The Story Behind Anthony Bourdain’s Most Beloved Knife

As his meteorite chef's knife sits for auction alongside 200 of his possessions, his friends—and the man who crafted it—reflect on its lasting magic.

Anthony Bourdain, a Legendary Knife, an Auction, and a Love Story Anthony Bourdain was enraptured with a knife. It was crafted for him in 2016 by Bob Kramer, a "rockstar" of knife-making, as Bourdain, a rockstar in his own right, called him, and it was influenced by Samurai sword-making and the literal stars—the iron used to form it was harvested from meteorites. There was mythology surrounding that knife, and there remains prestige, as it currently sits up for sale, the big-ticket item at the center of an auction of Bourdain's estate that closes Wednesday. The current bid for it is $50,000. More than a year after he died, the knife, alongside many little pieces of Anthony Bourdain's life, will be scattered around the world.   In this auction of 202 things that Bourdain owned, there's art like a Ralph Steadman illustration—to two chefs, one slicing up rat guts and the other wasted—that the artist inscribed to Bourdain, and a print by Brad Phillips that reads "Eat, Pray, Get the Fuck Out." There's clothing he wore, like a Navy jacket with a crossed knives patch commemorating the evacuation of his film crew from Beirut, Lebanon aboard the USS Nashville after rockets and war exploded there in 2006. There are Rolex watches, Tom Ford suits, and Persol Steve McQueen sunglasses—the man was stylish. 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Although each episode is based on a real person's essay, the creators of the show took some artistic liberties, and the original writers of the essays were not involved in the adaptation process. Here, we check up on the real-life versions of the show's characters to untangle their true stories from the show's fictions. Read the Full Story Is It a 'Shacket?' A 'Shirt Jacket?' No Matter What You Call It, You Should Have One. It has many names. Shacket. Shirt jacket. Overshirt. Okay, maybe just three names. But no matter what you call it—and I'm going to call it a shirt jacket, because I like that name best—the heavyweight layer that's beefier than your standard button-down but still looks very shirt-like is one that you should embrace when the weather takes a turn for the brisk. Read the Full Story   Follow Us     Unsubscribe  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2019 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019