Gold Hunter ID Help

hardkiss · #1

I have a Hunter that is partially serrated and that has a gold color coating to it. I remember I bought it online several years. I was wondering what the coating is and maybe some other info about it. Thank you in advance.

The Deacon · #2

Coating was done aftermarket, most likely by John F Jensen who was a Spyderco distributor at the time. IIRC he had were somewhere between a dozen and twenty each of several models coated with gold ti-ni, and a roughly equal number coated black.

Stuart Ackerman · #3

FYI...if it is gold in colour, it is titanium nitride...
If it is black or grey, it is titanium carbo-nitride...

hardkiss · #4

That's it Jensen! Thanks so much. You have an idea on retail price?

The Deacon · #5

hardkiss wrote:That's it Jensen! Thanks so much. You have an idea on retail price?

No idea of original pricing, but it was probably a bit higher than the C03's $100 MSRP in the mid 90's. Know that, when I got into collecting in 2004 JFJ still had some available and was closing them out at fairly low prices. Kind of a "perfect storm" here. Despite it being one of the early models, there's not a huge amount of collector interest in the Hunter. On almost every Spyderco model that was available both with and without them, serrations limit collector interest. With only rare exceptions, aftermarket mods limit collector interest. So a part-serrated, after-market modified Hunter is going to appeal to only a very small sub-set of the collector market.

Sonny · #6

I figured the gold color was titanium nitride. Some of my handgun cartridge dies are made out of that. Lasts forever plus a decade.

Qcrazy · #7

Pardon me: Momentary thread highjack. Hey Paul, Would my black and gold bladed Spyder Q's have also come from this dealer? Thanks in advance. Dan

The Deacon · #8

Qcrazy wrote:Pardon me: Momentary thread highjack. Hey Paul, Would my black and gold bladed Spyder Q's have also come from this dealer? Thanks in advance. Dan

Certainly one possibility Dan. I never saw any on his site, but that might only mean they sold out before I got into Spydercos, or that he sold them all to dealers, since he was a Spyderco distributor. His website is still active, so you might try emailing him.

Qcrazy · #9

Thanks again, email is on its way to the company.

Holland · #10

would love to see a photo if you have any :D

bengaiser · #11

Qcrazy wrote:Pardon me: Momentary thread highjack. Hey Paul, Would my black and gold bladed Spyder Q's have also come from this dealer? Thanks in advance. Dan

If I recall, the gold Q's were given as gifts to employees only. No link to back that up though, sorry.