Collect 'em, Enjoy 'em, And Profit From 'em

Sporting collectibles provide pleasure while you make money on them.

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Afriend of mine once found himself standing between two contrary types in front of a display of handmade hunting knives. On his left was the quintessential Wall Streeter wearing a three-piece suit and carrying a Mark Cross briefcase; he was twiddling a sheath knife. Finally, satisfied with its quality, he wrote a check for $200 and dropped the knife into his briefcase, where it joined six other knives. My friend asked if he was an ardent hunter. No, the Wall Streeter answered, he never went hunting. The knives, he explained, were the start of his "knife portfolio," which would go into a safety deposit box while its value rose.

On my friend's right was a leather-clad bear of a man with one earring and a "Born to Lose" tattoo. With a calloused thumb he stroked the blade of an eight-inch bowie, then pulled out a wad of bills and peeled off $150. The knife went into his boot. My friend didn't have the nerve to ask why he was buying the knife.

That story illustrates the main point about handmade knives in particular and sporting collectibles in general: They have both investment potential and practical appeal.

Knives, guns, ammunition, fishing tackle, and decoys, as well as paintings, prints, carvings, stamps, and books with a sporting theme, all fall under the heading of sporting collectibles. They are practical, beautiful, and informative things, infused with tradition. Some have been around for a long time; others are brand new. And all of them are being snapped up by collectors.

There are several reasons. First, most of them are sound investments. A Parker A-1 Special shotgun that sold for $800 in the '30s may now go for over $60,000. A handmade knife priced at $150 today may fetch $300 next year. Values climb because sporting items are often produced in limited quantities, are extremely well made, and are created by acknowledged masters.

Second, unlike the beer cans and baseball cards that some people hoard, many sporting collectibles can be used while their value appreciates. Teddy Roosevelt's African Game Trails is a good read; a first edition of it is also a good investment. A fly rod by Jim Payne or Pinky Gillum will lay a nice straight line across the water while it spirals up in value. Some of the best pieces, in fact, demand to be used because part of their beauty lies in the way they perform. Owning a Purdey shotgun and not shooting it is as great a sin as relegating it to a spot behind the kitchen door.

Third, there are still bargains to be found -- in attics, on card tables at garage sales, even in dealers' showcases. A fisherman friend recently discovered a small tackle store with a shed full of 1930-vintage lures in their original packing. And a gun collector once told me he acquired a Purdey -- easily worth $10,000 -- in a batch of guns he bought sight unseen from an estate for $500. Many new sporting collectibles are still reasonably priced. A really fine handmade knife may go for $500. A new sporting print by Ogden Pleissner, the dean of sporting artists, will go for half that. Both will probably rise rapidly in value, severalfold.

Fourth, the collector doesn't have to specialize narrowly. Some do, of course -- and fill their homes with bass fishing lures, or books published by Derrydale Press, or folding Knives -- but many more sporting collectors have one shotgun, a dozen decoys, a shelf of books, a good handmade knife for hunting trips, and perhaps a fishing print over the mantel. The sporting theme unifies the collection, which is cherished more for its beauty and utility than for its market value.

Finally, identifying a good piece among sporting collectibles is easier than, say, picking out a Ming vase or a growth stock. The hardware is made to be used, so the criteria are quality of workmanship and function, values even a beginning collector can assess. When both are superb, the aesthetic quality of the piece is certain to be high, and its value is sure to rise. There are forgeries and inferior pieces, to be sure, but the field is small, most dealers are reputable, and the cash outlay is not likely to be great, so few people get stung.

Before you put up cash, however, do some research. Talk to experienced hunters and fishermen. Find out from them the names of famous gun and rod makers, writers, and artists; they'll know what distinguishes a great piece from a good one.

Values change, whimsically at times, so you should also do some reading to get a sense of the vagaries of the market. The best starting point is Allan J. Liu's The American Sporting Collector's Handbook (Winchester Press). Since it was published in 1976, its price guide is outdated, but there will be a new edition in early 1982. The overview it presents is solid. It lists numerous other books that cover specific categories -- shotguns, decoys, knives, and the like.

A new magazine, Sporting Classics, is devoted entirely to the field of collectibles. It is beautiful and very informative, with eight columnists who fill you in on basics and keep you up to date on trends. (Sporting Classics, P.O. Box 646, Camden, SC 29020; six issues for $12.)

The outdoor magazines, from the big slick ones like Sports Afield and Field & Stream to the specialized books like Fly Fisherma and The American Blade, cover sporting collectibles. Catalogs from print and book dealers are a must if you're interested in those. And if you have a chance to attend a knife show, a gun show, a decoy show, or just a general sporting show, by all means do. You can compare notes with other collectors there, the best way to keep up to date.

Don't put much stock in magazine articles that profess to tell you "All You Need to Know about Sporting Collectibles." But here are some of the things you might want to know about some of the things you might collect:

GUNS

Rifles and shotguns (pistols and machine guns don't qualify as sporting) are the cream of sporting collectibles, but they can cost up to six figures. Best to study hard and concentrate on a specific area, such as muzzle-loading shotguns, which are relatively expensive. Among contemporary breech-loading arms, double-barreled shotguns are prized. English guns -- Purdey, Boss, Holland & Holland, Churchill, and Rigby -- are the best. Parker, L. C. Smith, Lefever, Fox, and Winchester (particularly the Model 21) are the American guns collectors most covet.

FISHING TACKLE

Anything connected with fly fishing has value, particularly good bamboo rods. Look for Gillum, Payne, Thomas, Winston, Granger, and Garrison as makers. Lures are popular; so are fish decoys, used to entice predators into spear range under the ice. There's still some unexplored ground in this area, in things like fish mounts, which have few collectors.

DECOYS

New wooden decoys are expensive; old ones can be exorbitant. People have been collecting decoys for over 50 years, so the field is well picked over, and there aren't many bargains. Shore-bird decoys often bring the highest prices. If you're interested in decoys, it's best to attend a decoy show and read up before you dabble here.

DECORATIVE CARVINGS

The artsy stepchild of decoys. Prices run to $100,000 for a well-executed carving, accurate down to feathers and fur, but you can do well if you discover a budding carver whose prices are still modest. People are so hooked on these things they design rooms, and even houses, around their collections.

STAMPS, PAINTINGS, PRINTS

Lumped together because stamps start out as paintings and paintings beget prints. There are state waterfowl stamps, grouse stamps, turkey stamps, sheep stamps, big game stamps, and probably others. Individual stamps aren't worth much, except for some early issues, but sets have value.

Prints of stamps and prints of paintings are the fastest-growing collector's market. The only way to make a sound investment in them is to find a reputable gallery.

KNIVES

The greatest demand today is not for old knives but for contemporary handmade ones. Prices may run to $150 per inch of blade for a hand-forged Damascus steel knife, but small sheath knives with ground blades may go for less than $100.

BOOKS

Best to work with a dealer until you know what you're doing. There are a dozen that specialize in sporting titles, and all put out catalogs.Be careful of snapping up every book you run across, but anything published by Derrydale, which was a major sporting publisher, has value.

Financial killings aside, perhaps the most appealing aspect of collecting all of these things is this: Proclaiming yourself a sporting collector with a sharp eye for investment potential is the best damn justification in the world for buying that shotgun, fishing rod, decoy, print, knife, or painting you have drooled over for so long.To paraphrase the adage, then: The only difference between collectors and boys is the profit they make on their toys