W. R. Case & Sons Stampings
During
the long history of W. R. Case & Sons, there have been more than three-
dozen different stamps used on knives.
The
“W. R” tang stamp was used from 1905-1915
The
“Bradford” tang stamp was used from 1915-1920
The
“Case XX” stamping on pocketknives was used from 1940 t o1965 with pattern
numbers added to the reverse side of the tang in 1949. In 1965, the company
began stamping its knives “Case XX U.S.A.” In 1970; the logo was again changed,
this time to “Case XX U.S.A.” but with ten dots under the logo. Each year after
that, a dot was removed so that a 1975 knife would have five dots and a 1979
knife would have one dot. In 1980, the stamping was again changed. The dotting
system, beginning with ten dots, was renewed, but the name stamp was modified
to what was to become known as “the Lightning S’, the “S” in the company name
was no longer curved and resembled a lightning bolt. In 1990, the system of
dots was stopped and the year of manufacture was stamped onto the knife tangs.
The system was revived in 1993 and continues today in similar form.
Under
the present “X’s and Dots” system, one dot was removed after each year from
2000 to 2004, and one “X’ was removed after each year from 2005 to 2009.
On
the occasion of some of these logo changes, there were a large number of
collectors who bought store displays of the old logo knives. Some of these
displays can still be found intact, but individual knives that have been on
those boards usually fade on one side and do not bring as much as knives of the
same stamping that were not on a board.
Transitions
With
each logo change there were some knives, such as the 6488 and the 64052, which
had two blades stamped with the Case logo. Sometimes one blade with the old
logo and one blade with the new logo were used in the same knife. These knives
with transitory markings can be found in XX to USA, USA to ten dots, and in
various combinations of dots, with eight to ten dots being the most common for
the 6488. The knife in question would be considered a USA, XX, ten dot, etc. by
the tang stamping on the master blade. The large blade attached closest to the
shield.
The
collector should be aware that minor variations in many of these stampings are
not so unusual. Whenever a worn-out or broken die was replaced, the replacement
die was occasionally not identical to its predecessor. One may see this
variation on some Tested XX knives. For instance, the top point of the large
“C’ often varies in its relative position with the top of the “a’. Most knife
collectors chose to ignore these small variations as being relatively
insignificant as regarding the collector value.
Case Price Guide
“W.R.”
and “Bradford” knives are rare; very few of these knives with this stampings
will be encountered, so it is hard to develop a reliable price structure on them.
On most patterns, a “W.R. or “Bradford” stamped knife will bring 20-30% more
that the same pattern with a “Case Tested” stamping.
Tested
Knives - all Tested knives are priced as thought they are handled in green bone
since that is true for approximately 90% of this era’s patterns with a bone
handle code. The remaining small percentage is handled in red bone, brown bone,
and rough black. While red bone and brown bone handled knives will sell for
only slightly less than green bone, rough black handled knives will generally
be valued at 20-30% below green bone Tested knives.
XX
Knives - Many collectors prefer the XX era above all others, and with the high
quality and the wide variety of handled materials used it’s easy to understand
why. Among bone handles, beautiful red bone stands out, but green bone, early Rogers’s
bone, and late Rogers bone can all be found and each will bring a premium. Red
stag can be found in additional to regular stag, and will bring a good deal
more. Both standard yellow composition and “flat yellow” composition can be
found on XX knives. Standard yellow is slightly translucent, while flat yellow
is opaque. Flat yellow will usually bring a slight premium of no more than 10%.
XX era knives with a long pull nicks will generally bring about 5-10% more than
the same knives with regular nail nicks.
USA
Knives - Some very attractive knives were made during the USA era and interest
in the knives of this period is currently very strong.
1970s
Dots Knives – Many changes came to W.R. Case & Sons during this era and the
evidence is written all over the knives they produced. A ten-dot 1970 knife
will almost command a higher collector value than any other dots knives, and
knives from the first few years of the era will usually bring a little more than
those from the end of the era. Knives with especially attractive bone handles
are in particular demand, and will often bring 20% more. Delrin handled knives
of this era are usually worth little more than there “using” value, except in
the case of a popular pattern in which the rarity of a particular Delrin
handled knife has long been established.
“Rogers
Bone” handled knives – Occasionally a knife will be encountered with bone
handles jigged in a style that seems unusual for a Case knife. On the pre-1920
W.R.” and “Bradford” marked knives, collectors will sometimes encounter bone
handles jigged with short, and deep cuts in what appears to be a random
pattern. These handles, which were probably jigged by hand, represent the first
generation of “Rogers Bone” on Case knives. Tested and XX era “Rogers Bone” is
completely different, a machine jigged pattern with shallower, longer jigs that
do not line up into discernable rows as much of Case’s jigging does. Named
after the Rogers Manufacturing Company of Rockfall, Connecticut, which produced
it. This was a standard style of bone handle common throughout the knife
industry from the 1930s to the 1960s. Often encountered on knives by Camillus,
Kutmaster, and Western, on Case knives it is considered rare and desirable. A
good rule of thumb is to add a premium of about 20-20% over a tested green bone
or a standard XX bone. Rogers Bone handles were revived on several patterns in
1989.
Linings on Case Knives
Case
use iron liners until the late 1920s, when a change was made to nickel silver.
At times, the company would substitute brass for nickel silver. The exception
to this note of interest is the 6143 pattern “Daddy Barlow”, which was lined
with iron until 1973, when the pattern was changed to Delrin handles with brass
lines.
Pattern Numbers
Case’s
knife numbering system offers the collector quite a bit of information about a
knife, allowing one to determine whether the knife has the proper handle,
number of blades, etc. These pattern numbers can only be relied upon on Case
knives made after 1949. When the pattern numbers were stamped on each knife
produced. A Case pattern number usually consists of four digits. The first
indicates the handle material, the second digit represents the number of blades
and the last two digits are the factory pattern numbers. A one or two between
the second and third digits, or a zero before the first digit, represent a
variation of an existing pattern.
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