Are the Older Wengers gonna jump in value?

Luna Knife · **on:** March 23, 2015, 02:53:01 AM

All the ones made before the time Victorinox bought Wenger and continued the name.

I think they will

ColoSwiss · **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2015, 03:12:10 AM

Wenger never had the the collectability of Victorinox, and older Wengers have generally sold for less than comparable Vics. It may be that in the future Wengers are considered a valuable subset of Victorinox; alternately they may fade from view. Given the number of Wenger I own I hope its the former, but only time will tell.

Corwyn · **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2015, 09:06:00 AM

True that... I stopped collecting Wengers as well...
I only get some if they really amazing: limited series, Onyx scales etc.
They have too many models, too many variations and quirks to keep track of - they are way below quality-wise than Victorinox (I have about 50 Vics and 10 Wengers - while only 2 of the Vics had cracked scales, 7 of the Wengers do)... no spare parts.. and I realised they don't have the Vic magic that made me buy more and more...
Also they sell for dirt-cheap nowadays and are just everywhere. Not only that, but the vastly superior Delement range replaced them...
Another thing is Wenger never really did tons of Alox (Soldier excluded) and the really crazy collectors are into that.

Probably truly valuable will remain the Giants and maybe some very rare, cool designs, but the rest will fade into oblivion.

Another thing is Wenger struggled too much to be bold, modern and innovative (the external lock, the springless, self-sharpening scissors, the Evo scales etc.) and "modern and innovative" doesn't age well... a 1980 wooden abacus is collectible, a 1980 PC is scrap plastic...

Cue the flame wars

Mextreme · **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2015, 10:11:05 AM

Quote from: Corwyn on March 23, 2015, 09:06:00 AM

True that... I stopped collecting Wengers as well...
I only get some if they really amazing: limited series, Onyx scales etc.
They have too many models, too many variations and quirks to keep track of - they are way below quality-wise than Victorinox (I have about 50 Vics and 10 Wengers - while only 2 of the Vics had cracked scales, 7 of the Wengers do)... no spare parts.. and I realised they don't have the Vic magic that made me buy more and more...
Also they sell for dirt-cheap nowadays and are just everywhere. Not only that, but the vastly superior Delement range replaced them...
Another thing is Wenger never really did tons of Alox (Soldier excluded) and the really crazy collectors are into that.

Probably truly valuable will remain the Giants and maybe some very rare, cool designs, but the rest will fade into oblivion.

Another thing is Wenger struggled too much to be bold, modern and innovative (the external lock, the springless, self-sharpening scissors, the Evo scales etc.) and "modern and innovative" doesn't age well... a 1980 wooden abacus is collectible, a 1980 PC is scrap plastic...

Cue the flame wars

I agree with most but the bold marking in your post should probably add to collector value in my opinion.
Other things I collect like mechanical watches a lot of brands vanished in the 70s and became more collectible.

tosh · **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2015, 10:30:48 AM

I think that their time will come. When all is said they are swiss built and they were in production for over 100yrs plus the Wenger output was something like 1/10th of Victorinox.

I have vastly more Wengers than I do Victorinox.

Who can predict what future collectors will want??

The Giant will obviously become sought after as will the specials like the Porsche Wengers. Those models that were released only to specific countries, the Rangergrip 88, 90 the Mike Horn - remarkable in that it's serrated blade is unique to that model only. The Business tool, the titanium range etc etc

As said, the variation was immense and no doubt partly the reason for their downfall - fact is we will probably never see the likes of Wenger again. A company who were not afraid to be bold and original.....and that is the very reason why I began collecting them.

Once all the stocks have gone, then the tide will turn.

dks · **Reply #5 on:** March 23, 2015, 10:31:54 AM

I agree with what has been said/discussed by the posters previously.

Summarising my thoughts:

-it is unlikely that they will lose in value now that they have been discontinued

-the ones that are no longer being made by Victorinox in a Delemont variant are more likely to be popular with collectors in the future

-it will take a few years to become clear how collectible they will be

Rich S · **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2015, 12:46:54 PM

I love SAKs and have about 60 of them, both Vic and Wenger. However, I suspect that neither will greatly increase in value in the near future EXCEPT for this small group of die hard collectors. For most folks SAKs are users, not collectibles. Just a thought, no offense to SAK collectors (I is one :-)
Rich

Dragon Lord · **Reply #7 on:** March 23, 2015, 10:53:30 PM

I think they will. Ofcourse not all the models, but in 40 years to see a functional and well cared wenger should de intresting to a lot of collectors in my opinion. I really love wengers, that said I also think Victorinox has better quallity but the inovation of wenger got me. I may be one of the very few that think the can opener is really cooler in the wengers, maybe not so functional than vics, but it looks awesome for me. The 130mm models are the best saks in my opinion and I'm glad Vic continues that legacy with Delemont collection.

Thunderpants · **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2015, 11:03:28 PM

I really like the Wenger Rangers and especially the quirkier models like the Realtree Snow. I was keen to get a couple of them before they vanished entirely, but I doubt they will ever increase in value. (I use them so they're not pristine anyway.)

The more usual models certainly won't increase in value - I always thought Wenger wanted too much in the first place....

But I am the fool that said no-one will want an iPhone so what do I know!