Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I Need The Value Of A Couple Of Knives

Friends,

It's getting time to thin my herd a bit, both of rifles and knives. It'll take me a couple of years, but it's commencing.

This morning I ran into two knives that I used for a few years, then cleaned and put away. The problem is I'm horribly out of date on prices.

Here are the two knives ... I need a fair price, given willing seller and willing buyer ... with neither trying to take advantage of the other.




The first knife was custom made by Jimmy Lile. It came with the sheath in the photo from Lile. I was doing lots of guiding at the time and when riding horses, you carry a sheath knife in your pack (don't want to be thrown and stick yourself), so the sheath has blood stains on it.

I did the engraving on the guard and the pins and it's one of my finer jobs.

Sambar stag with red liners and the blade is taper tang. The length from the guard to the tip of the blade is just shy of four inches and to the blade relief is 3½-inches. In looking at the knife critically, it's hard to find any faults

This is a really gorgeous sheath knife from a fine maker. So, what the heck is it worth?





The second knife is a mystery. I bought it from the maker, Gary Little, in Broadbent, Oregon. He said it was forged and I don't doubt it. In searching the internet, I can find almost noting on the man, nor his knives

This is a heavyweight, robust knife and it breaks down an elk most rickey-tick. I have no idea about the materials. I've always kept Renaissance Wax on the blade, just in case it rusted. The handle looks like rosewood, but I have no idea.It has white or ivory liners.

The blade is 4¼-inches from the front of the guard to the tip of the blade.

This is one sharp bugger and it keeps an edge wonderfully. I had two sheaths made locally and it literally cut through both. Soooo, I built a sheath (one of my little skills) and it is as robust as the knife.

Any ideas about a fair price?

I can do additional photos, if needed. Please be patient because I'm doing a little bit of taking care of Karen these days (brain surgery)

Thanks in advance for the help.

Steve

I like that Jimmy Lile. I have no idea as to the value tho. Somebody is gonna end up with a nice knife or two.

they are both worth at least $10 Steve


send em to old "honest" Randy and I'll put a check in the mail for $21


yep you heard it right, I'll pay 5% over actual price


cause you're one of the good guys.


makes me a bit sad to think about thinning the herd. I need to do same, fortunately with 2 boys and a daughter (that could out hunt either one of them) and a SIL that loves to hunt as well

I'll have no trouble thinning the herd, just won't collect any loot for it.


my lh bolt rifles are going to be the sticky widget.

all my kids and SIL we're correctly potty trained

Thanks for the laughs, guys. I needed that today.

Yeah, it's going to be a sad, sad day when my .280 Ackley, the matching .25-'06 and my trusty .223 Ackley go out the front door. Actually, I'll probably give them to kids and that will turn bitter-sweet into VERY COOL.

I gave a Herron Model 2 to a kid a couple of months ago. And HECK YES, he and his dad know precisely what it is.

Steve

Beautiful knives.

Steve, the Lile appears to be a "no dot" knife, that is, made before his death, which would make it more desirable to collectors. I believe it to be a Big model 7.

Knives made for the period following his death by the small shop stamped a "dot" above the "i" in the makers mark. I believe this was agreed upon by his widow. Other than that distinction most knives, from what I have read, showed little change.

Although the engraving looks great (nice job) it is work not original to the shop or farmed out by it, so it does the value no favors.

Miles Welze is quite the authority (and very much for profit, lol).
http://mileswelze.com/


Hope any of this may be of help.

Best,
wayne

Spitball on the Lile $500-600?

Thanks Wayne,

I appreciate your help.

Yes, I was wondering what the "dot" and "no dot" stuff was when doing a Google search. This knife is absolutely a "no dot."

I remember ordering the knife and was hunting the Middle Fork of the John Day at the time, so it would have been made in the late 1970s. or maybe very early 80s.

Lile died in 1991, the same year I retired, and I owned the knife long, long before that.

Here are a couple more photos:

That's what I'm thinking. Further inquiries might change that, but that's probably in the ballpark.

