Benchmade gurus need your help

[Solscud007]

What is this worth?

It is a Benchmade 941 Titanium. Bought it back in 2003 for $210. never used it.

 

[cave dave]

Ive seen the 941-81 blue anodized one selling for around MSRP or somewhat more. That would be about $600. I would say yours might be less just based on the finish work as compared to the fancier ones, but its one of those things were if some guy has almost the complete set but is missing the one you have he might be willing to pay up to a $1000.

My personal take is as a production knife with those materials if BM chose to make and sell it as a normal item it would have a street value of about $250. Basically a bit more than a Bradley Alias because of the extra machining and the locking mechanism, but less than a Sebenza. I'm not into paying much of a premium for an artificially induced "collectors item". I'd love to have one, but I would actually carry and use the thing.

 

[Solscud007]

Wow why is the 941-81 so expensive? I dont really see a difference other than the placement of the finish work. Same looking knife. titanium handle.

 

[jujigatame]

Wow why is the 941-81 so expensive? I dont really see a difference other than the placement of the finish work. Same looking knife. titanium handle.

In part because Benchmade set it that way to begin with via the MSRP. Like Dave mentioned, it is artificially induced to a certain degree.

That said, there is more work in the handle and hardware of the -81 than there is in the version you have. I wouldn't consider it to be several hundred dollars worth in terms of what I would pay personally, but that's just me. The size of a limited run and the cost incurred to set up & execute it always plays in because there's a particular margin they want to meet. Consider the gold class Griptilian with M4 steel and CF handles. Is it really 4x the knife that the regular 551 is just from the base costs of materials? No, but there are greater costs associated with working materials like M4 and CF compared to 154CM and a molded plastic handle. I wouldn't feel that it warrants a $300 jump in MSRP but BM must think that's what they need to make a certain number on each one.

 

[cave dave]

Wow why is the 941-81 so expensive? I dont
really see a difference other than the placement of the finish work.
Same looking knife. titanium handle.

Because 500 people are willing to buy it at the price. A lot of people
aren't happy with Benchmades and dealers choice to sell at the highest
price the market will bare. However what was happening at about the
time you bought your knife was flippers would buy up all the inventory
of a limited run and then resell it at greatly inflated prices.
Personally I would rather the profit went to BM or a reputable dealer
than profiteers.

Spyderco still charges reasonable margins on their limited runs, but
they are often gone in days because people buy several for later
resale. The normal budget constrained fanbase often doesn't stand a
chance.

I'm not much on flipping, but I'm thinking about buying a red Persian that
I have no intention of using, not for later profit, but so I can trade I for
something else rare I might want in the future.

 

[Solscud007]

oh ok. that makes sense. But still the BM knife is pretty pricey. but im not a real knife connoisseur so I dont see much difference. that warrants such a hefty price.

My fiancee, gf at the time, liked it cause it was "pretty" and has titanium handles.