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How to Date a Case Straight Knife

The Case brothers began hand-forging and selling knives out of a wagon in upstate New York in 1889. The company has undergone a few changes of hands and name changes, but you can identify the age of your straight knife blade within a few years--and after 1980, to its exact year of manufacture. The straight knife is also called a ̶0;fixed-blade knife̶1; and, along with the folding knife, is one of the two categories Case manufactures .

Instructions

- 1
  Find the tang stamp, a logo on or near the base of the blade. W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. has used 17 distinct tang stamps on its hunting and fixed-blade knives. Regardless of its design, it includes the word ̶0;Case.̶1;
  
  Do not confuse this with the pattern stamp, a series of numbers and letters that indicate the handle material, grade of steel and other characteristics.
- 2
  Match your stamp to the online gallery maintained by Case; each corresponds to a given number of years.
- 3
  Look for either dots or a series of dots and X's on the tang stamp. Beginning in 1980, Case used a dot convention on its fixed-blade knives. The company began a decade of manufacturing with 10 dots on its tang stamps, and subtracted a dot for every year of manufacture. A knife produced in 1980 had 10 dots under the word CaseXX; one produced in 1981 had nine dots, and so on. Between 2000 and 2009, it used a convention of dots and X's like this:
  
  .x.x.
  CaseXX
  x.x.x
  
  The company subtracted one dot a year for five years, one X a year thereafter.
- 4
  Look for the presence of a tang stamp, but the absence of a pattern stamp, on a very old knife. As author Gerald Witcher wrote in ̶0;Counterfeiting Antique Cutlery,̶1; ̶0;I have never seen an authentic Case Brothers knife [the company̵7;s first iteration, pre-1905] with a pattern number on it.̶1; So a knife without a pattern stamp may be an old but authentic Case; one that is supposedly pre-1905 but includes a pattern stamp is mislabeled or a forgery.
- 5
  Identify the handle material, which will help you to approximate the age. The handle material is indicated by the first number or letter of the pattern stamp (that series of numbers and letters on the tang).
  
  Several materials were used only from 1920 to 1940. These are indicated by the letters B, which is imitation onyx; H (mottled brown and cream composition); 7 (tortoiseshell celluloid); and W (wire). Each of these was produced from 1920 to 1940.
  
  Several more were used after 1979 or 1980, including 7 (curly maple); A (appaloosa); G (jigged green bone); ROG (Rogers Bone); SR and SG (smooth red or green bone); and R (jigged red bone).

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