Many of us have at least one story about lucky circumstances that led us to one or more nice Randall knives at great prices, right?

I always try to be fair when I purchase knives or guns from those who aren’t familiar with them, but with Randall knives that only happened with me once – sort of; I don’t have a great garage sale story (but I’d love to hear one). I acquired nearly all my Randall knives from about half a dozen sources. There was a span of 5 years or so in the early to mid-2000s where my daily routine was to check Spaceport Cutlery and the Treeman website. Every morning—and again in the afternoon! The Behrings, in that period, were regularly getting their hands on some crazy nice Randalls, often older ones; and invariably selling them at more-than-fair prices. And Spaceport… well, Perry… was Perry: you never knew what you were going to see. (And I can still remember that prickling at the back of my neck when I clicked on an interesting new listing, the knife not yet showing “Sold Out!” (and relegated to the “Just fer lookin…” list)). Beyond that, in order, it was Randall direct, authorized dealers, and maybe one or two trades over the years.

But in early 2004, I was perusing the web, googling for Randalls. The first couple results pages were always the same—authorized dealers mixed in with the ubiquitous “mark-up” sites. eBay was pretty much look-but-never-buy, for me.

A few pages down, deep into the search, I found a freshly minted website for an upscale brick-and-mortar Sporting Goods store in Connecticut—like an Orvis store, but just the one location: Barbour coats, leather shell bags, over-under European shotguns, that sort of thing. They’d hadn’t been online for long.

The website was rudimentary: contact info, store pictures showing merchandise and a small, barely noticeable tab-link to “Knives.” On that page were small pictures, mostly fancy folders, lined up nicely. But there was also a little picture of a handful of what appeared to be very pretty Randall Made Knives.

No prices were listed, so I telephoned. It turned out that the owner’s father had purchased some Randall Made “Hunting” knives directly from Randall back in the 80s. At some point over the years, what remained was pulled from the showcase to make room for other things. The son found the remaining knives in the rear of the store, well-kept all these years, and decided to put them on their new website as New-Old-Stock knives. (He wasn’t wrong about condition).

He wanted $275 for what he was calling a #1-6 with a stag handle. It looked more like a Model 5 to me (the group pic wasn’t great) but I said, “I’ll take it.” I think he was pricing them from what he could find for current list prices.

The #1-6 turned out to be a Model 5 with stainless blade, thumb notches, stag handle, NS single hilt, dura crow’s beak butt cap and wrist thong and it had one of the prettiest pieces of stag I’ve ever seen on a Randall.

After receiving it, I called again and (in the most casual voice I could muster) told him I’d take the rest. I got a #7-5/6 in stag, a #7-4 ½ in stag, and another #5-6 in stag. For each he was asking about $10 over base model 2004 catalog prices, but it was significantly more than his dad had paid and he was “moving stock.” He was happy. And I felt like I was making out like a bandit because I was getting free options and immediate delivery – and they were truly NOS 80’s knives! I don’t know where they were stored over the years, but the conditions must have been perfect.

To this day, these are still some of the prettiest Randall Made Knives I have. The #5-6 with crow’s beak butt is exceptionally beautiful. But so is the #7-4 ½! They all are. (One model 5 I gave to my brother).

Any other good stories of great finds out there? Anyone here find the fabled garage sale vintage Randall in great condition?

Thanks, Gary

…

I've got some good deals, but I've also overpaid. I've sold plenty of Randall's for less than I paid for them. I've also sold Randall's for a pretty good profit. Buy sell trade is a fun hobby for me. Win some lose some. I rarely buy knives with intention of selling. I just get bored easy so I trade for something different. I've never found a Randall at a garage sale for 5 bucks, but if I did nobody would ever know!

I paid too much once... I bought a Randall from A.G. Russell. Ha! It was one of my first - saw it in his catalog with the wonderful description and pictures. I don't begrudge him too much - he's turned a lot of people on to Randall knives through his catalog.
But it seems like things have changed some since back in the mid/late-00s. Looks like the Randall market has taken a bit of knock at some point in the last decade. When I got those "Like New" 80's knives for near catalog prices, it was at a time when 80's knives were going for a pretty premium.
At the time, I was excited as heck. I still get excited thinking about it. But I guess it doesn't play so well today.

Gary

OK...

Since nobody else has stepped up, I will give you $10 each over your cost for the knives.

Bargaining has to start at some price point...so I thought I would throw that out there.

Larry

Shoot. Did I accidentally put this in the Buy and Sell forum?

Will you splurge for shipping?

Never had lucky finds with Randall's; however that has not always been the case.

"Shoot. Did I accidentally put this in the Buy and Sell forum?"


That's where I'm looking next!

Nice knives. We all admire them.

Larry

I'm not trying to show off, I swear! Heck, I know most of my knives don't compare with so many I've seen lately on the forums here.

But I am trying to learn how to take nice pictures of them with my smartphone. I have to unlearn much of what I used to do with my older digital camera. (The microprocessors in these smartphone cameras seem to make all the right decisions if left to their own devices - esp. when it comes to lighting).

Thanks, Gary

Gary--

I've found the same to be true for making photos.

I bought an new full body digital a few years ago, bought a large light tent, and made inventory photos of knives just for the record.

But all the photos came out "muddy" and not worthy of showing off. Probably/maybe not enough light, but the "smart" camera might have/should have been able to make adjustment.

I have found that for inventory purposes I can use a standup white carboard background that I think somebody bought at Wal-Mart, and white or other background, on a southern exposure roofed back porch, use a white reflector to get the desired view on the blade, and touch the button on the cell phone. Does a pretty good job--and large file photo results which can be reduced in mb's for other purposes.

Here is an example:

Agree 100% Larry.

With my (pretty nice) digital camera years ago, it was all about indirect, but bright sunlight.

I had one of those light-tent setups too, but nothing compared to taking pictures in indirect sunlight.

Taking pictures again recently, but this time with my Android phone, I was applying all the old rules but just not liking the results.

Those pictures above are taken in an almost dark room – a large room with just one shaded lamp turned on, about 4 ft away. No overhead lights, but just a bit of dusk light from a window. (With my digital camera, it would have been so underexposed/ dark that you’d hardly be able to see the knives).

It finally occurred to me: the cameras in these smartphones are so idiot proof, any setup work I do only serves to work against the camera’s mindboggling genius.

The top two are what I call “glamour” shots. Taken at a slight angle with a sort of light glare affect. But it can hide some imperfections when you take shots like that, so I also have more revealing, straight up-and-down shots of all my knives too for insurance purposes. (More like the third picture, but with even more light; taken not for beauty, but for compete detail).

But I do like taking and sharing pictures of my knives. Almost as much as looking at nice pictures of other great knives.

Thanks, Gary

Ps. Nice picture.