handed, lol.

It wasn't just two bidders, usually between 14-18 - it was fun to watch.

 

Here are two more knives that reached a good price.

The HD&S 1918 kept up a little higher.

 

Facebook collecting groups and well written books have raised public awareness on a lot of these old knives, no longer the sole domain of old guys with corduroy jackets and pipes, for better or worse.

 

Dear collectors from the 70's of the last century.. ( which I belong to ).

You become richer & richer every day and your  wife will be "The Merry Widdow".

Anything you’d ever have wanted to add to your collection, they had.  I bought a nice Ariel M4 and called it a day.  I think they probably made more on their knife auction, than the gun auction they had two days prior, and without all the associated paperwork hassles.  

Anyone notice anything odd on the V42s?

 

As I was following the auction, bids appeared as they were received, scrolling either internet of floor bid.  Most items had multiple bids.

 

The V42s, to the best of my recollections, only showed 1 bid - which was the final, and went really quickly.  I thought that was really weird. 

 

Did I see that wrong?

 

Anyone go in person - seemed like a lot of floor bids.  Prices were really high $4k for a Shipley (I used to own that one), $5400 for a Stelzig, $4k for a Brown!!!

The V 42 that sold for $11,750. had a sheath that I don't think is the same as every other original WW II sheath that I've seen. There were only seven throat staples instead of the normal eight. Maybe there is some information about the scabbard that I'm not aware of but I noticed a couple of other details about it that give me pause for concern.

 

I noticed that most of the knuckle knives sold for very high prices, it seemed as if a bidder was trying to acquire most of them..

1 hour ago, siclfde said:

Anyone notice anything odd on the V42s?

 

As I was following the auction, bids appeared as they were received, scrolling either internet of floor bid.  Most items had multiple bids.

 

The V42s, to the best of my recollections, only showed 1 bid - which was the final, and went really quickly.  I thought that was really weird. 

 

Did I see that wrong?

 

Anyone go in person - seemed like a lot of floor bids.  Prices were really high $4k for a Shipley (I used to own that one), $5400 for a Stelzig, $4k for a Brown!!!

 

Yes, I saw the single (each) internet pre-bids on both V-42s too. I believe, due to both being well above what a dealer could expect to make much further profit on that when the bidders on the auction's floor simply showed no interest in either (no meat left on the bone), the auctioneer moved quickly passed each V-42. I agree at the time, it seemed odd yet, made sense when the auctioneer (i assume, as I was not there) saw no interest at improving on those high prices via the deep pocketed floor's bidders. I too was amazed at the prices some of the knives brought, in the end, it was all too rich for my blood 🙂

 

Best,

 

V/r Lance 

Only thing that makes sense to me on the V42s, is that the seller, with the agreement of the auction house, put in the only bid (at just below the price he would sell it for), and nobody bit.  Auction house incentive is that if somebody bit, they would get their 20%.

On one hand the prices make me sick. They have basically knocked the new collectors out of the bidding. On the other hand, as teufeldhund stated. guys who started collecting in the 70s, (for me 60s) will get rich. Or I should say my kids will.  Perfect example, I paid $10 for an OCL m1917 as pictured above, in 1972. Potentially, based on that auction I could make a profit of $4590 on just one item. Crazy, I was collecting before we had Cole's books, and depended on the ads in the surplus magazines. That's how I learned what things were, and they were cheap!  SKIP

I followed the auction from the time bids were allowed, and the V-42 bids incrementally increased, and actually got stuck at $5400 for a day or so, before going to $10K, then the eventual selling price.  I’m not sure how many different bidders there were.  I know regarding the M4 I bought, there were several bids at the last minute, unlike the V-42.  I was puzzled there was not a bidding frenzy at the end.  I pulled out four different collector books, also scrutinizing the sheath.  My concern were the rivets, but I’ll defer to the experts on that.  I hope they’ll chime in.  Congratulations to the successful bidder!

32 minutes ago, BryanJ said:

I followed the auction from the time bids were allowed, and the V-42 bids incrementally increased, and actually got stuck at $5400 for a day or so, before going to $10K, then the eventual selling price.  I’m not sure how many different bidders there were.  I know regarding the M4 I bought, there were several bids at the last minute, unlike the V-42.  I was puzzled there was not a bidding frenzy at the end.  I pulled out four different collector books, also scrutinizing the sheath.  My concern were the rivets, but I’ll defer to the experts on that.  I hope they’ll chime in.  Congratulations to the successful bidder!

 

Yes - I also bid on both V42's ahead of time.

(The Ek 'New Guinea Brush Knife'' I bid $1K on, which I thought would be a winner.)

I was determined not to get caught in a testosterone measuring situation and walked away when those came up, hence no screen shots of the winning bids, lol.

 

I bid exactly the dollar amount I figured I could find it to buy elsewhere -- it was a lot of fun to play.

 

There is also 20%+ house commission on top of those prices for the winner.

 

PS. I think the little flaming number indicates number of bidders, it did change up as the bidding increased.

There were only 7 bidders for the presentation Aussie commando, 6 excluding me.

 

 

 

I was certainly thankful for the selection of M3 knives on auction. After auctions fees, shipping, and the dreaded import fees are dealt with it will still be a price I can stomach.  

I know it's going to be tough to find, but if anyone reading this post has a spare original Case V-42 stiletto sheath/scabbard for sale?, 

I have an original V-42 but got it in an auction w/o the sheath, and it would be nice to have it among the knife.

Thank you! 😃

EBAY ALERT FOLKS!

https://ebay.io/m/9TZ0g0