Seems I was perhaps to hasty to worry ...

3 days after emailing the guy (on the 3rd email) I recieved a reply.

"The last thing I want to do is scam you. I certainly have no intentions of
such, I didnt reply to your original e-mail until today because Im getting
married on valentines day & there is so much to do.
 
Ill look into it in more depth when I get back from work tomorrow & get
back to you.
 
I guess youve used the knives some what. would you be able to return them
to me so I can present them to the wholesaler I bought them from? The rep
wil be visiting later this week I think.
 
Please dont worry about a thing.  No matter what, youll have your refund."

Woohoo! This sounds genuine to me, im taking my knives into a dealer today to double check the authenticity the im 99% sure im right.

I really thought id had it this time! Think ive learnt my lesson anyway.

I was going to say theres plenty of horror stories around the net about rouge reps selling counterfit knives... just google for some