Not to pick a fight, but...
Sounds like the knives he bought were standard catalogue models…not one-off’s, fakes, lunchbox knives…not all of which came from “Crider.”
Which raises the question…are the only knives to be shunned that are “out of the ordinary” those that might be attributed to Crider? Of the knives in the Green Catalogue and others, I wonder if anyone has ever gone back into the records to see which if any were actually done for him by the shop and sold to him? "If" that was done, it might "legitimize" at least some of the suspect knives. Otherwise, it is folklore, legend, rumor as to what is what.
We see a lot of non-catalogue knives that were made over the decades…and should they all be diminished, ignored, whatever? Even though most of them were actually made by the shop?
Crider sold hundreds if not thousands of catalogue standard knives over the years…should I throw away those that I bought from him???
Thinking that would be foolish.
Larry
Larry -
Good points, but some aren't realistic. Of course not every knife that went thru Crider's hands is suspect, but a good percentage are. Nor was he the only one altering knives, but probably the most well known, and perhaps the most prolific. Hell, he unwittingly documented his shenanigans for us with the publication of the "green catalog". For a newer collector, IMO it would be wise to look elsewhere, or at least ask some questions prior to investing in something known to come from him.
A decent amount of Crider's stuff that was altered/modified did come out of the shop, but not out the front door, and without the authorization of Bo and/or GTR. Unfortunately, a couple pf unscrupulous shop employees were paid under the table to make "special/one-of-a-kind type stuff for Crider. The whole basis of this was greed.
Rhett made an attempt by publishing a short list years ago of known bad pieces (at that time) in the catalog, but folks weren't as up to speed back then. The catalog was relatively new, and not as many things were questioned back in the day. A new list might be out in the not so distant future. Below is a link to my site and the 1991 list of altered pieces:
https://rmkcollector.com/1991-green-catalog-altered-knives/Everyone would like to find a one off or rare piece, and in the end, the whole point of shunning Crider catalog items is to protect the newer collector from making a bad purchase. A potentially expensive bad purchase, that might remove his/her participation in the hobby forever.
Previous Topic
Index
