The National Knife
Collectors Association began when a group of collectors, who had been working
the gun-shows in Tennessee and Kentucky, turned to knives following the Gun
Control Act of 1968. They began to recognize the growing number of knife
enthusiasts and held the combined opinion that organizing and promoting the
growing trend would expand their new hobby, as well as their own businesses.
The economic side of things was not ignored, as the new club was first called
the National Knife Collectors & Dealers Association. The “& Dealers”
was dropped a couple of years later for tax considerations. The first elected
president of the new club was the leading knife dealer of the time, James F.
Parker.
The year was 1972, and
within two years, the organization had a small newsletter and had signed
several hundred members nationwide. In 1974, Parker proposed that the new club
knife produce a collector’s knife exclusively for its members as an incentive
for membership. He chose an Anglo-Saxon whittler based on the most desirable
Case pattern, the 6391 whittlers.
No U.S. manufactures
were interested in producing this small run, so Parker approached Howard Rabin
of Star Sales in Knoxville, Tennessee, the U.S. importer of German made Kissing
Crane knives. Rabin’s company was a major supplier of knives to the emerging
knife collectors’ market, and he was eager to make the 1,200 knives that the
organization needed.
In the brief history one
can find about the NKCA, this all sounds like things went smoothly, but the
reality is different. When Parker first presented the club knife idea to the
NKCA board of directors, one of the board members remarked to a crowd following
the meeting: “Oh my God, Parker has just bankrupted the Association.”
The club knife program
at the time was an audacious move since the KNCA did not have 1,200 members. In
the initial offering, the knives were sold at $12 each, and a subsequent
mailing altered the one-per-customer rule, allowing each member to order up to
three each at $15 per knife. The #0001 knife was put up for silent auction, and
was purchased by the late Jim Koch for $150. Afterwards, numerous collectors
said they would have paid more than that had they known that was all it would
bring.
Thus the beginning of
the club knives as a promotional tool and fundraiser for collector
organizations began. The record of what followed within the NKCA can best
illustrate the initial success of the ventures. Within six years, the 1975 NKCA
club knife what sold for $12 would sell for $600. The 1976 Club knife, a Case
4380 whittler, with a production of 3,000, would sell out. The issue price of
$15 would peak at a value of $250. Five thousand of the 1977 Kissing Crane
stag-handled gunboat canoe would be produced, followed by six thousand
IXL/Wostenholm green bone handled three blade canoes in 1978. The peak would be
reached in 1981, with an issue of 12,000 NKCA club knives, made by Queen. From
that high point the NKCA membership declined, as did the number of annual club
knives produced.
Part of the burnout of
investing in club knives came from the massive growth of regional clubs, who
each wanted their own club knives for their members. This demand for unique
designs soon encompassed all the rare unusual patterns, and a rare vintage
pattern that had not been reproduced by a club became almost impossible to
find. Many remedies were attempted: changing handle materials, shifting blades
around, adding blades to existing patterns, changing the size, but nothing
worked as well as the early revival of long discontinued vintage patterns, as
originated by Parker and the NKCA.
The number of club
knives soon made it impossible to collect them all, a goal that many collectors
tried when the club knife phenomena began. The oversupply stifled grown of
value, and in many instances valued fell. The 1975 NKCA club knife that sold
for $12, peaked at $600, and can now be purchased on the collector market for
less than $300.
That is not to say that
all club knives have not been good investments, provided the collector
purchased them at issue price, but the trend has become one of valuing a club
knife entirely based on the brand, the pattern and the handle material. A Case
bone handled trapper on the resale market is about the same price across the
board, no matter if it is a small club making 50 or a large club making 200.
Club knives do have
their appeal, often unique or resurrected rare designs, popular handle
material, and usually etching on the blade that readily identifies the club,
the year and the quantity made. The irony is that the knives have rarely
captured the enthusiasm of the vintage knife collectors, which was the original
market for which the knives were intended.