When bidding opened for the online sale of Property from the Collection of Anthony Bourdain, the Bob Kramer knife soared past the $20,000 mark where it's holding today. Considered the Rolls Royce of cutlery, the knives are sharp, beautiful, and expensive.

Anthony Bourdain was particular about his knives.  He sought out the best for his kitchens and personal use. This led him to discover Bob Kramer, a master bladesmith who has a waiting list of buyers. Bourdain met Kramer in 2015 during the making of Raw Craft, a series of films he did highlighting traditional craftsmen. They shot the segment at Bob’s workshop in Olympia, Washington. Bourdain was so impressed with what he saw, that he ordered a knife, which took almost a year to make. That’s because it’s an old-world process of mixing two types of steel, one with meteoritic iron, hammered and folded and heated until the impurities were expelled. The blade is thin, hard and beautiful with swirls of layered metal blanched by heat.

The blade is sheathed into a cocobolo scabbard, a type of highly figured wood from Central America of the genus Dalbergia. Dense, hard and beautiful, it’s a perfect foil for the blade of the same description. The handle is set with brightly polished circular pins with a trefoil flowerhead, It comes with a signed certificate from Bob Kramer and Bourdain’s certificate states that his blade is a ’10” Euro style chefs with stainless bolsters and sheath cocobolo (and) 800 layer shop made steel with meteorite” signed to Anthony Bourdain and dated March 31, 2016. 

Owning a Bob Kramer blade is special, but owning one made for the master at using blades–Anthony Bourdain–is something really special. Imagine Michelangelo chiseling away on the Pieta. DaVinci, dabbing the last bit of pigment on the Mona Lisa - that's’s Bob Kramer's knife in Anthony Bourdain’s hand.

When asked about how high it might go, Lark Mason, the owner of the firm auctioning off the Bourdain collection replied, “Anthony Bourdain was beloved by millions of fans and the Bob Kramer knife is the best that can be bought. Putting these two together represents quality and skill and an insight into the private world of an admired public figure.”

Property from the Collection of Anthony Bourdain is now online at www.igavelauctions.com through October 30. A significant portion of the proceeds will benefit the Anthony Bourdain Legacy Scholarship at his alma mater, The Culinary Institute of America. The scholarship was established –in the spirit of Bourdain himself– to support CIA students pursuing a semester abroad or taking part in one of the college’s global cuisines and cultures international programs. The remaining proceeds will go to the estate of Anthony Bourdain. For more information visit www.igavelauctions.com.