U.S. Military Knives, by M.H. Cole, Book I, II, III, IV Original Line Drawings Value?

I have about 80% of the hand drawn line drawings that Mr. Cole used to first publish Books I, II, III, and IV. I purchased these from Mrs. Cole after Mr. Cole passed away. Most drawings are considerably larger than the pages in the books, with most being to scale. Mr. Cole gave many of the drawings away to collectors who had allowed him to borrow knives to be included in the books. Many of the drawings were used several times in the various books, with hand notes to the publisher for page changes and inclusion into each subsequent book. Several have actual magazine advertisements depicting surplus knives and manufacturer's ads, that Mr. Cole glued in place for printing in the books. All of the drawings are in pencil.

Question: I am contemplating selling some or all of the drawings and have no idea as to their value, or how/where to market them. Do not really want to put them up on ebay, but that may be the best venue to realize the best price.

Any suggestions as to marketing or value?

Regards,

Richard

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A little history of how I became acquainted with Mr. Cole.

Here are a couple of photos. (This is the only photo of these scabbards I have at this time and the workmanship has improved greatly since then). The first one is of an early M6 scabbard with a refinished Camillus M3 Blade Marked repro and a Marine Raider Stilletto Scabbard with a Camillus repro stilletto. The second photo is of Mr. Howard Cole and myself. Both photos are circa late 1991 at my first saddle shop in Clay, AL, which was a full retail saddle and harness shop. I had contacted Mr. Cole while I was still living in Fallbrook, Ca, when I was first getting started in 1989. I was surprised to find out that he only lived about 10 miles from where I grew up. I told him that I was leaving the Corps and returning home to set up shop.

Once I returned home in June 1991, Mr. Cole and I became good friends and he visited the shop often. I did quite a bit of work for Mr. Cole, sewing several of his military scabbards as well as making a few scabbards for the Skinning Knife Book he was then working on. I felt honored to have known such an interesting and knowledgeable gentleman and that he included some of my work in the Skinning Knife Book. Even though he was always welcome anytime, he always called and never showed up unannounced. We spent many hours talking about knives, both military as well as skinning and hunting knives. He really enjoyed watching the old Randall harness stitcher run. He said it sounded like a freight train. I told him that from the research I had done, this was one of the primary stitchers that Rock Island Arsenal, Enger Kress, Boyt, Milwaukee Saddlery, and many other contractors used during WWI and WWII. This particular machine is a first year of Mfg., and was made in 1910. I had it completely rebuilt just before Mr. Cole and I met.
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How many do you have and possibily of what type? Thanks!

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Originally Posted by A. F Medic

How many do you have and possibily of what type? Thanks!

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I do not have any of his knives, what I have are the drawings from his estate, that Mr. Cole hand drew with pencil and were used for the printing of his four books on military knives. From what I understand, each drawing would be considered art in and of itself since each is larger than what is depicted in his books. I have shown some of the pieces to local artist and illustrators who stated there are hours of work in each drawing.

Richard

As a draughtsman who has drawn rifles, bayonets, frogs, stripper clips, etc the value of the collection of drawings is very hard to quantify. Yes there are hours of work in doing each drawing but unfortunately that doesn't equate into dollars unless you are doing the drawing to order.

To make the most your best option would be to sell the most popular types of knifes individually on eBay, the more generic/plain/unpopular knifes you would have to put up in bundles, but I wouldn't think they would bring much, your target market is knife/bayonet collectors wanting something to frame for the gun room. So thinking of that, what would YOU be prepared to pay if you saw on eBay a drawing of a knife that takes your fancy? $5? $10?, $20?

The other option would be to sell them as a bundle, but for that you would need to find someone that is willing to fork over the money and would have a use for them, like someone doing an updated book on US military knives. That could be a long wait.

Whatever happens I hope you manage to find a new home for them

Could we see a small sample first? One company, Dixie Gun Works sells a lot of reproduction drawings of cannons, mortars, etc. I have seen them several times framed and mounted by the owners on walls. Framed ones start out at about $200 USD.

Like this. Dixie Gun Works muzzleloading, blackpowder and rare antique gun supplies.

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Originally Posted by A. F Medic

Could we see a small sample first? One company, Dixie Gun Works sells a lot of reproduction drawings of cannons, mortars, etc. I have seen them several times framed and mounted by the owners on walls. Framed ones start out at about $200 USD.

Like this. Dixie Gun Works muzzleloading, blackpowder and rare antique gun supplies.

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These are all original, very detailed, hand drawn by Mr. Cole. They are identical to those printed in his books as they are the hand drawn art that was used by the publisher for printing. The drawings of the knives are drawn to scale or slightly larger. Some may find the wooden art cases interesting that Mr. Cole built to house the drawings. I will photograph several this weekend and post the photos. Mr. Cole's books are now out print and quite expensive when you can find one. Average price for Book III and Book IV is $175 and Books I and II are almost impossible to find.

Richard

Here are photos of some of the drawings. The photos did not turn out that well with the flash, probably need to play around with a filter. Many are separate drawings cut and pasted on art board ready for the publisher and are what was used for printing all of Mr. Cole's books. There is also a photo of one of the handmade drawing boxes that Mr. Cole made to house the artwork.
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Here's a colour adjust image

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i could see buying one to frame and hang on the wall maybe

I don't if this will help you decide how to sell the drawings but ... Several years back one of my friends discovered his mother had collected all of the sketches and some art work of a New Orleans artist. So in order to get the word out about how talented the the artist was, he started selling matted pages of the sketch books on ebay. With the proceeds he set up a foundation to promote the artist.

So maybe listing a few matted would get a good value for themsince there is strong interest for US knives there. I know I'd be interested in one or two to go with my knives and bayonets (of course my wife would beat me).