Advice on older S&W knives

[OMCHamlin]

Guys, I recently picked up a bunch of older made in the USA (non-Taylor) S&W knives. I have enough to make up one complete set of the old school stuff (a 6060 Folder, the long & short filet knives, the Survival, the Outdoorsman and the Bowie) + several duplicates, a cased Texas Ranger Bowie and a few of the newer S&Ws, the rubber handle hunting knives. All are in very good condition with boxes but my question is this: Am I better off selling the set together, or should I expect to do better selling them one by one? Darn near ALL of the stupid sheaths have the typical S&W sheath problem where the male stud has corroded away and requires replacement, should I go to the extra trouble of trying to fix them or leave them as is? (Do we have a kind hearted holster maker in the bunch?) They were the rear snap for the belt loop, a one way type snap that they used to use. What do the experts think is a fair price for a set and what do individuals bring? It SHOULD go without saying, this is a research thread, NOT a for sale thread. If that comes later, it will be in the correct forum, not here!
That said, thanks in advance for any advice offered.

R/OMC

 

[ko41]

I'm no expert but I would think selling them individually usually nets the most. I have a 6010, 6020, and 6030 listed in the classifieds for $175 each for the two nice ones. That price is about in the middle range of what they bring on ebay. Sold the rubber handle 6051 Boot Knife for $65.

KO

 

[bk43]

S&W knives are a tough sell. There is no interest in them in the knife collecting community and the public at large thinks all S&W knives are inexpensive Chinese made. That makes sense when you consider 99+% of the knives on the market at any given time are Chinese made for Taylor. About all that's left is the S&W collector who would like to have one because it has S&W on it. That's why I own a few but they are a very, very small part of my knife collection.

I have seen some astronomical pricing on S&W knives, just like the asking prices you see on Gunbroker for guns. But, like Gunbroker, I don't see the knives actually selling for those high prices. IMHO, the $75 to $100 range for the older knives is about right. The newer rubber handled knives, assuming they are ones made in Houlton, ME perhaps $50 to $75. The Texas Ranger maybe $100 to $125.

Were the knives mine, I'd try the Classifieds here first on a one by one basis. How you price them is a personal thing but like anything else, the higher the price the longer it takes to sell and visa versa.

Bob

 

[holo]

i second bk43 i would keep a few for user and try them hear first then flea bay. but the fees on that site are out of hand i just sold a benchmade knife for 300.00 and lost 27.00 total. not bad but not so good either.