Gerber Mark II 70th Anniversary Limited Edition
 
 
If I am going to pay well over a hundred bucks for a knife, then I am going to want to use it! But for many years I worked for a retailer of top class knives and I found most of my customers wanted a particular knife for their collection. The knife was to be displayed in a specially built case, or hung on a wall alongside many others.

 

At first this seemed strange to me, but the longer I worked there, the more I saw the passion some visitors had for their latest addition to their collection. So what makes a knife collectable? The name of the designer, its rarity, its beauty, the skill with which it is made – just some of the qualities a collector will be looking for. If it's a "Limited Edition"  knife where, say, only 1000 will ever be made, then most collectors will be looking for the lowest number possible, ideally "Number One of One Thousand" and those pieces in particular will maintain and usually raise their value over a number of years, not that most true collectors buy them in order to re-sell them. No, most will want to cherish them forever, which explains why comparatively few really collectible knives hit the resale market.

 

Often a limited edition knife is given as a gift, from a father to a son, from a grateful employer to a special employee, a hand-crafted special gift that marks a special relationship. Often the limited edition knife is an heirloom, passed down from one generation to the next.

 

Not all limited edition knives are large. Buck for example, make a range of small very well crafted collectibles, such as the limited edition version of the very popular 55, featuring a satin finished clip blade and a hand carved jigged water buffalo handle with nickel silver bolsters. There are many knife companies whose collectibles are sought after, such as Benchmade, Browning, Kershaw, Gerber, Case, William Henry and many others.

 

But there are also the large collectible knives. There are many companies whose knives are sought after by the serious collector. One recent addition to the stock of Gerber, for example, is the Mark II 70th Anniversary Edition knife that comes with a certificate of authenticity and a display case. The Mark II has for long been regarded as a king among knives and this issue is to celebrate the 70th year since it was first made!

 

I briefly mentioned the certificate of authenticity, and this of course adds value to any collectible knife as well as guaranteeing it’s the real thing. If you are offered a limited edition knife without it, then beware!

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