I still follow that policy. There are 4 or 5 gun shows a year and If I'm having a good day, I try to buy a Randall before I leave. The times I don't, I'm usually sorry afterwards. Over the years its easy to discover you've got way too many knives. I only wonder if the same economics will apply in the future. I've never made a screaming deal on one. The best was paying $150 for an early trout and bird. The worst was a few months ago when I paid $1100 for a Smithsonian with an ivory handle. Since my goal wasn't to resell it, I'm good. I sure bought a few in the early 1990s for the then outrageous price range of $300. I've even got a Soligen Fighter for that.

I've also bought other brands, Gil Hibben's custom have caught my eye for a long time. I see his designs all the time with Browning names on them. One day I bought a Hibben "White tail hunter" and paid probably $350 for it. Its still like new. So on we hiked at the gun show. And a few aisles over there was a guy selling knives. Somebody's old collection was being liquidated. And there, in front of me, was a knife with a clear Hibben design and logo. I got it for maybe $20. Sure, its a little rough.

So time passed and there was a Ken Po Karate shop opening about 20 miles away. And Gil only lives down in LaGrange, and he was at the grand opening, pushing his fantasy knives. I went to the shop and he had a line of maybe 8 or 10 people. Mostly they were buying new knives and he was signing the boxes. As the line moved up the guy about 4 in front of me asked about his custom "line" of knives. Gil's young wife was standing there and she started laughing. She told the others in line that I got a free pass to move up. I was carrying the 4 or 5 Hibben's I'd bought along the way. He kind of turned his nose up at the high dollar knives but zoomed in on the $20 rough one. He looked at me and asked where I'd gotten it. I told him and he was smiling.

He said its a steak knife. He'd made 3 sets over the years and that 2 of those sets were still intact. It seems the knife I have was from the 3rd set, the one owned by Steve McQueen. After his death, the hired help probably stole the silverware. Regardless, it got scattered to the wind. This is the first and only one to have ever turned up. His explanation was that McQueen and Ali McGraw weren't veggies. They liked steak and entertained often. His conclusion was that more than a handful of stars had probably used my knife. Cool, but you can't take it to the bank.

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Dick Burg