Steve

Bob Lee, the founder of Hunting World, used to have several Loveless and Lile knives just like this in a display case in his original Manhattan store. I saw him and them several times and while I bought a lot of stuff there, I never had the nerve to ask him about the prices. of those beautiful knives.

Yours is used and shows it. That of course reduces the value for the collectors who only want immaculate, unsharpened "safe queens." Personally, I go for those that show honest use, so I'd say that while an unused one would go much higher, $500 would seem reasonable to me if I were a seller.

Of course, I did score a perfect Bill Bagwell skinner for only $135 two years ago on eBay, so there are exceptions that amount to real steals. Most buyers will only go for his very big Bowies.

I'm thinking the Lile is worth a lot more than $500-$600. Steve, you might let someone like Vince look at them. He sells this kind of high end steel for a living.

That's what I’m thinking, post this in the Knives forum so the guys there can add their thoughts.
Beautiful knives with history!

That Lile is a dandy,out of my price range unfortunately .The other appears to be Cocabola with a 440c blade.440c polishes to a mirror finish fairly easily,plus hold a good edge.A nice pair of knives with some nice engraving on the Lile.

The close up images really show your exquisite engraving skills Steve.

Red liners, tapered tang, and contoured handle. Good stuff!
Has the the stag shrunk much?
Having the original sheath is a real plus as well.

This one similar to yours (perhaps better shape?) sold for $525, less than two years ago:

http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/non-dot-drop-point-hunter-big-7.aspx?ReturnUrl=Jimmy-Lile.aspx%3fPage%3d1

That is the other option, sell on consignment to a well respected dealer who gets a lot of traffic such as ArizonaCustomknives (in FL) or Nordic Knives, etc.

Most folks know Lile's work from the knife he made for the Rambo movies which started the "survival "knife craze a few years ago... but most of his work were traditional type hunter models such as yours.

I am fortunate to have a couple "dot" models.

blast you add!


I'm thinking my deal is about fall through thanks to you.


really appreciate the additional photos Steve


they say you can't take it with you, but I'd be tempted with that beauty.

it would never go afield with me I'm afraid, I'd be too scared of losing it!

Actually, my using knives ended up being made by my good friend, George Herron (may God Bless his lovely soul). During the last fifteen years I hunted, I used a single Number Two and found it to be a fantastic knife.

Over the years, I bought many Herron knives from George. Being a goldsmith and platinumsmith, I considered them not only wonderful knives, but jewelry. They were an investment and they are stored off-premises and in a bank vault. One day, I will sell the collection and donate the money to educating worthy grade school children who cannot afford our parish school. George would (and probably is) smile at that.

Somebody asked if the sambar has shrunk on the Lile. As I said, I was a goldsmith and I'd have to say that the mating of different natures of materials on the knife is really, really excellent ... almost as good as George Herron's work (I still do not know how George did that). Anyway, it is excellent.

I'm honestly not sure if the Lile has been sharpened. If it has, it would have been professionally on a grinder (supplied by Gerber) and by me.

Thanks for the interest and help.

Steve

Steve, I have a Lile "Big Seven" just like that (minus the engraving) that I bought in the mid to late '70's from a knife shop in Memphis for $150 IIRC. A few years ago they were going for north of $1000 on EBAY. Not sure how the engraving would affect the value BUT since it was done by a FAMOUS gun writer you never know.

Steve,

I would PM rickmenefee on here. He knew a lot of those old time makers including Bo Randall.

He is also honest and would give you a very fair assessment.

Regardless of what he quotes you, I'd be willing to take it off your hands.



Travis

+1 on what Clark said.

Your engraving is skookum, but as others have said, it will not help the value. I have bought and sold a few Randalls and found the custom knife market to be like the gun market....it fetches the highest price the closer to absolute original it is. Even the wear on the outer sheath is gonna affect the price, but you've got a couple gems there and I wish you the best in re-homing them!