Treasure at the Gun Show and I Was There!

It was a pretty good weekend, knife related. I was at the Medina Gun Show and managed to sell a few knives and I had a lot of fun talking to people. Everything was going great and then a fellow walked up to me and said:

“Do you buy knives?"  He was holding a big, torn glossy shopping bag in both arms.

I used to say no, but now I say “Sometimes, but I’ll be happy to look at them.” He handed me the bag, and I was expecting low-end Frost and Iron Warrior. I can’t tell you how surprised I was. The bag was filled with unused Spydercos in excellent condition. He had a wonderful selection of both new and discontinued models.

I have to admit, I immediately wondered if they were stolen. I’ve never seen such a treasure trove. He explained he was a collector and wanted to sell them as a lot.

He had a Citadel 83mm Spyderco Auto.

CPMS30V steel, aluminum handle, 3.35-inch blade, 4.8 ounces of comfort

I fell for the Citadel’s blade shape. The grip and blade are just right for my hands and I really think they have the best positioned release and lock.



The round gray button is the release while the sliding switch is the safety.

The only thing that could be better would be a small button safety and a current size beveled release button in the present locations. This way you could just slide your thumb over the safety and onto the release in one smooth motion. I’m a big fan of smooth, continuous motions. Let’s not be herky-jerky when working with tools.

Actually he had two.  I’ve only seen them at the Spyderco booth at the SHOT Show - where I couldn’t get one to write about for love nor money. I mentally added the prices and figured he had at least $1000 of knives there.

“How much are you asking?” I asked.

“What would give me?” He replied and added, “I know what they’re worth.”

I just don’t carry that kind of money with me. So I walked him over to my friends who buy and sell knives. After they dickered a bit they came to an agreement and money changed hands.

How much did they pay?

Sorry, you don’t get to know that. But I think they did well.

What did the old fellow have?

A partial list includes:

Police, plain edge C07

Citadel, C119P

Cricket, stainless steel C29

Dragonfly, plain edge C28BK

Native 3, plain edge C78

Scorpius, plain edge C87

Poliwog, plain edge C98

And perhaps the holiest knife of all,

The D’Allara Rescue.

9/11 found NYPD Officer John D’Allara on the phone to Spyderco. “I need knives, rescue knives. The searchers don’t have the right stuff. Can you help me?”

Of course they did. Who wouldn’t? People from all over the USA drove to New York City to help after the Trade Towers collapsed.

John climbed into the debris field and starting passing out the much needed knives. An unstable steel plate slipped free and crushed John.

As I understand it, Spyderco recovered that plate and used some of the steel plate in the building of each D’Allara Rescue Knife. And when the steel is used up, the D’Allara pattern will be retired, never to be reissued. I can’t think of a holier knife than that.

Well, actually I can, but Osama bin Laden hasn’t been captured….Yet!