Perry or Patrick for NKCA President

The Board of Directors for the National Knife Collectors
Association, NKCA will be determined this Fall, and it is
officially a two horse race. Either Perry Miller or
Patrick Donovan will be charged with the task of leading
the NKCA for the next four years, and with the advent of
many changes in the last few years in the industry, strong
leadership will undoubtedly pay dividends for knife
enthusiasts and for the industry in general.

For those unfamiliar, the NCKA is a non-profit corporation
founded in 1972 that promotes knife collecting. The NCKA
sponsors knife shows, publishes a monthly newsletter that
is well read throughout the knife industry, and offers an
annual club knife to members.

A large and active NCKA ripples positively throughout the
knife community, and the growth of the organization must
come from young knife collectors, if the industry is to
enjoy the success of previous years. Having had the chance
to speak with Perry Miller at a recent Case Tour at SMKW in
Sevierville, I was able to get his perspective on the
recent decline of the NKCA membership. Perry expressed his
concern that the NCKA is not promoting itself properly to
members, and he notable suggestions to try to bolter the
enrollment. While the newsletter that is currently offered
provides a wealth of information on knives, knife shows,
classifieds and relevant info for both the casual and
hardcore collector, the newsletter would benefit from a
makeover. A color magazine style offering would bring in a
lot more members. Perry furthermore stated what has been
obvious to knife purveyors for quite a while; the younger
generation is not buying the same knives as their parents
and grandparents did. This is evident from the rapid rise
in sales of custom and tactical style knives and knives
with technical looks and features. While Case and a few
other notable traditional production knife companies have
succeeded in pleasing their collector base, many
traditional knife companies have suffered, and some have
not survived the times. Perry buys and sells knives all
over the country and understands the direction consumers
are moving, and he also has embraced the new wave of
internet buyers and purveyors who have further impacted the
knife collecting trade. Perry operates the website
SpaceportCutlery.com and can be found at many tradeshows
throughout the country. At the Case event I attended in
July, a great number of people were wearing buttons
supporting his election, which was no doubt in response to
how well they respected him as a promoter of the knife
industry, but I am sure in some part due to his well known
authority in the world of Case Collectors. (He has
literally written the book on Case knives, make that
co-wrote it)

Pat Donovan is also a tireless advocate of the knife
industry and has a great deal of experience as the current
Treasurer of the NKCA, the board of directors of the
National Knife Museum, as well as 8 years as President of
his local club, the Wolverine Knife Collectors Club. He
has been director and secretary of the Buck collectors
club, and donated over 100 hours to the National Knife
Museum prior to its opening.

Pat has experience as a Financial Specialist with Chrysler
and has that management experience into his work in
promoting and running many large and successful knife shows
for his local club.

Whomever you choose, support the NKCA, it supports knife
enthusiasts.